West Coast Trail: Thank Yous

I'm home.  The pack is hung up.  The boots are scrubbed and airing out.  The gear is cleaned at stored for the winter.  My feet are slowly becoming less tender. The vids are edited and posted. It was the biggest and most challenging adventure of my life so far.

And so, it's time to send out the thank yous notes to those people and organizations that made this expedition a success.

To George: For saying "we're doing this" consistently, thank you.

To Owl Magazine:  For running an article on the West Coast Trail that I read when I was 12 and thought "I want to do that", thank you.

To Uncle John:  For both having done the trail when I was a teenager, thus proving that it was real and possible, and for loaning me your pack for as long as I want/need it, thank you.

To Rick McCall: For proving that that a desk job is not a valid obstacle to fitness, and for the use of the Gators (which saved me about a million times), thank you.

To Darren Carlyle:  For agreeing to drive us to the trailhead, despite the excessive wear and tear on your van, thank you.

To Marcos Bernal:  For tirelessly encouraging me to video everything, thank you.

And finally, to Cascade Designs, makers of MSR gear:

Dear Sir/Madame,

I have just completed Canada's West Coast Trail as the first major expedition for the Geek/Outdoor blog "Nerds in the Wild" (http://nerdsinthewild.blogspot.com).  Partly as a coincidence, and partly due to availability through the local MEC store here in Victoria BC, our team was equipped with MSR Hubba tents, MSR PocketRocket stoves, and a MSR Sweetwater water filter for our expedition.

I'm writing to you today to thank you profusely for the quality of this equipment.  The tents were light, warm, rugged, waterproof, easy to assemble and disassemble, and the easily fit back in the provided tent bag day after day on the trail.  The stoves were simplicity and durability in a whisperlight package, and cooked our meals quickly and evenly.  And the water filter proved up to our video-game-weakened digestive systems' rather high standards for water quality.

All in all, our gear worked flawlessly, and when we realized it was all MSR gear, we knew we had found a quality line of products.  We will be using MSR gear whenever possible in the future.

Thank you again for helping to make our expedition such a success,
James Wilson
Nerds In the Wild.

Adventure Report: West Coast Trail Day 6

Team Lentement sprints to the finish!

Here's the exciting finale!

Adventure Report: West Coast Trail Day 5

Team Lentement is beginning to really live up to its name as fatigue continues to build.

View on!

Adventure Report: West Coast Trail Day 4

By day 4, fatigue was beginning to show. But we got to eat breakfast at this amazing little restaurant right on the beach:  Chez Monique's!

Enjoy!

Adventure Report: West Coast Trail Day 3

Our journey continues!  This was our longest day, beginning at Tsusiat Falls (km 25) and ending at Cribs Creek (km 42)

And on with the tale!

Adventure Report: West Coast Trail Day 2

Team Lentement continues its journey along the West Coast Trail, beginning at Darling River (km 14) and ending at Tsusiat Falls (km 25)

Here is our tale:

Adventure Report: West Coast Trail Day 1

Here begins my tale:

We christened our team of intrepid hikers "Team Lentement" after the blistering pace we intended to achieve across the muddy, lush, muddy, remote, muddy, inaccessible, and muddy terrain.

Here is the video of the expedition's day 1.

Adventure Report: Bear beach, on the Juan de Fuca Trail. June 30-July 1

My friend George Payer and I set out to hike to Bear beach, along the Juan de Fuca trail near Sooke, BC, and back as the second of three training hikes we've scheduled before our big hike along the West Coast Trail in September.  The purpose of this hike is not to train so much as it is to test our gear and discover what works, what doesn't and what we're still missing.

George and I set out from my house in Victoria at 9am, and by 10:30 we were on the trail.  The first section of the trail is well maintained although muddy, and the bridges were sturdy and well built:

Once we passed Mystic Beach, however, the trail became rougher.  Cliffs line the coast, preventing beach hiking, and various streams have carved the landscape into deep valleys.  The trail descends into these valleys in order to cross the streams, and then climbs back out before descending into the next one.  The bridges varied from well constructed bridges with railings, to bridges carved from fallen trees, to a couple of boards strung across the gap:

As we approached Bear beach we descended yet again into a steep valley, this one walled on the far side by a sandstone cliff.  We followed the stream to a waterfall just above the beach, then descended beside it by switchback onto the beach itself.

Just after we arrived at the beach, we crossed the waterfall again, this time stepping over the stream as it flowed into the sea.

We set up camp on the beach proper.  I wanted to test out a theory that I had.  I was betting that sand was extremely comfortable to have as a tent bed.  It turns out that it is.

Our evening's entertainment was primarily people-watching.  There were all told perhaps 20 people camping at Bear beach by 8pm.  A particularly high tide, however, made us the target of the people watching, as our beach-bed campsite turned out to be slightly perilous.

After 30 minutes, we erred on the side of caution, and moved George's tent to slightly higher ground.

Dinner was a freeze dried affair, with me having potatoes and gravy in a bag, and George having macaroni in a bag.  As a special treat, I brought along some Creme Brulee in a bag, which was a novel experience:

As it got dark, George and I headed to bed early.  As I dozed off, I had a magnificent view of a parade of cruise ships headed through the Georgia straight, headed for open ocean.

The next day, George and I packed up, had a simple breakfast and headed back to the car.  Fog had settled in overnight, and everything was wet, including the trail.  This made the trail a bit tricky in places:

Still we were back at the car by 11:30, and home by 1pm.  A great start to Canada Day.