Trip Update 7/8/01

The First 10 days

We had a great time during the first 10 days of our trip staying with friends and family that we don't often get to see because of the distance they live from the midwest. We would encourage anybody who has friends and family scattered over great distances to pack up and go visit them. We had a great time just spending a couple days with everybody that we stayed with, and would like to thank all of them for giving up a room in their house to us for a day or three. Thanks to Mom and Jim, Barb and Rich, Diane and Paul, Sue and Mort, Jim and Terri, Gretchen and Dean, and Liz and John!

The Last Two Weeks

When we last updated, we were on our way to Astoria from Portland. I don't want to spend too much time on this page (it kills me to create these all-text, boring looking pages, but that's all we can do from so far away) since we're paying by the hour here in Victoria at a Cyber-Cafe. We tried the public library, but the limit of a 1/2 hour session (2 per day max) was torturous. So, quickly... what have we been up to?

The West Coast Trail

An unbelievable experience is the only way to describe this hike through some of the most treacherous country in British Columbia. Julie and I both agree that such a trail could never exist in America because the number of lawsuits would nearly equal the number of hikers. For more info on the trail, check out our WCT page we made before we left. I thought we would be prepared. The trail was described as a dangerous journey through slippery rain-forest conditions involving climbing ladders, crossing ravines on the backs of logs, and walking on decaying board-walks. Little did we know we would be climbing up ladders that had up to 57 rungs (16 inches between rungs - yes, that's a ladder over 5 stories tall!), and there weren't just a few ladders there must have been 50, and crossing streams on logs... that didn't just happen a few times, but a few times every hour, and slippery conditions... I've never hiked through so much ankle deep mud in my life and then tried to walk on wet wood (roots, bridges, ladders, logs, etc...). I don't think we ever stopped having fun though. It was a blast. Our adrenaline on the trail only continued each night as we camped on the Pacific Beach, where we saw gray whales nightly, a pod of killer whales, seals, bald eagles, and spent time around campfires sharing trail stories with fellow hikers. Two stories stand out from the trail, which follow...

Bear Encounter

The WCT area is home to black bear and cougar. We were constantly on alert, but as is always the case it is a suprise when you actually see one. I believe it was day three on the trail. We were not in an area that was listed as having a high concentration of bear or cougar so we were casually walking on a fairly easy section of the trail... mostly on boardwalks through dense forest with intermittent ladders. At about 3:00 PM, we had just finished scaling a 3 ladder configuration (The first ladder goes up to a small platform, then you get on the next ladder to the next platform, then you take the final ladder the top). We were about 50 yards beyond the ladders, approaching a 90-degree left turn, when I heard the loud running footsteps of somebody coming toward us. I jumped off the boards, in anticipation of a stampede, to see a girl sprinting toward us, eyes wide and a horrified look on her face. I recognized her as part of a party of 2 guys and 2 girls that we knew were hiking about 30 minutes ahead of us. My immediate reaction was that the rest of her party had fallen off a cliff or something and she was running for help. As she ran smack into Julie, who was still on the trail, she yelled "Bear! Bear!". As she said that the second girl came booking around the corner, yelling "Go back! Go back! Where are the ladders!? We have to get to the platforms!" Julie and I simultaneously asked what happened to their two hiking partners afraid that they were going to tell us they were already mauled. As they sprinted by us to get to the platforms, they told us they would be coming behind us. A few moments later, a couple of guys came running around the corner telling us a tale of a large black bear that had turned them around, chasing them back toward us, that had been following them for over a mile. As we slowly walked back toward the presumed safety of the platform, I was trying to talk them out of continuing their retreat. I could not believe that a bear would follow them for that long, and I was sure it was long gone. As I was arguing my case, to my disbelief, a large black bear comes cruising around the corner at about a person's jogging pace! Julie and the two other girls had already made it back to the ladders to go the platform. I tried to convince the guys quickly that we could stand up to this bear, but I turned around only to see I was talking to nobody, because they were already running toward the ladders. I followed suit, not wanting to be alone against this thing. The two guys got on the ladder and started descending. As I waited at the top, the bear came around the final turn to get to the ladders. I quickly compared the time it would take for the ladder to clear so I could get on and the time the bear would get to me. I concluded it would be a tie. I grabbed my can of pepper spray for security (Canadian customs officials tried to take it away from me a few days previous, but that's another story). The bear was about 15 feet away, and coming fast. I decided to try to scare him before dousing him with cayenne pepper. I stomped on the boards as hard as I could and yelled "GET OUT OF HERE!" (or something to that effect) as loud as I possibly could. The bear stopped in his tracks for the first time in over a mile. Here we were 15 feet apart just looking at each other. I figured if I could get him to stop, I might be able to get him to turn around. So I took a big step toward him with a big stomp and yelled again. He turned around, as if to start heading the other way, and just stood there looked at me over his left shoulder. Another stomp and yell. He took a few steps away. Another stomp and yell. He started walking away a little faster, with me following and screaming at him. He looked over his shoulder again as he walked and I started running and stomping toward him. I ended up chasing him, yelling, for about 50 yards back to the spot where we first met. I walked back to the ladder where everybody else was. They were probably all surprised to see me still alive after hearing all of the noise from above them. We all continued down the trail in a tight group, pepper spray drawn until we reached camp a couple hours later. In retrospect, the only thing I did wrong, is I forgot to grab my camera. That would have been a great sequence of shots...

Julie Tempts Fate

[Julie as guest author]
I've decided to take a turn at making an update to tell my most haunting experience from the rugged and treacherous West Coast Trail. It was the last day of our 7-day hike on the trail and I was looking forward to getting off of the trail and into a real shower and not these "showers" with biodegradable soap in frigid waters. It was a very foggy morning and the fog had created a lot of moisture and mist in the air. I was on a mission to get out of the woods as quickly as possible this morning, but we had been told that we would be going through the most difficult area of the trail yet. There was a lot of uphill climbing, ladders and mud, but nothing we had not yet experienced on the trail.

About midway through the hike, we came across some large rock that we had to cross. The rock was wet, muddy and had moss growing on it; i.e., it was very slippery. As I was crossing, I guess I wasn't hanging on to anything when my foot slipped and my 40-pound backpack pulled me backwards. I reached and grabbed at anything to stop me from falling, but the next thing I know, I slipped down the rock, flipped over backwards, my pack hits a huge fallen tree and I do a backwards sommersault while falling 20 feet into a ravine. I remember Matt saying "Julie, uh, Julie..." My legs landed first out in front of me and then I rolled backwards and the pack kept pulling me down the steep slope. I quickly unbuckled my pack and then my downward momentum stopped. I sat there for a moment and then chuckled. I'm not sure why I chuckled for a moment, but I think it prevented me from what I wanted to do - cry. I didn't think I was hurt. I felt that I had hit my right shin on some rock on the way down but nothing was broken.

It was a tough climb out of the ravine, but I made it out. Needless to say, I was very careful from there on out.

"WCT Toe"

[Updated 7/10/01 from Port Angeles, WA] We both aquired numbness in our big toes during the final days of the WCT, and it seems to be sticking around. Our theory is that we overworked our big toe, which plays a large part in maintaining balance, by trying to stay upright in nearly impossible conditions for seven consecutive days. It is approaching a week later, and we *think* it is subsiding, but we'll be hiking through it anyway. We start our Mt. Olympus hike tomorrow.

Where from Here?

We plan to follow the itinerary for July fairly closely. I don't know when the next update will come. It may be nearly August. It's difficult to update much when libraries enforce their idiotic time limits on the internet. We'll try to have pictures from the WCT for you in a couple weeks at least. We'll see.