No, I'm not talking about alcohol, but rather the highly caffeinated drink otherwise known as coffee. Obviously not thinking straight, I found myself at a Tim Horton's drive through ordering an iced cappicuno at 7:30pm while the outside temperature is 3 degrees Celsius. Sigh, I can't even begin to logically reason myself out of that one.
So here I am, suffering yet again (yes, this has happened before) due to my carelessness. Only this time, no deep thoughts. No flash backs down memory lane, only mindless DS playing of Mario Kart and Big Brain Academy......come on B+!!
Thursday, September 20, 2007
Tuesday, September 11, 2007
Monday, September 10, 2007
West Coast Trail
West Coast Trail Journal
August 16 to August 22, 2007
Allan, Dan, Sarah, and Clarissa
August 16 to August 22, 2007
Allan, Dan, Sarah, and Clarissa
Pre West Coast Trail 
o o Took 10 hours to drive
o May speed by Allan: 147 km/h caught by GPS
o Dan and Clarissa slept a total of 6 hours combined over two days
o Sarah got GPS which was super useful
o Filled up gas twice, Revelstoke & Victoria
o Got chowder & soup on ferry
o Went to Wal-Mart and bought a lot of stuff (flavour water, rope, etc.)
o Wal-Mart was green and had deceiving front
o Went to Mayfield mall for dinner and had Japanese food
o Packed our bags in parking lot changed clothes in food court, and filled up all our water bottles.
o Went to only shell gas station cuz we thought Allan had air miles. He didn’t.
Day 1 – August 16 
•· Woke up at 7am, then it started raining
· We left before they went around to charging camp fees.
· Parked at Stan & Judy Medd for $28 dollars/7 days
· Took shuttle bus. Allan quotes, “Drove crazy fast and I almost threw up”
· Went to orientation, which turned out to be the same place we camped the night before. Allan, Clarissa, and Sarah (x 3) tried to poo, but couldn’t. Dan pooed.
· Weighed our packs on a fish scale
o Allan: 44lbs
o Dan: 45 lbs
o Sarah: 41 lbs
o Clarissa: 38 lbs
o Random guy: 65 lbs
· Hike: Gordon River Trailhead (75km) to Thrasher Cove (70km)
· Up and down with lots of roots, muddy, and started raining half way through
· Clarissa acquired a stick from a guy almost finishing. The stick was all the way from Bamfield.
o She found another one later, but then threw it away and regretted it. So she found yet another one later
· Sarah quotes, “Super hard, I thought I was going to die”
· Clarissa wore a tank top and got extreme chaffing and blisters on her back
· A guy from the hike couldn’t find his glasses but it was on his head
· Sarah walked across the first log really slow because she was scared and her backpack wasn’t strapped on properly
· Sarah fell and slid on her bum and got her pants dirty with mud. This was the beginning of her super dirty mud pants for the next seven days
· Arrived at Thrasher cove after 4-5 hours or hiking
· Found a campsite secluded underneath the trees
· We had a “cute” fire that wouldn’t start up, so a guy offered us fire starter, matches, and wood, because we only had enough matches to make our dinners
· The dad, son, and son’s BF gave Clarissa a pink lighter, because they didn’t like pink
· Later, we offered our campfire to a couple who couldn’t start their own fire
· We put our packs far away from our camps, because we were paranoid of bears. That night it rained and Sarah’s pack got wet.
· Clarissa thought the boys were bears because they were scratching and moaning.
· We had macaroni and cheese.
· Dan and Clarissa hate cheese.
Day 2 – August 17 
• Hike: Thrasher Cove (70km) to Camper Bay (62km)
• Woke up late (at 7am) because we wanted to make the tides
• Left campsite at 8:30am. We must make Owen’s point at 10am, but we got there at 10:30am, which freaked out Clarissa
o Owen’s Point: Beach Access to Owen’s Point where tides are below 6ft/1.8m is required. Difficult route, many boulders.
• They were very big boulders, very slippery from last night’s rain, and difficult to climb
• Allan almost died. He slipped on a log 10 feet above the ground with sharp boulders below and turtle. But he used his abs and saved himself.
