I just got back from finishing a Yo-Yo of the West Coast Trail on Vancouver Island, BC from June 8 to the 19th. I started with a couple of friends at the Southern (Port Renfrew) trailhead, and we hiked to the top (Bamfield) We then met up with a large herd of friends and hiked back down. We stopped at Cribs beach with the Herd on the 15th of June where a couple of very good friends of mine got married on the beach. It was really really cool. We took 6 days to hike the return trip, as we were working with several new hikers and a large group.

First and foremost - my full set of pictures is at
http://bofh.ucs.ualberta.ca/beck/pictures/wct2010

Day 1 was the three of us hitting the trail by 9:30 and doing a very hard day (13km that feels like about 25 or 30) from the trailhead through Thrasher, around the rocks at Owen Point and through to Camper Bay. We arrived about 7 PM - I hammocked in the trees and we met up with and talked to a few groups who had hiked from Thrasher that day. On telling them we had come from the trailhead and that we were going up and coming back we got a number of "you're crazy" comments.





Day 2 we took it a bit more easy and went from Camper to Walbran, arriving early in the afternoon and spending the late afternoon chilling out, washing gaiters and enjoying ourselves. We went to sleep relatively early after sharing fire and chocolate with a couple of swiss ladies who kept our pace, and got up early to head for cribs.




Day 3 we got up, crossed walbran creek, and then had a nice day heading for cribs beach. We hit Chez Moniques for a lunch burger, and in the process I put a bottle of wine into my extra platypus and hauled it to cribs beach. We arrived at cribs relatively early and I hammocked in the trees. that night was rather windy and we huddled around the fire again with the swiss hikers who had noticed at moniques when I said that "aero" bars were uniqiely canadian. Unfortunately I didn't tell them they weren't very good - so I apologized and brought out the Lindt 85 and we shared that out.




Day 4 we hiked from Cribs to Tsusiat falls, having a Crab for lunch when crossing the NitNat on the ferry. Tsusiat had no log over the river at all this year, and many inexperienced were camped on the wrong side, and looked at me strange when I marched across the river and took the best site. we showered in the falls and had a nice evening.

Day 5 we hiked from Tsusiat falls to Michigan. It was a fantastic day and I ended up scooting along about an hour ahead of the rest, till I stopped in Tscowais, with nobody around, got naked, washed everything and laid around on a big log in the sunshine like a fat naked walrus while my underwear dried. I managed to put my underwear back on before anyone else arrived and then we went on to Michigan, meeting up with Hitchike Mike, the wedding comissioner. We spent an evening on the beach with Mike, and steamed up some Gooseneck Barnacles to go with dinner.

Day 6 we got up early, tagged the trailhead and met up with a large group of my fellow OpenBSD developers and friends who we were then herding down to the wedding. I picked up and hiked with a few of the newbies, but spent a lot of my time hiking with my friend Dale, who had never hiked before but was so determined to go on this he spent 6 months walking every day and borrowed a ton of my spare gear just to be able to do it. He's a big guy, and this took a lot for him to hike it, even slowly, but in the end he made it all the way through! We went past michigan to Tscowais (which is prettied) and met up with Theo and Nadine (the wedding couple) and had a nice evening although a bit windy.

Day 7 - In the morning we got the group up for a short hike to Tscowais falls. The falls are amazing, and everyone who does WCT usually camps here.

Day 8 - we hiked the group to cribs for the wedding. At 17km, a bunch of it rough, this was a bit tough on some of the newbies, but everyone arrived safely, The wedding was, well, fantastic. We made a tripod on the beach as an arch, and decorated it, and ended up with something pretty darn special. First wedding ever on the West Coast Trail, and it went off without a snag.

Day 9 - we got the group up early, and made people skip breakfast and hike the 2 kilometers to Moniques at camanah point - there everyone had a late breakfast of enormous omlettes before going on through to Walbran for a fantastic sunny afternoon. We had a small grey whale spy-hop looking at us about 50 meters from the beach three times - which was very cool.

Day 10, Walbran to Camper - Now the newbies got to see the real west coast trail mud - although the trail was pretty dry. I've always called this bit "Dagobah" - figuring george lucas was influenced for Yoda's home from here.

Day 11, Camper to Thrasher - Again a relatively short day, but we managed to hit owen point at low tide and had a really really nice time. We rested the newbies up for the jaunt out.

Day 12, Thrasher to Camper - Having a rental parked at the trailhead and things to do in victoria I scooted out early with my original three, and we finished up our 150KM of yo-yo
at 10:45 AM. Took the rental car, drove back to Victoria and then met up with the whole herd for a post hike/wedding party.

All in all a pretty cool hike.