West Coast Trail -- Main Page

Obstacle Course In the Wild

by Emily and CK

We had been warned that it would be a tough trek.

Normally, a trail of 75 km (48 miles) and maximum elevation of 700 ft would not be regarded as a huge challenge. However, the West Coast Trail has a reputation of being difficult. This is how the Backpacker Magazine describes it:

If the Navy SEALs got into trail building, they'd devise something like this. Every mile brings a gut check: dizzying cable car rides across rivers, ladders 20 stories tall, giant log hurdles, boot-sucking mud, and seaweed-slickened boulder courses. Overlay that with potentially atrocious weather and wildly surging tides ...

So that begs the question: why are we doing this?

Well, besides its notorious difficulty, West Coast Trail is also famous for its scenic beauty. A long walk on the beach, between the green forest and the blue ocean, is an alluring thought for hikers. And to a degree, the challenges are part of its charm. It promises a new obstacle every hour, and a satisfying sense of accomplishment by the end of the day, when one rests the sore muscles by the ritualistic campfires.

That is, if we manage to navigate through the obstacle course without getting injured. For every summer (the trail is only open from May to September) around 80 people are evacuated from the trail due to injuries or illness. That translates to on average one evacuation every other day. It would be a tough trek indeed.

We'd better sign up for a guided trip. Hopefully the guides can keep us safe ...

It is ironic that so many people get injured on a trail which was originally built to save lives.

In the nineteenth century, this section of coastline of the Pacific Northwest was known as the Graveyard of the Pacific. So many ships had wrecked here that the Canadian government decided in 1908 to build the Dominion Lifesaving Trail along the west coast of Vancouver Island to facilitate rescue, evacuation, and the maintenance of the lighthouses and telegraph wire installed along the coast.

Modern technology had made sailing much safer, and after the establishment of the Pacific Rim National Park Reserve in 1970s, the path, now renamed the West Coast Trail, gained popularity among the backpacking community. With improved infrastructure (the aforementioned ladders and cable cars), hikers flocked to the trail in such huge numbers that the park had to set up a quota system (60 each day).

Trusting the good taste of the backpacking community, we called up a hiking outfitter in May and signed up for the trek on the Labor Day weekend.

Unfortunately, getting to the trail was a headache for us.

The hiking group was supposed to meet in Vancouver, from where they would take the ferry to Vancouver Island and proceed to the trailhead. It turned out that there were no direct flight between Washington DC (where we live) and Vancouver, and the non-direct flights were horribly expensive. In the end, we decided to fly to Seattle, and then take the ferry to Vancouver Island, and join our group at Victoria. That gave us half a day for sightseeing in Victoria before the hike, and half a day in Seattle after the trek.

Besides logistics, there were equipments. Some of our previous treks were hut-to-hut (Switzerland, Glacier) with no need of camping. The backpacking trips (Kilimanjaro. Inca Trail, Torres del Paine) had porters to carry our gears, as well as food, tents, and other necessities. For the West Coast Trail, we would be carrying our own gears, and some of the food. For the months leading up to the hike, we were shopping for gears which we did not already own: trekking poles, sleeping pads, gaiters. Then we just needed to be able to carry all of them on our backs.

We were always a little worried before a trip. (But that is part of the fun, isn't it?) But we were confident that we would not be among those who had to be evacuated. It was only 75 km, and we were doing it in 8 days (1 day more than the standard itinerary). Now please, please do not rain on the trail ...

And yet it did rain -- on the east coast. Hurricane Irene was working its destructive way up the Carolinas when we caught the evening flight out of its path to the Pacific Northwest. where the weather forecast was sunny.

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Created on 4th Oct 2011. Last updated on 25th Nov 2011.
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Obstacle Course In the Wild by Emily and CK

We had been warned that it would be a tough trek. Normally, a trail of 75 km (48 miles) and maximum elevation of 700 ft would not be regarded as a huge challenge. However, the West Coast Trail has a reputation of being difficult. This is how the Backpacker Magazine describes it:
	If the Navy SEALs got into trail building, they'd devise something like this. Every mile brings a gut check: dizzying cable car rides across rivers, ladders 20 stories tall, giant log hurdles, boot-sucking mud, and seaweed-slickened boulder courses. Overlay that with potentially atrocious weather and wildly surging tides ...
So that begs the question: why are we doing this? Well, besides its notorious difficulty, West Coast Trail is also famous for its scenic beauty. A long walk on the beach, between the green forest and the blue ocean, is an alluring thought for hikers. And to a degree, the challenges are part of its charm. It promises a new obstacle every hour, and a satisfying sense of accomplishment by the end of the day, when one rests the sore muscles by the ritualistic campfires. That is, if we manage to navigate through the obstacle course without getting injured. For every summer (the trail is only open from May to September) around 80 people are evacuated from the trail due to injuries or illness. That translates to on average one evacuation every other day. It would be a tough trek indeed. We'd better sign up for a guided trip. Hopefully the guides can keep us safe ... It is ironic that so many people get injured on a trail which was originally built to save lives. In the nineteenth century, this section of coastline of the Pacific Northwest was known as the Graveyard of the Pacific. So many ships had wrecked here that the Canadian government decided in 1908 to build the Dominion Lifesaving Trail along the west coast of Vancouver Island to facilitate rescue, evacuation, and the maintenance of the lighthouses and telegraph wire installed along the coast. Modern technology had made sailing much safer, and after the establishment of the Pacific Rim National Park Reserve in 1970s, the path, now renamed the West Coast Trail, gained popularity among the backpacking community. With improved infrastructure (the aforementioned ladders and cable cars), hikers flocked to the trail in such huge numbers that the park had to set up a quota system (60 each day). Trusting the good taste of the backpacking community, we called up a hiking outfitter in May and signed up for the trek on the Labor Day weekend. Unfortunately, getting to the trail was a headache for us. The hiking group was supposed to meet in Vancouver, from where they would take the ferry to Vancouver Island and proceed to the trailhead. It turned out that there were no direct flight between Washington DC (where we live) and Vancouver, and the non-direct flights were horribly expensive. In the end, we decided to fly to Seattle, and then take the ferry to Vancouver Island, and join our group at Victoria. That gave us half a day for sightseeing in Victoria before the hike, and half a day in Seattle after the trek. Besides logistics, there were equipments. Some of our previous treks were hut-to-hut (Switzerland, Glacier) with no need of camping. The backpacking trips (Kilimanjaro. Inca Trail, Torres del Paine) had porters to carry our gears, as well as food, tents, and other necessities. For the West Coast Trail, we would be carrying our own gears, and some of the food. For the months leading up to the hike, we were shopping for gears which we did not already own: trekking poles, sleeping pads, gaiters. Then we just needed to be able to carry all of them on our backs. We were always a little worried before a trip. (But that is part of the fun, isn't it?) But we were confident that we would not be among those who had to be evacuated. It was only 75 km, and we were doing it in 8 days (1 day more than the standard itinerary). Now please, please do not rain on the trail ... And yet it did rain -- on the east coast. Hurricane Irene was working its destructive way up the Carolinas when we caught the evening flight out of its path to the Pacific Northwest. where the weather forecast was sunny. begin
Jump To: (These pages were developed with Internet Explorer and may not align correctly in other browsers.) Created on 4th Oct 2011. Last updated on 25th Nov 2011. ckchow.mbox@gmail.com