Day Two: 62-42km (Camper Cove to Cribs Creek)
By morning the sky had cleared and rain was no longer a concern. Still, our tent was damp from the night as we folded away the various parts into the tent’s pack. Nick boiled water for oatmeal and yerba mate as I changed into warm gear, thinking that the temperatures would remain cool since the first half of today’s hike would be inland. As soon as we started hiking, however, I needed to peel off rain jacket and rain pants, donning just a shirt and shorts.
While I’d like to say that we were whine-free on this trip, it just wasn’t true. The backpacks felt heavier than the day before and while Nick complained of sore shoulders, I whined that my hips were bruised from the pack’s waist strap. After a few kilometers of continually stopping to figure out how to fix the issues (hint: wear a shirt around your waist for extra padding!), we settled into the meditation of the hike.
After 10 kilometers of ladders, suspension bridges and boardwalks, the trail took us to the beach. It was just past noon; while the tide was coming back in, we still had a chance to walk along the reefs where neon green sea anemones gathered like mossy clumps. (What a blessing to watch the same patterns appear in completely opposite microclimates!) Every few feet we stopped to scan the ground–for washed up tsunami debris, for hazy turquoise sea glass, for tiny fish and water-worn rocks.
At dinner time we passed by Chez Monique’s, the only place (which goes without saying) to get a burger on the beach. We both agreed that we would hold out for Nitinat Narrows the following day for our prized salmon meal, but seeing fellow hikers enjoying a meal and relaxing on the shore was enviable, to say the least.
Still, we continued on.
Past the lighthouse, up more hills and forested bluffs, and back down to the beach for the last two-kilometre stretch in which we were both silent, hoping that Cribs Creek, our suddenly decided campsite would be coming up.
Eventually we could make out the colored swatches of fabric against the white-grey of the driftwood. The campsite was glorious! We had the beach on one side, a freshwater lake on the other side and the setting sun drying out the dampness of our tent from the previous night.
Content with what we figured would be the longest stretch of the hike, we dug into another meal of reconstituted lentils and savored the peace of the wild coast. Little did we know that tomorrow would bring on the delirium…
Daily Animal Count: bald eagles (5!), cougar tracks, raccoon tracks, sea lions, american robins, stellar’s jays, kingfishers (4), orcas, grey whale, sea anemones, eel, crabs, blue heron, wren (again), sandpipers elk tracks, banana slugs and too many bees
Check out day three here!
1 thought on “The West Coast Trail: Day Two”