The West Coast Trail: Day Four

Day Four: 17.5km-0 (Tscowis to finish at Pachena Bay)

“I can’t believe they’re right there! Have you seen them before?”

Nick and I stood on the torn shoreline of the West Coast Trail, roughly 15 kilometers from Bamfield, the closest town to the start (or in our case, the end) of the West Coast Trail. The morning had been cool and cloudy, but we felt relaxed, especially because we knew that in just a few short hours, we would likely be eating pancakes in some small town on the way home.

“I have, but never this close and never eating algae like that!” I replied. The subjects we were discussing were orcas, with said subjects directly off shore. We watched as their arrowhead fins, pitch black like basalt, sunk in and out of the water, their tails flipping upwards as they dove for the food they were scouring from the reefs below.

To see so many animals so close was amazing, and while I wish we would have glimpsed a bear or cougar or wolf, just knowing that they traveled these same pathways and beaches was enough.

The last eight kilometers on the beach were no less eventful–several sea lions whose eyes followed us as we wrapped our way around one crescent shaped section of beach, two dead octopus that looked far less colorful dead than alive, a dead baby shark that sadly looked like it had been finned, a colony of surf scoters and cormorants, several bald eagles and a huge anchor that had likely washed ashore after one of the several ship wrecks along the coast. The West Coast Trail isn’t known as the Graveyard of the Pacific for nothing!

After we reached the end of the beach section and were redirected inland, we suddenly started passing people who didn’t look quite so happy; the rain had finally started and it wasn’t going to let us out easy. Although the last few kilometers of the trail were relatively flat and canopied by wide-spreading cedars and Douglas fir, the rain poured through and our backpacks became heavier. Still, neither Nick nor I could be bothered to put on any rain gear: no jacket, pants or backpack cover. Again, thoughts of hot pancakes kept us moving at a fast pace!

Before noon on day four, we reached the end of the trail, signed out at the office, threw our packs in the car and just sat there, the radio playing some forgettable song, our minds still lost in the quiet of the abiding trail.

Daily Animal Count: orcas, octopi, baby shark, cormorants, surf scoter, bald eagles, kingfisher, american robins, stellar’s jay, banana slugs, sea anemones, people.

Missed days one, two & three? Check them out here, here & here!