A beautiful crystal-clear morning and the first task was to make use of the ITF. Then it was off to collect the food bags. I must have been paranoid about the rope coming loose as it took ages to undo all the knots and loops I'd made last night! When I eventually retrieved the bags (all fine) I carried them back to camp to find the others stirring.
Breakfast was followed by breaking camp, shaking the dew off the flysheets and repacking the backpacks. By 8.20 am we were loaded and ready to go. It felt fresh and cool walking over the sand before the sun had risen over the trees.
We reached the end of the beach and faced our first challenge of the day: a 30-foot climb up a steep, root-and-fern covered slope. A rope was there to help but it wasn't entirely necessary. That accomplished, we immediately began climbing over and scrambling under fallen trees. Within 20 minutes though we came out of the forest onto another sandy beach, around the headland from Third Beach. The tide was low and we had a large expanse of firm sand to walk on – just perfect.
Soon the beach became rockier and before long we were up at the high-tide line walking through the grass and rocks rather then picking our way over numerous little boulders. Along this stretch we settled into a comfortable stride, pausing after an hour to supplement breakfast with a Clif bar.
Setting off again, we came to the best hiking yet – a solid, level tidal shelf which was free of seaweed. Dozens of small shore crabs scuttled around our feet, threatening violent reprisal with a wave of their claws. Brenda picked one up and it reminded us of the crabs in Finding Nemo: "Heyyy, heyyy".
More tidal shelf, more panoramic views out to sea and more steady progress. At times we had to pick our way through dried seaweed which was pretty smelly. The abundance of bear poo suggested that they like to eat seaweed. No bear sightings, but before long we spotted a set of bear tracks in the sand. To our relief they were heading back the way we had just come. But after a while we noticed that there were now two sets of tracks, and they were heading the same direction as us. We kept our eyes and ears open but still saw no bears.
The long sandy crescent of Skuna Bay came and went. The next hurdle turned out to be no hurdle at all. We were racing against the tide to get round the headlands before Calvin Falls (which was why we were getting up at 6 am) and we weren't sure where the tide would be at the time we got there. The tide was still a long way out, despite coming in rapidly and we made it round safely. But be warned: there was nowhere to go if the tide had come in. The high-tide line was the cliffs, and although they weren't very high (maybe 20-30 feet), they were high enough to stop you getting off the beach.
We made it round the headland with plenty of time to spare, and we were back on firm sand. By now I was getting tired and we had a short break. Strangely there was absolutely no sign of Calvin Falls. Were we as far along as we though we were? It was sometimes hard to tell and even after some discussion it wasn't clear that everyone was 100% sure where we were! We set off again along the beach, wondering to each other where the falls were.
Just as we were beginning to doubt our progress, we came to a curve in the beach and suddenly there were Calvin Falls. Yay! We all cheered. The book suggested that the best camping was on the south side of the creek. Although the tide was not high, the creek was deep enough to look a bit daunting to wade through with a full pack. So we stopped on the north side (next to the frame of a shelter) and had our lunch.
After lunch we decided that we were actually more than happy with the camping options on the north side and pitched our tents. Brenda and Merewyn put theirs within the shelter frame (no roof though). Someone had draped seaweed over the frame, which made it look like it was decorated with Christmas lights. With flysheets laid out to dry in the sun we set about relaxing. Brenda and Merewyn opted for another dip in the ocean and after some squealing (one of my enduring memories :-) they made it in. But not for long, and soon they headed for the pool beneath Calvin Falls. Maria joined them (I was too cowardly as the water felt cold and I didn't fancy another rash) and I got a great photo of the three of them under the falls. Despite the warm sun, everyone had a hot drink after their dip.
Wow – what to do with the rest of the day? A bit of exploring here and there was in order. I went over to the south side, bravely wading the creek (ha ha) to investigate a hanging rope for food storage. It turned out to be not high enough off the ground, but I did find a small hammock made from fishing net which I made use of for a quick nap. Brenda and Merewyn explored the top of the falls, as did I a bit later (easy to get up, not so easy to get down on the crumbly rock). The view from the top of the falls wasn't much better than being on the beach and it really wasn't worth going up there.
In the meantime Merewyn had found a bigger and better shelter in the trees a few yards further north from our tents. I made my way back and we all investigated. The best thing was it had a large fixed rope, neatly solving our food storage problem. The shelter was amazing, complete with a double hammock. Plenty of people had stayed there, some of them at less hospitable times of the year. Names and dates were carved in or written on every available piece of wood or float. We found a pen (!) and proudly added our names to a plastic float.
The sun was getting lower in the sky and we decided to prepare dinner a little earlier than last night. That done, we refilled our water containers, stowed our food and as the sun went down, headed into our tents.
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