• In that process he bent his poles and he wasn’t very happy
• Then it started raining
• Conclusion to whether the barnacles on the rocks are sharp: YES
• Fall record:
o Clarissa: A lot and hard
o Dan: twice
o Allan: fell once hard and slipped three times
o Sarah: fell twice
• After Owens’ point we climbed a shelf “and it looked like dinosaur land” –Allan
• Clarissa: “And there’s surge channels which were very scary”
• Then we had board walks for a long time, which was much easier than beach. But they were muddy
• Ate lunch under a tree that had three benches. Lunch was pita and cheese. Again, Dan and Clarissa
hate cheese.
• First cable car near Camper’s Creek. We climbed on and a guy helped us by shoving us across the creek
• Arrived at Camper’s Bay in one piece
• Spotted Solo Man for the first time
• During dinner, Sarah found a total of three bugs in her food (Salmon pasta). Dan ate them.
• Clarissa, Allan & Sarah didn’t sleep well
• Dan peed 20 m from the tent. He turned off his head lamp and peed in the middle of the night.
• Hike: Thrasher Cove (70km) to Camper Bay (62km)
• Woke up late (at 7am) because we wanted to make the tides
• Left campsite at 8:30am. We must make Owen’s point at 10am, but we got there at 10:30am, which freaked out Clarissa
o Owen’s Point: Beach Access to Owen’s Point where tides are below 6ft/1.8m is required. Difficult route, many boulders.
• They were very big boulders, very slippery from last night’s rain, and difficult to climb
• Allan almost died. He slipped on a log 10 feet above the ground with sharp boulders below and turtle. But he used his abs and saved himself.
• In that process he bent his poles and he wasn’t very happy
• Then it started raining
• Conclusion to whether the barnacles on the rocks are sharp: YES
• Fall record:
o Clarissa: A lot and hard
o Dan: twice
o Allan: fell once hard and slipped three times
o Sarah: fell twice
• After Owens’ point we climbed a shelf “and it looked like dinosaur land” –Allan
• Clarissa: “And there’s surge channels which were very scary”
• Then we had board walks for a long time, which was much easier than beach. But they were muddy
• Ate lunch under a tree that had three benches. Lunch was pita and cheese. Again, Dan and Clarissa
hate cheese.• First cable car near Camper’s Creek. We climbed on and a guy helped us by shoving us across the creek
• Arrived at Camper’s Bay in one piece
• Spotted Solo Man for the first time
• During dinner, Sarah found a total of three bugs in her food (Salmon pasta). Dan ate them.
• Clarissa, Allan & Sarah didn’t sleep well
• Dan peed 20 m from the tent. He turned off his head lamp and peed in the middle of the night.
Day Three – August 18
• Hike: Camper’s Bay (62km) to Walbran Creek (53km)
• Creeks passed: Sandstone, Cullite (cable car) Logan, and Adrenaline Creek.
• Woke up at 7am
• Continue hike in the forest
• Even muddier than before, because it rained yet again that night
• Saw Clarissa’s university friends
• Had crazy insane ladders today
o 3 sets of ladders: 250 down or 214 steps (which was the biggest ever)
o At the bottom of the ladder there was a one man suspension bridge. It is so narrow that you can’t even turn around with backpacks on. (Super duper cool)
o Climbed up insane slippery slope afterward
o Dan’s shoes only got wet because he was sweating
o We were going to Logan creek but Clarissa whizzed us to Walbran 3 km away, passed the bog and all
o Arrived at camp ->so beautiful!
o We all took showers in the lake –WOOHOOO!! Good thing we did because right after a million seagulls landed and began taking showers and pooing in the lake.
o The shower felt so good that Sarah found a brand new washroom and pooed.
• Started own fire today without fire starter. Yay, go Dan.
