Friday July 21 2000
| 4:00am | rise and shine |
| 6:30 | ferry |
| 8:45 | bus to Pachena Bay |
| 12:00 | park station – video and pep talk |
| 13:00 | democratic vote to stay at Pachena Bay and enjoy steak dinner, frisbee and bocci |
| bear tree branch broke |
July 22
| 7:30am | up, dull foggy morning |
| 9:30 | on the trail – 14km to Darling Creek |
Seriously raining by Pachena Point.
Sea lions. Garbage bags on packs.
Elderly man with bad ankles evacuated from lighthouse
Michigan Creek (campsite) too full
Arrived at Darling at 5pm
Built tarp shelter (da Vinci) on beach in rain, no fire
Saw whales close offshore
Wet clothes
Raviolis for dinner
Warm and dry in tents
July 23
Up at 7am – dull foggy morning
On the trail by 9:40
Lots of beach walking. Sea fog
Slow going on slippery boardwalk.
Chad and Neelam go ahead to find a good spot at Tsusiat
Cool cable car over Klanawa River
We are near the shitter, but not too near, north of the falls.
Lots of people – 30?
Lentils and rice for dinner
Sunny evening – sea fog boiled off. More whales
Much discussion about whether to stay 2 nights at Tsisiat. Caution prevails, decide to move on next am.
July 24
Up at 6:30, aiming for 17km to Cribs Creek
Porridge for breakfast
Cougar tracks on beach
Crab lunch at Nitnat Narrows – sun comes out
Neelam and Sid go ahead to start dinner at the next camp beside graveyard at IR4A (Mediterranean night)
Swim
No other people, colourful sunset, early to bed (10pm)
July 25
Pancakes for breakfast by Chad
Away by 9:45, off the beach then on the beach
Lunch at Cripps Creek?
Aiming for Bonilla
Visit Carmanagh lighthouse – whale bones and baleen
The lighthouse people were gardening and painting
Chez Monique hamburgers, troll under boardwalk
Decide to camp at Carmanagh instead
Chad, Neelam and Sid go ahead while Cecilia and Pepa drink coffee at Monique’s
Leave packs at camp site, walk 40 min up Carmanagh Creek looking for the renowned sitka spruce
Get stopped by gorge
Find spruce on the way back: 311’ tall, 10’ diameter
Pepa and Cecilia have set up camp – no other campers
We build a tarp shelter when rain comes, dry clothes near fire
Spaghetti and Cecilia’s sauce for dinner
July 26
Light rain all day. We sleep in until 7:30. Overcast but dry – no dew. Porridge for breakfast. Cecilia walks back to Monique’s to buy more stove fuel.
On our way at 10:30 by beach, past the dead whale. Make good time to Waldran Creek on the shelf (7km). Lunch - have to cut mould off the cheese and throw away mouldy pepperoni sticks.
Continue towards Logan Creek in forest – very muddy, tree roots, lots of climbing, making about 1.3 km/hr. Suspension bridge at Logan Creek. Faster to Celite Creek – cable car. Not very cheery place in the rain. Narrow bay with heavy surf crashing in. Three other groups. Light a fire. Risotto and chocolate pudding for dinner – not enough for some. Bed at 10:30.
Chad and Cecilia’s tent leaked so badly (or they pitched it in a potential puddle) that at 3am they moved it under the tarp.
July 27
Awoke to steady rain. This was supposed to be our “short” day, just 4km to Camper Creek leaving time to catch some black cod for dinner as per the foraging night menu. Put the wet clothes back on, break camp under the tarp as much as possible. Just before we leave we gather in a circle, grasp hands in the centre and count 1-2-3 MUD! The creek is really high, running full with tea-coloured water. The day before, the creek was dammed up by a windrow of gravel pushed in place by the sea, and I crossed it in the morning for my usual am intertidal dump, but before we left the creek broke through.
They were a tough 4km, with the trail a tangle of slippery submerged roots, deep running pools, steady rain, salal, huckleberry, cedar and hemlock branches showering when touched. We inched our way along the edges, did ponderous acrobatics over treacherous flagstones hinting sure footing, fell, or almost fell with miraculous recoveries. The effort kept us warm, soaked to the skin under our parkas, muddy to the thighs, and we’d stop briefly to eat trail mix and dried fruit, and drink water.
At last we made Camper Creek. A sign barred the path by the warden’s hut but the requisite way down the creek bed was a foot deep in running water so I took the way across the warden’s front porch. The door swung open as I passed it and a sleepy-eyed native man greeted me, inviting me in to get warm. I went back to get the others and soon we were all crowded inside the hut sipping tea and soaking up the warmth of the propane heater. Kelly told us of his ancestors (his grandfathers were hereditary chiefs) and land claims opinions. He sang to Pepa and Cecilia while Chad, Neelam and I set up the tarp and tents.
Foraging was out of the question since the tide made access to the shelf impossible for fishing and we had collected no veggies. Dinner was the same as last night, plus rice.
Cecilia came in our tent; Chad and Neelam shared Neelam’s, under the tarp, since Chad’s tent had leaked the previous night. We planned to get up at 3:45 and leave by 5:30 in order to get past the surge channel on the shelf below 5.5’ tide at 9am.
Our tent was dry even though the rain beat heavily on the fly. We learned later that 65mm of rain had fallen during that day.
July 28
We awoke at 3:45 as planned, had hot granola breakfast and tea, and struck camp by 6am. Chad told us that Kelly, who visited him and Neelam after Pepa, Cecilia and I had gone to bed the night before, thought that we might get evacuated with an elderly couple who were sheltering in his hut. We waited until 8am for Kelly to call the park office on his radio. The supervisor said he’d come by Camper Creek on his way back from Walbran Creek to assess the elderly couple. With that we knew that we’d fail the assessment so returned with the news that we had to hike. We’d missed the tide so we had to stay on the trail to Thrasher Cove. Everyone felt let down but we shouldered our packs, stoically as usual, and launched ourselves across the raging creek in the cable car.
At about noon, just after fighting our way up and over a particularly obstructive fallen tree, we erected the tarp over the trail, got out the stove and cooked up some minestrone soup. Coincidentally the rain stopped, the sky brightened and two groups of people hiked through our lunch spot.
By the time we got to Thrasher Cove (9km, about 7 hours of squelching, splashing, dripping, falling), the sun was out. We secured a spot on the beach. By the end of the day 39 people were camped. The place was festooned with drying articles. Our next door neighbours (Edmonton and Calgary) had been with us for the past 3 sites. They had an oven in which they made corn bread and chocolate chip cookies.
The tide rose and rose to a high of 11.5’ at 11pm. We moved the tents higher, jammed against the top of the beach, figuring on a 4” increase from the previous high tide marks.
Chad and Neelam labored long to start a fire which was extinguished by the tide.
July 29
The tide had risen within wetting distance of the first position of my tent but was still almost 2m away from Neelam. None of us had remained awake to see if the tide would rise into the tents.
The sun blazed into the cove, drying tents and clothing quickly. We struck camp after a hearty breakfast of dried eggs (probably dozens) and granola. Last chance for an intertidal dump, availed by Sid, Pepa and Cecilia. We left at about 10 after repeated time-check calls from Chad.
The trail was much drier but very up-and-down. The sun rarely penetrated the forest canopy and glimpses of the other shore of the Port San Juan were fragmented and seldom so seeing progress was difficult. Finally we emerged at Gordon River, summoning the boatman by raising a florescent orange float on a rope.