I have always ambitioned to do a multi-day hiking and camping trip – living off of only what you carry, in places that are not often travelled and challenging to reach, distant from civilization and rejuvenating in their natural beauty. Unfortunately, I am not the type to do such an adventure on my own, and such activities are not exactly the average persons’ cup of tea. So when friends of mine from the interior suggested last year that we should do a trip to the North Coast Trail, a newly developed trail attached to the Cape Scott trail on the northern most tip of Vancouver Island, I knew this was going.
After many months of research, planning, prepping and gear shopping, spearheaded by our team leader Christine, eight of us were eager to embark on our trip. What follows is a summary of the days of the trek, the right and wrong decisions that were made in our planning phase and some advice for other North Coast Trail enthusiasts. Overall, I highly recommend the trip!
Day One/Two (Friday/Saturday): Travel Days
When hiking in remote places, it is important to remember that you need to allot time to travel to the remote areas where you will be hiking. Five of our crew were coming from Penticton and the remaining three were picked up in Vancouver. We then took the ferry from Horseshoe Bay to Nanaimo where we stayed in a hostel our first night. The following morning we left early to drive to Port Hardy where we had organized a rental car for three of our party to shuttle our two cars to the parking lot at the Cape Scott trail head and then return to Port Hardy from where we would be departing on day one of our hike. The other option would have been to do the 1.5 hour return trip to Port Hardy after our hike by shuttle at a cost of $75 per person back to Port Hardy.
Before the cars headed off, the eight of us first had to unpack our individual bags to assess what we could purge to lighten our group load, and to distribute the food evenly amongst us all. We had five breakfasts, six lunches, five dinners and three desserts to share. We were each asked to bring our own snacks, coffee, tea and drink mixes. Immediately we were able to get rid of bottles of sunscreen and bug spray. For the group of eight we packed four tents, two stoves, two pot sets, one group tarp and we each carried our own sleeping bags, clothes, dishes, cutlery, cups and sleeping mat. Once everything was divided evenly, with the men strongly encouraged to take the heavier loads, we were able to load the rest into the cars, including a set of dry clothes each, our cell phones, some food and the excess weight we were able to off-load.
We were staying in the North Coast Trail hostel in Port Hardy. Though a very basic accommodation option, it does have a massive rec room where we had ample room to spread out our gear and organize ourselves sheltered from the rain. I highly recommend staying at the hostel for its affordability and the spaciousness.
Day Three (Sunday): Shushartie Bay to Nahwitti - 12 km
We started our trek by taking a water taxi from Port Hardy to the North Coast Trail water access point at Shushartie Bay. The water taxi should be booked in advance. For parties of less than eight people, the rate is $90 (+ HST) per person and for groups of eight or more the rate is $75 (+ HST) per person. Departure time from Port Hardy was at 7:30 am. We paid our park fees, which are $10 per day per person to the water taxi operators, who record group going into back country territory and will hand over the fees to the rangers on your behalf.
The ride to the water access was a great pump up for the hiking for the day. The weather was clouded over but stable – which meant there wasn’t any precipitation falling from the sky. We saw porpoises playing in our waves on the ride over, we saw a mama bear and her cubs digging for food on one of the beaches and two other bears feeding at the beach neighbouring our landing. We were also able to pick the captain’s brain about the trail and gather any recommendations he may have for us on our journey.
Once we landed, we took off our layers, put on our gloves, grabbed our hiking poles and started up the trail – a steep incline supplemented with a rope for assistance.
The first day was a good test of mental and physical endurance to see where we each stood in terms of ability and willingness to push our limits. Three of the boys, Adam, Aaron and JF left the gate racing. Andrew and I spent probably two hours trying to catch up to the lead pack before we gave up and waited for the three girls, Christine, Meg and Kelly, who were trailing behind. We had discussed our expectations for hiking together on the boat, but everyone’s eagerness to hiking once we were in the wilderness got the best of them. We had hoped to hike together and stop every hour or so for a rest and a snack if required. Though we didn’t have any form of communication with the lead group, those of us who had our boyfriends pushing on at the head, quickly found love notes in the mud and on the trail – the men obviously felt some guilt about leaving us behind, but not enough to stop. It was probably good that they got to push on at a speed they found challenging on the first day.
Both groups did come across a pair of Ministry of Environment men doing maintenance work and clearing the trail. It came up that our lead pack was about an hour ahead. We asked if the lead pack had mentioned if they were going to wait for us at the first campsite or continue on to the second without us. The woodsmen did relay that there had been some disagreement on the subject with one man saying they should push on and the others not being convinced it was the right thing to do. I immediately asked if the one man was wearing a baseball cap, to which the woodsmen smiled and said that he had been wearing a cap! We knew who was leading the pack.
But when we arrived at the first campsite we were happy to see our men. They had refilled their camel sacks and had even tried to start a fire for our arrival. We all had a good laugh when we got on their case about leaving us behind for so long. The two men with girlfriends instantly blamed the ‘young buck’ Aaron for egging them on to push forward at such a rapid rate and leave their girlfriends behind. The boyfriends explained they hadn’t wanted to leave the ‘young buck’ in an unsafe situation so they felt compelled to accompany him onwards.
Knowing that it was going to rain on the subsequent day, we knew it was important to press on to the next campsite. After eight hours of hiking, we arrived at Nahwitti and were happy to find platforms, an outhouse and water access. Happy to get off our feet, we quickly set up camp and then proceeded to build the first of a series of great fires. Adam was able to gather the troops and convince them to carry washed up trees onto the fire which was entertaining.
Lessons from day one on the North Coast Trail include the
following: make sure you have ample
water in your pack because there isn’t water supply for the first four hours;
essential gear includes waterproof hiking boots, gaiters, waterproof packs and
jackets, and, in my opinion, hiking poles.
No matter how much a person prepares physically for such a trail, the
advanced and difficult terrain will be challenging. There is always a chance to
slip off a log, trip over a root or get stuck in the mud. My knees are not the
strongest, so using the poles to help balance and lift both myself and the
added 45 lbs I was carrying was extremely valuable to my stamina, speed and
endurance. I read prior to departing on our trip that using poles can reduce
the weight on your knees by about 25%, which is certainly a significant amount
when all you are doing is walking for six days straight. (My pack was one of the lighter bags of our group. Christine’s was one
of the heaviest on day one at about 55 lbs.)
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