Wednesday, March 07, 2007

After-hike thoughts

According to the guide book and map we estimated these distances for each day:
Day 1 – Louie Lagoon to Third Beach: 1 km
Day 2 – Third Beach to Calvin Falls: 11.5 km
Day 3 – Calvin Falls to Beano Creek: 10.5 km
Day 4 – rest day at Beano Creek: 0 km
Day 5 – Beano Creek to sea caves: 10.5 km
Day 6 – Sea caves to Yuquot: 4 km
Total: 37.5 km not including beach exploration :-)

Here's a map showing Nootka Island and the main waypoints of the trip.

Did it feel like only 37.5 km? After all, we've hiked further, with more elevation gain in less time both before and since that trip. I think the answer is yes it did and no it didn't feel like only 37.5 km. Yes, because we spent a sizeable fraction of each travel day just relaxing and doing nothing. No, because there were stretches where it was very slow going.

Things that made the hike difficult:
1) frequent hauling body over/under trees and/or up/down steep slopes
2) super-slippery rocks
3) pea gravel
4) hiking in hot sun

The elevation gain is zero, of course – it's a coastal hike. But there are stretches where you expend a lot of energy getting you and your 50-lb pack across many obstacles. As a result, you don't get much chance to get into a rhythm and I found I tired much more quickly than I would otherwise have done.

I would say for anyone doing this hike to do what it takes to keep cool when hiking out on the beach. Hiking from north to south left us facing the sun at all times and the thick undergrowth made it impossible to nip into the trees for a bit of shade. Of course, that assumes you see the sun – it is entirely possible that the sun might not make its presence felt!

We were very, very lucky with the weather. We planned the dates to get the right tides. But we could not have predicted the dry summer which made all our creek crossings easy or even non-existent. We also had good weather for the duration of our trip. I'm sure that a bit of rain would have made things feel very different.

Even with our good fortune there were times I could have sat down and not gone any further. But when you're out in the middle of nowhere with three others and no way to get to your destination other than your own two feet, you don't really have much choice :-) You have to keep going, so plenty of stamina and a healthy dose of bloody-mindedness works wonders!

So why is it that this hike, above all the other back-packing trips of summer 2006, keeps drifting back into my mind? I think it was the remoteness, the peace and quiet and the company of three great companions (of course I am married to one of them :-) It really helped that we all had the same outlook on the hike too so there were no egos pulling in different directions.

The key test of a hike is, would I do it again? The answer is unreservedly Yes.

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