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The seeds of this hike were planted in March 1997. Our group of friends were all up at the Emma Lake cabin for a weekend of winter sports. In front of a roaring fire, Joan quietly admited that she had been thinking about hiking the West Coast Trail (before hitting the ripe old age of 50!). Rick had heard about this earlier and had brought along a book, "Hiking the Edge". Warren read it then and there, and was sucked into the adventure by the photos. We decided we would try and do the hike. Not soon, but 16 months from then. We started planning. And 16 months later we were on our way! Note that this trip report is a long story. Don't feel obligated to read all the text. Skim it and look at the pictures. Who are we?
We spent the next year acquiring information and gear. Warren stumbled on to David Foster's email address ( davefoster@shaw.ca ), and acquired a unique, autographed "Blisters and Bliss"(you can too, visit Dave's site here!) . Warren and Chris also made detailed Excel spreadsheets, listing everything that should be brought, and their associated weights. Most of us prepared for the hike pretty diligently:
90 days before our hoped for start date, Elaine used her charms and got the exact booking we wanted... just about impossible for a group of 10!. A month before the hike, we met to decide on how to divide up food and other shared items (stoves, tarps, climbing ropes, etc.) We tried to keep everyones packs down to 30% of bodyweight. For the most part, this was easier for the men just because they were bigger. A bare minumum pack came in at about 35 pounds, which left a 115 pound woman with very little extra. Foodwise we did something unusual. We dehydrated almost all of our own food. No prepackaged dehydrated meals were to be found in our group. To make meals more of a group thing, each person was assigned a dinner, or a few breakfasts. People were responsible for their own lunches and snacks. This meant that when we sat down in the evening, we all ate the same meal together. It also meant that one person was saddled with the cooking that evening. But, in compensation, all the other evenings you were free to just eat (and maybe do dishes!). Since everyone carried their own group meal, it made your pack a lot lighter once you had cooked your meal, and gotten 10 pounds or so out of your pack! This worked so well for us, I can't imagine doing a trip any other way. As an aside, most people in our group dehydrated their own fruit. It was incredible and so far superior to the purchased stuff, that we will never go back to store- bought. We had strawberries, mangoes, pineapple, peaches, etc. |
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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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