It was around 4:30am when I heard hikers
around us getting up. I am not really sure how much I actually slept on any of
the six nights of the trip. I am a very light sleeper. When the tide was coming in, the waves
sometimes sounded like thunder crashing onto the shore. I would just lay on my
matt thinking and hoping my body would rest if my mind didn’t.
It was a foggy morning when we started out and
my cough was at its worst with the heavy air. We were counting down the
kilometres, bridges and ladders as we went by.
The path was flatter, smoother, and somewhat easier, but my body was
tired. First it was my right knee that started to hurt, then it was my left ankle,
then my left knee. I started to feel like I had sprained or strained both my
ankles and knees. My whole body ached as
I forced myself to walk forward. We stopped at the Pachena point lighthouse
almost hidden in the fog. Then later we went a lookout to watch a group of sea
lions fighting and groaning on some rocks. I kept looking at my watch wondering
how we were doing for time. We only took a couple of breaks. For the last leg
of the hike I got to decide whether we should finish the trail on the beach or
the forest. I chose the beach because my joints wanted something flatter. Pachena
Bay has one of the most
beautiful beaches of the trail. There were a few rocks to hike over, but it was
mostly sand. When the beach ended, we went through a few trees and there was
the Parks Canada building. We were done.
It was around noon when we handed back our
registration papers. We had to figure out where we were going next. We went to join the group waiting for the bus
at the parking lot. I was excited to take the smelly garbage bag out of my pack
and put it in the bin. There were a lot
of people waiting. The other option we had had was to take a water taxi along
the coast of the trail, but we needed to be at least a group of four and my
sisters were concerned about the extra cost.
As well, we had needed to have reserved that in advance. It would have left
around 12:15pm. Because it was a Tuesday there was also a ferry option going up
to Port Alberni,
but it was leaving from a dock in Bamfield around 12:30pm. We waited for the bus. It was late and those
that had arrived earlier had time to phone and make a reservation or had booked
it in advance. There were six of us
waiting our chances. The driver told us there were three spots left on the bus.
He listened to our stories and picked the other three.
We went back to the trailhead office and
pay phone. At that moment, the German
group that had traveled with us arrived. We got them to take our photo. Other
people were arriving for the afternoon orientation and asked us what it was
like. Sometimes you didn’t know what to say because they were so enthusiastic. There
were two campground options: the beach at the trailhead or in the town of Bamfield. We decided to opt to explore Bamfield. It was
a 5km walk into town. We started walking
and then a pick-up truck drove up and asked if we wanted a ride. Before Maggie knew it was the German group,
she said ‘yes.’ Suddenly we were hitchhikers and sitting in the back of a
truck.
Bamfield is a small town. The campground
almost made me cry. After the beauty of the ocean, it was hard to set-up the
tent next to RVs on some grass next to a road. The nice part was the running
water and being able to wash my hands. Because we didn’t have a car to store
our food, we had to do a bear hang on a beam in the food hut. After we had
set-up, we decided to walk around the town. It was nice not to have to carry
our back packs anymore.