Day 4 – August 19 .jpg)
• Hike: Walbran Creek (53km) to Cribbs Creek (41.5km)
• Creeks crossed: Kulaht Creek, Bonilla Creek, Carmanah Creek (cable car), and Coal Creek
• We first had to cross Walbran Creek with Sandals
• Sarah –“Stupid beach”
o Sarah cheated by walking on water
o (She had full waterproof shoes and would rather walk on slippery rocks)
o Saw two cute little fawns. They were cute until they started “playing
mommy and daddy”
• Had good weather for today (this one and only day)
• Cable car across Carmanah Creek was super long and tiring
• Finally arrived at Chez Moniques
o Allan: Burger, beer, chocolate muffin (which Dan totally envied), snickers
o Dan: Chocolate bar and coke
o Clarissa: 2 apples
o Sarah: ½ burger, apple, blueberry muffin, chocolate bar
• Allan felt sick afterwards, and Sarah’s burp smelled like burgers
• Soloman (real name is Christian) drank six beers by the time we left
• Visited Carmanah lighthouse
• No one fell today and arrived at Cribbs Creek to beautiful sunshine
• Dried all our clothes
• Decided to sleep at 8:30pm because we wanted to beat soloman (currently at Dare Point (39km) to Nitinat Narrows
Day 5 – August 20
• Hike: Cribbs Creek (41.5km) to Tsusiat Falls (25km)
• Crazy longest day 16.5km and it took us a total of 7.5 hours
• Woke up at 5am but it was too dark so we woke up again at 5:30am
• Wrote “Asians 40 minutes” on sand for Soloman to read
• Eventually they caught up to us, but in the end, they only beat us by five minutes
• It was a super muddy day. Dan’s shoes got wet
• Had fresh Salmon for $20 at Nitinat Narrows. But well spent. Too bad they
ran out of crab
• Allan had to poo right aftwards and used to trowel even though he was only 50m from the outhouse
• We were very tired. Sarah and Clarissa almost collapsed.
• Beach was hard to walk on, because the sand is the soft fine sand
• Were very close to not making the tides near that hole at Tsusiat Point
• Arrived at Falls only to find a MILLION (not joking) birds flying around the beach and bathing in the falls.
• Saw naked German people
• Had really yummy rice today
• Dan built a gigantic fire. One log being burned had all these bugs in it.
• We were out by 7pm
• Water filter had some issues
Day 6 – August 21.jpg)
• Hike: Tsusiat Falls (25km) to Michigan Creek (12 km)
• Woke up at 6pm
• Rainy yet again. There hasn’t been a night where it hasn’t rained. Took two hours to get ready because we were all so exhausted.
• Started the day with a huge set of stairs up from the Falls
• Allan has a total of 227 bug bites on his legs
• Waded 2 creeks
o Dan finally got wet inches from camp. He was not happy
• Dan built a fire. It was cute but burned a hole in his shirt
• We had tuna pita for lunch. It was AMAZING!
• Sarah slipped on a rock
• Clarissa slipped in mud
• Saw the Valencia bluffs where 129 people died from Shipwreck in the early 1900’s
• Saw naked German...again (actually a different one)
• Arrived at Michigan Creek at 2pm
• We were so tired we all took naps on the beach. Good thing it was sunny today.
• I woke up and found crazy sandal tans on my feet. Allan says they look like band aids.
• Boys, “Saw little German boy pee”
• Ate dinner at 4:30pm. Yummy curry Couscous
• Took cool silhouette pictures on beach
• Sarah finished all her snacks
• Dan showered. He doesn’t smell bad anymore
• Daniel fixed the water filter, so it doesn’t take 5min to pump one 2 L bottle
• Anticipating lots of boardwalk for tomorrow Looking forward to the 3 m trails
• Talked about what were going to eat the next night for like...1 whole hour
• Last day at camp! And it didn’t rain for the first time at night
• What we would have brought
o Clarissa: poles, sleeveless shirt
o Stuff to keep the fleas away
o Gloves
• Things we forgot to mention
o Met hardcore photographer
o He had a measuring tape and helped Us off the cable car
o It was his 12th time on the WCT and he used over 10 cameras
o His book will release at the end of next year
o His name is Pabel
• What we are craving:
o Allan : wonton mein, ice cream, and fries
o Dan: plain ruffles chips and pop
o Clarissa: fresh fruit and wonton
o Sarah: chips and gelato
.jpg)
• Hike: Walbran Creek (53km) to Cribbs Creek (41.5km)
• Creeks crossed: Kulaht Creek, Bonilla Creek, Carmanah Creek (cable car), and Coal Creek
• We first had to cross Walbran Creek with Sandals
• Sarah –“Stupid beach”
o Sarah cheated by walking on water
o (She had full waterproof shoes and would rather walk on slippery rocks)
o Saw two cute little fawns. They were cute until they started “playing
mommy and daddy”• Had good weather for today (this one and only day)
• Cable car across Carmanah Creek was super long and tiring
• Finally arrived at Chez Moniques
o Allan: Burger, beer, chocolate muffin (which Dan totally envied), snickers
o Dan: Chocolate bar and coke
o Clarissa: 2 apples
o Sarah: ½ burger, apple, blueberry muffin, chocolate bar
• Allan felt sick afterwards, and Sarah’s burp smelled like burgers
• Soloman (real name is Christian) drank six beers by the time we left
• Visited Carmanah lighthouse
• No one fell today and arrived at Cribbs Creek to beautiful sunshine
• Dried all our clothes
• Decided to sleep at 8:30pm because we wanted to beat soloman (currently at Dare Point (39km) to Nitinat Narrows
Day 5 – August 20
• Hike: Cribbs Creek (41.5km) to Tsusiat Falls (25km)
• Crazy longest day 16.5km and it took us a total of 7.5 hours
• Woke up at 5am but it was too dark so we woke up again at 5:30am
• Wrote “Asians 40 minutes” on sand for Soloman to read
• Eventually they caught up to us, but in the end, they only beat us by five minutes
• It was a super muddy day. Dan’s shoes got wet
• Had fresh Salmon for $20 at Nitinat Narrows. But well spent. Too bad they
ran out of crab• Allan had to poo right aftwards and used to trowel even though he was only 50m from the outhouse
• We were very tired. Sarah and Clarissa almost collapsed.
