Third day – june, 6th, Sunday: On this day we planned to go 10km. We were at km mark 58 at Cullite Cove and we headed to Bonilla Creek. Anyways, let us start in the morning, After packing everything together and having breakfast we started the day. I have to admit I had a really good sleep, probably because I was mentaly and physically so tired from the last day. Further we improved, it took us maybe just about an hour until we were ready to go. Because we slept at a Campground which is located in a Creek, we had to climb a lot of ladders up, after this it started to rain again and the rain was not about to stop for the whole rest oft he day, but our mood was in a good shape. The forrest route was in a terrible shape, especially because of all the rain, we had slippery boardwalks and a lot of them weren´t in a good shape at all. I guess all of us felt at least one time. Further we had a lot of huge mud holes, so I was one more time happy about my trekking poles. Furhter on the first 5km weh ad to clim over a lot of roots and fallen trees. We were wondering about the point where we meet the first hikers from Pachena Bay. Well, this day was that day. At km mark 55, we met the first two hikers, we had a little chat about the condition of the trail, where we should pay attention and some other stuff. They didn´t have any trekking poles and we were wondering how the would walk over little trees, which were fallen down in the mud holes, without falling into these mud holes, but anyway after 5km we came to Walbran Creek, weh ad to climb one more time a lot of ladders down there. People saying if u start in the south and u get to Walbran Creek, the hardest part is beyond u. So we were happy to be there, but it was still porring down on us. We met Lynn and Gill again. They were already sitting since an hour under their little yellow tarp and waited that the tide would go down, so that they could cross the river and keep going to Bonilla Creek. When we arrived I was so happy that they said u can sit under our tarp. At this point I was soaking wet, actually everything was soaking wet, but at that point I didn´t know that yet. Sitting, without moving under this tarp for an hour and waiting fort he tide, this was probably the hardest thing on the whole trail. I was freezing cold, I even changed my wet clothes to some of my dry ones, but even this didn´t help me at all. After an hour I changed again because we kept going. Shoes off, tide was low enough and we passed the knee deep river with our 22 kilo backpacks, trekking poles and naked feet on rocks and little stones. Yes, it was painful, but we wanted to go on. From this point on it still rained but not as heavy as before. The last 5km were at the ebach, it is pretty hard to walk in the sand, but thanks tot he rain, it wasn´t that bad walking there. We saw a lot of Cougar prints on the beach, but luckily no Cougar. Honestly, if u see them, they wanna be seen and that doesn´t mean anything good for u. Around 3pm we arrived at Bonilla Creek. Bonilla Creek was probably the most ugliest Campground where we stayed. Further it is really small. Mario and I found a little Cave at this Campground where we built up our tent. We were a bit afraid of wildlife but everything went out well for us. We dried all of our clothes and in the evening after having dinner we enjoyed the sun. After almost 24 hoursof rain the sun came out for the first time. That was just an indescribable feeling and I felt reborn. We dried all of our clothes and I even dried my wet sleeping pat. Because oft he rain we weren´t able to set up a Campfire, everything was just wet. Too bad – for that reason we went to
All in all this day was an adventure. The forrest part was mentally really exhausting, the beach route was physically really exhausting. The rain just made everything worse, but we made it to km mark 48! After the first three days of hiking, I feel really great. I thaught if would be harder for me. Even as the ginnypig of the group I feel amazing. Of course some muscles feel sour, but in general after 27km I feel great, let´s see what the next days will bring us.
