Day 1 (July 3rd) Victoria to the Gordon River trailhead and then to Thrasher's Cove (5 +1km)
The taxi came at 5:25am. I wasn't quite ready, but we rushed out the door. My youngest sister's Maggie's friends Meghan and Sameen had hosted us in their apartment in Victoria. It was fun to take in the Canada Day celebrations and see some friends while in the city. We took part in the living Canada flag photo in front of the Legislature on July 1st.

At 6:15 am eight of us got into the West Coast Trail Express at the bus station station in Victoria. The bus rattled off on a windy road along the coast and through the forest. My lower back was already sore from lifting the pack. I tried to think positive. It wasn't raining and I was lucky to have this opportunity.
At the trailhead a woman from Parks Canada showed us a PowerPoint presentation and talked about some of the things we would see along the way. It was a lot to take in. Next, I went to the washroom in the campground next door then we put on our packs and got on the ferry to take us across Gordon River. Just as we were starting, some hikers were finishing and they joked about the 'smell' of soap when they saw us. From the very start it was a difficult trail. It was a steep uphill climb with lots of tree roots, fallen logs, and mud. I started crying after about 0.5 km and just before finishing the first kilometer we stopped to have lunch. We had started at about 11:15 a.m. and every 30 or 50 minutes we stopped for a short break for water and stretching. We were the last of the group that took part in the 9:30 a.m. orientation. An older man Bob was hiking on his own and kept a similar pace as us. He gave me tips like to hang my hiking sticks over my wrists while going up and down the ladders. I was walking slower and slower on the sharp descent to Thrasher's Cove the first campsite. It took us about 5.5 hours to do the first five kilometers of the trail. The campsite was about 1 km off the trail. We found a spot on the beach next to the driftwood that looked to be safely away from the reach of the high tide. Maggie wanted to do the challenging beach hike in the morning, so we would need to get up really early to be able to cross at low tide.