About one in a hundred hikers are evacuated off the WCT on Vancovuer Island in British Colombia. It’s difficult and dangerous.
But this is the strangest WCT evacuation story I’ve heard yet.
Disaster struck the group when they tried to cross a deep surge channel in the sandstone early in the day. …
Peterson’s father, Neil, a veteran hiker, had looked at the width of the surge channel and instructed the others to get their ropes out of their backpacks.
Taking off their packs probably saved their lives.
“The packs would have dragged you down immediately,” said Neil, 63.
As they pulled out their ropes, there was no sign anything was amiss. “There was no water in the area and it was close to low tide,” he said.
Seconds later they were thrashing around in the churning water, buffeted by huge pieces of driftwood.
Death by rogue wave. Death trying to cross a surge channel. Those are old stories on the West Coast.
The amazing part (one I still can’t picture) is that the hikers were left stranded in a “hole”. I assume in the surge channel and surrounded by washed-up logs.
One of their group had crossed the surge channel successfully. He — eventually — was able to call in the American Coast Guard helicopter. They all survived.
Photograph by : John McKay, Times Colonist
Watery trap was ‘like certain death’
(via Two-Heel Drive)
Safety & Staying Healthy – Are surge channels a problem? – i-NEEDtoKnow
I’d like to update this post with photos of where they were trapped.
West Coast Trail – besthike information page
Until recently I had never heard of hiking in 
besthike.com 