Fourth day – june 07th, Monday: We started the day at 7. I was really tired in the morning, but it didn´t matter. This day was about to be a short one. For that reason I was ok with getting up early (ish). Yesterday we passed Walbran Creek (the toughest part is supposed to be behind us) and that right. We left Bonilla Creek and our beautiful cave around 9. The weather was amazing, actually for the first time, so we enjoyed this. Blue sky, no clouds, just sunshine. I guess we earned this after days of shitty weather. Our destination for this day was Cribs Creek. Lynn said to us that this should be one oft he pretiest campgrounds. So we hiked the first 4km of the 6 on the beach. Was pretty exhausting, because of the deep sand, but easy doable. The hardest thing of this hike was the Cable Car to cross a river. I never, not even the first time in gym after weeks, felt so sour while pulling myself over. Anyways, after the Cable Car, we had to take the forrest route. Really slippery, wet and a lot of bad boardwalks. After this, we were able to hike on the beach again. We arrived around 12pm at Cribs Creek. Luckily Lynn and Gill were already there and set up their tents and all other stuff. Shortly before they arrived there, some people left Cribs Creek and headed south. They had a fire running and they asked Lynn if they should leave it like that. She agreed. We camped directly next to the Campfire, so our task was to keep that fire running. While drying all of our wet clothes we sit on the beach, hearing the waves crushing in front of us and enjoying the sun. Lovely beaches around us. The good thing about the regulation oft he West Coast ist hat there aren´t any tourists, no service, no streets, just the natives, the staff of the park and the hikers. That means all the beaches, in general the nature is just untouched. Beautiful! We had a really relaxing day. Around 4pm, we saw a solo hiker at the horizon. We thaught directly this must be Dennis and it was him. We sit the whole evening around the Campfire together with Lynn and Gill (of course) and had an amazing time. I went fo a little walk, stretched myself and met some irish folks, a german girl from Tübingen and a canadien from Nanaimo. I spoke to all oft hem for like 30 minutes. That´s probably one oft he best things on the WCT. Arriving at the Campground, sitting around the Camp Fire and speaking to different folks. Amazing! On the one hand it is just too bad, that beacause of Covid there aren´t a lot of people on the trail, but on the other hand because of this the trail isn´t busy at all, the nature is indescribable and u got a lot of space around the Campgrounds. Lynn said back in the times, there were like 50 tents at one Campground. Weh ad so far maybe a maximum of 6 tents, pretty lucky. Before we went to bed Liesa, Mario and I went for a swim in the ocean, just beautiful😊 We went to bed at 11pm.
Fifth day – june 8th, Tuesday: After this realxing day yesterday we had a long trip ahead of us for today. 16km from Cribs Creek to Tsusidat Falls via Nitinaht Village. For this reason we got up at 6am, headed out at 7. The way on the beach was easy doable, I mean we are used to something harder than everything before Walbran Creek, so we had a good pace. At one point weh ad to climb the ladders up tot he forrest trail, because u can´t keep going on the beach. Unfortunaley we missed the ladders back down tot he beach, so weh ad to take the forrest route. 1 week before the WCT opened, a staff member reported an unyielding Cougar between km mark 30 and 34. U got one guess who had to hike through this area because this group missed the ladders back down to the trail – yep us! Fort hat reason we were really loud. It is weird, in situation like this u really don´t k what to say or sing or to whistle. I guess it is automatically that u start singing songs like „German Schlager“, songs of your childhood or other stuff like that. Anyways at km mark 32 we were able to go back on the beach. We met Lynn, Gill and Will (We met Will at Cribs Creek, a solo hiker who started the trail south one day after us. He is 30 years old, is living in Victoria and ist studying medicine – at this point we didn´t know yet that he was about to become a good friend of us until the end of the trip). We hiked the rest 2km to Nitinaht Village together. We arrived at this point around 11:30. We already made 12km on this day, so we were really happy about having lunch at this palce. The Nitinaht Village is a place where some natives are living. The offer a restaurant there with certain different food. Crab, fully loaded potato (oven potato with bacon, sour creme and spring onions), salmon, breakfast and beer. We all had lunch and just enjoyed some „normal“ food after days of porridge, dry food and snacks like protein bars. Of course it is not that cheap, but it was worth it at this point. We stayed there for 1 ½ hours. Then we moved on. Tob e able to go on u had to cross the Nitinaht River, a huge river, which is just passable with the boat. When u make your reservation u already pay for the ferry to cross this river. One oft he natives brought us over and we hiked the last 7km to Tsusidat Falls. Beautiful trail along the ocean, a mix of forrest and beach trails made this part so incredible that we all forgot about the pain in our body. Some oft he boardwalks were slippery, but mostly the trail was well maintained. We arrived around 3 at Tsusidat Falls. Tsusidat Falls is „la créme de la créme“ of the WCT. Unbelivable beautiful. Like I said I am going to post some pictures the next days. We went for a swim under the waterfall, we were even able to go behind the waterfall. For some reason the water was so warm, so that I stayed there 20 minutes. I just enjoyed life at this point. I felt so lucky, happy – just an amazing feeling of living😊 I started a campfire in the evening, we had dinner and sit around the camp fire with Lynn, Gill and Will. Later a canadien father and his daughter joined us and we spoke about everything. Canadiens, politics, different of german and canadien culture. Amazing evening!
Day 5 on the trail – two to go. This is the end of part two. I hoped u enjoyed reading it and further I hope too that I didn´t miss something. Anyways, looking forward to write the third part and to attach some pictures…
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