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Day 7, August 5th, Thursday: Michigan Creek to Bamfield, 12 km in 4h, 22 min
Map of Day 7 (click to enlarge) We were up at 6am, packed and ready to go by 7... Well, would you believe 7:15? Breakfast was oatmeal and other assorted left overs. Warren still had some film left, so on the way through, he took pictures of the outhouse. Sandy, by herself because Warren was taking pictures, got lost about 10 metres past the outhouse. She then thoroughly investigated all of the many beach accesses in the bear territory before stumbling onto the correct trail route. We stopped at the Pachena lighthouse where the foghorn blares twice every two minutes or so. Warren climbed up a tower (had to, since it didn’t have a “No Entry” sign on it). Sandy scolded from below while Bill snapped a picture.
Warren then bought fudge for everyone from one of the lighthouse keeper’s little boys, using Chris’s money. Back to the trail where we ran into Sebastien the Ranger again. Warren gave him some fudge. We then wandered through the forest on a very easy flat and wide trail.
The fog and the silent forest created an ethereal environment.
Ethereal forest. We saw no other hikers other than the the occasional group of day hikers coming in to see the lighthouse.
Ranger Elaine holds up a tree so that we can pass.
Warren wanders across the final bridge. We arrived at the trailhead as a group at 11:43, checked out at the registration center and then got a group photo taken by the taxi driver.
Posing for the final group photo! Back Row: Dana, Joan, Rick, Chris and Elaine Front Row: Bill, Warren and Sandy The weatherman was predicting rain for the next few days, which once again, reminded us of how fortunate we had been during the hike. We phoned ahead to confirm that the water taxi was indeed up and running again. It was, and was also supposedly on schedule. The shuttle to Bamfield was mercifully quick, what with our taxi driver (more of a good old country boy than a Canadian) and his 8 track country tapes. The water taxi wasn’t scheduled to arrive until 2:00pm so we had time for lunch. We chose to eat at the bar. Turned out to be very good food. Everyone except Warren had halibut. We then checked out a few stores for souvenirs, and once again ran into the Olympians. It was easy to convince them to join us on the water taxi, especially as we could almost guarantee them the two spaces vacated by Jeff and Sheryl. We then headed down to the Government dock in the bright and hot sunshine. Bamfield is a nice town situated on two sides of the bay and was very picturesque. We were told to pull out any clothes from our backpacks that we might need to keep warm of the voyage back to Port Renfrew. It was hard to imagine being cold while we were standing and sweating in the hot sun. But, extract the clothes we did, and then helped store the packs below decks. Literally below decks. We pulled out the floor boards, and put the packs down below.
Rick observing Brian at the stern controls. The trip on the water taxi was far more enjoyable than anyone had expected. No-one got seasick, even though the trip took and hour and a half longer than expected. The boat was heavily loaded and also had a new transmission, both of which combined to make it incapable of getting up on a plane. Brian invited anyone who was interested to join him in the cabin for conversation. We ended up talking at great length with him regarding the boat, whales, growing up on the coast, places to go along the trail, where the wrecks are, etc. Brian kept count of important events by taking a notches out of things on his boat’s dashboard. The steering wheel had two sets of notches: one for “whale kisses” (about 8), the other for “human rescues” (about 4, including ones that were DOA). On the passenger side of the dash was another set of notches, these ones numbering about 13. This was the number of passenger’s cameras that had been destroyed (by falling off a table or bench) or just dropped overboard. Brian also collects samples of whale feces. We left Bamfield harbour in bright sun, and then cruised into a thick fog bank. This was not good for whale spotting. Without humans to see the whales blowing, it was much less likely for us to find them. Trip wise, the thick fog didn’t affect the boat at all; Brian had all the navigational gear, and it was fun to watch the GPS and Radar displays. The fog got even thicker and the sea rougher as we rounded the point and started heading south.
Huddled in the back of Brian's boat: noise, spray and fog. We were now out on the open Pacific but it was occasionally clear enough for us to see the coast in a number of areas. Brian took us by some of the wrecks and then relied on us to be whale spotters. Elaine was the winner, and spotted the first whale right where we had left them, just off the kelp beds near Michigan Creek.
Thar she blows! Brian’s boat has been converted to be as innocous and safe for sealife as possible. The engines exhaust all their noise into the atmosphere where it deafened us, but not the whales. Brian had provided earplugs for all, no charge. No propellers or rudders extended into the water to damage the whales, instead, the twin diesels drove two huge jets, straight out the stern. We circled, chasing the whales. Most were seen from about 30 to 40 meters away, but one did surface less than 5 meters from us. The many hurried snaps probably resulted in lots of bad pictures of the back of people’s heads.
We then cruised down to the Valencia Cliffs, where we expected to see whales again, and we did. This time we got into the kelp, and got close to “High Kicker”. This California Grey whale likes to flick his tail into the air.
Just missed High Kicker's tail flick. We then circled the sea lion rock where we see, hear and smell them. About 40-60 sea lions, all fussing on the rock. As the boat neared them, a bunch dove into the water and chased the boat. We also saw lots of bald eagles and even saw a puffin! Puffins are rare in the area, so Brain made a note of it in his book.
It was very interesting to see the whole of the West Coast Trail, which we had just finished hiking that morning, from the water. A new perspective, and we saw lots more little inlets and falls we really should visit the next time we do the hike. We arrived in Port Renfrew sometime around 7pm, having left Bamfield a little after 2pm.
Unloading in Port Renfrew. We watched a family of otters compete for fish heads and such on a nearby floating dock. The Olympians (Linda and Marilyn) joined us for dinner at the End of the Line. Once again, halibut all around except for Warren. Rick presented his “woman” (“the babe of all chicks”) with a small gift. Very small, and to explain it here would belittle it. We stopped and talked to Brain who had ended up eating in the other room. He would’ve joined us for dinner but had had to fill the boat up with gas, and by then, the waitress had mislaid his order. We said good-bye and went to the local store to buy WestCoastTrail T-shirts. They were closed, but our waitress told us that they would be thrilled to open up, just for our group. So, we woke the owner up but she was glad to see us spend money. We finally hit the road about 9pm. Sometime later, the Information Pathfinder lost the Comedy Pathfinder. No matter, we would meet them somewhere in town. About three km from Sooke, Warren slammed on the brakes to avoid a cougar that had decided to cross the road just in front of him. Warren first saw the cougar as it loped along in the tall grass beside the road, and then, in the inexplicable manner of all wildlife, decided to cross the road just in front of Warren. The ABS cut in, and all passengers woke up just in time to see big cat as it cleared the road in two or three bounds, trying to ignore the squealing tires on the Pathfinder only 10 feet from it. The Comedy Pathfinder was stumbled upon as we passed McDonald’s, where they were making a McFlurry visit, with the world’s most confused order-taker. We arrived at the Travellers Inn in Victoria and were confronted with only a minor kaffuffle about rooms. The beds were huge. Rick and Elaine setup their tent on the bed with room to spare. We assume that they needed a little privacy, and were probably nervous about sleeping in the open. Showers were had all around, shaves were had by all, makeup was put on by some; we were back in civilization again.
Rick and Elaine in their hotel room. |
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Images with borders are thumbnails (click on them) Mail Me! warren.long@shaw.ca Warren's Hiking page is HERE Warren & Sandy's HomePage is HERE. |
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