• Beach was hard to walk on, because the sand is the soft fine sand
• Were very close to not making the tides near that hole at Tsusiat Point
• Arrived at Falls only to find a MILLION (not joking) birds flying around the beach and bathing in the falls.
• Saw naked German people
• Had really yummy rice today
• Dan built a gigantic fire. One log being burned had all these bugs in it.
• We were out by 7pm
• Water filter had some issues
Day 6 – August 21
.jpg)
• Hike: Tsusiat Falls (25km) to Michigan Creek (12 km)
• Woke up at 6pm
• Rainy yet again. There hasn’t been a night where it hasn’t rained. Took two hours to get ready because we were all so exhausted.
• Started the day with a huge set of stairs up from the Falls
• Allan has a total of 227 bug bites on his legs
• Waded 2 creeks
o Dan finally got wet inches from camp. He was not happy
• Dan built a fire. It was cute but burned a hole in his shirt
• We had tuna pita for lunch. It was AMAZING!
• Sarah slipped on a rock
• Clarissa slipped in mud
• Saw the Valencia bluffs where 129 people died from Shipwreck in the early 1900’s
• Saw naked German...again (actually a different one)
• Arrived at Michigan Creek at 2pm
• We were so tired we all took naps on the beach. Good thing it was sunny today.
• I woke up and found crazy sandal tans on my feet. Allan says they look like band aids.
• Boys, “Saw little German boy pee”
• Ate dinner at 4:30pm. Yummy curry Couscous
• Took cool silhouette pictures on beach
• Sarah finished all her snacks
• Dan showered. He doesn’t smell bad anymore
• Daniel fixed the water filter, so it doesn’t take 5min to pump one 2 L bottle
• Anticipating lots of boardwalk for tomorrow Looking forward to the 3 m trails
• Talked about what were going to eat the next night for like...1 whole hour
• Last day at camp! And it didn’t rain for the first time at night
• What we would have brought
o Clarissa: poles, sleeveless shirt
o Stuff to keep the fleas away
o Gloves
• Things we forgot to mention
o Met hardcore photographer
o He had a measuring tape and helped Us off the cable car
o It was his 12th time on the WCT and he used over 10 cameras
o His book will release at the end of next year
o His name is Pabel
• What we are craving:
o Allan : wonton mein, ice cream, and fries
o Dan: plain ruffles chips and pop
o Clarissa: fresh fruit and wonton
o Sarah: chips and gelato
Day 7: Michigan creek (12km) to Pachena Bay (0km) 
o Hiking time; 7:30 am – 11:15 am
o Breakfast: granola cereal
o Lunch: tuna pita
o Some parts were muddier than we expected
o We walked crazy paced: 3km/hr
o Saw guardians again from yesterday
o Heard sea lions while on trail
o We made it 2nd, after Solomon
o Bus didn’t arrive until 1 pm, and drove us into Bamfield our original bus broke, so we shared the other people bus.
o Arrived at Bamfield at 5 pm
o Photographer guy hiked 9 km/ hr
o Ride was super bumpy. Clarissa got car sick
o Mont back, had Ruffles chips, lays BBQ chips and rice crackers
o Stayed at traveller’s inn
o Saw a bear on the way home to Port Renfrew
o Tried Priceline but it didn’t work.
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