Perfect weather on the beach … yet I had to be at the trailhead by 1pm to catch my (prescheduled) Trail Shuttle out.
I tried to enjoy the final few hours, as best I could.
It was time to go.
This had just been left ashore. Is it a Salmon Shark?
Given time, I would have hidden myself above and taken video of whatever scavenger arrived first.
At exactly low tide, the sea stacks were dry. And very pretty.
Accessible by car, families with kids were day tripping to Josef.
I sent them running to see the “shark”. 🙂
I washed up in the estuary. And left the beach.
The signage is great on this adventure. No GPS or compass needed, really. But it would have saved time to have all water sources listed by GPS coordinates .
Cape Scott Trail parking lot.
Obviously, the girls had arrived before me.
We were somewhat stinky after 7days in the wilderness. The girls had swum in Eric Lake, however. Respect.
Unsurprisingly — for me — I found there was no water at the parking area. 😦
… It was another km walk to wash up in a creek. And change clothes.
Our Shuttle arrived, right on schedule. We were only 64km away from civilization!
Doh! We broke down, half way.
Our rescuer was paid in Halibut!
We did make time to visit the famous Shoe Tree.
One of the girls donated some sandals.
Elated to be finished, we chowed down in Port Hardy. I had Halibut & Chips and big waffle cone ice cream.
The girls and I said our farewells.
In bed at the hostel by 7:30pm. Somewhat sick in the stomach. (bad water?) Somewhat exhausted.
Mornings are often foggy on this coast. It burns off after a couple of hours on a sunny day.
Here’s a fog bank, for comparison, dissipating later in the day at Nel’s Bight.
Departing Nissen, you find that your North Coast Trail is now also the older (1973) Cape Scott Trail. In much better condition.
Very cool. Unique, so far as I’ve seen, is this broken up wooden ship hulk, sunk as a breakwater, slowly being overgrown by vegetation.
The Earth reclaiming. 🙂
From 1897 until 1910, Danish settlers tried to establish a fishing community near San Josef Bay. Due to the harsh climate and lack of governmental support, the community failed …
… another attempt was made at Hansen Lagoon, similarly failing by 1917. Alfred Spencer, the last resident, left in 1956.
Some artifacts can still be seen in the park, including a three-metre-tall granite tombstone, several corduroy roads, many ruins (that look like anonymous mossy mounds), and rusty farming implements. …
Of those relics, the most impressive to me is this crude tractor abandoned jammed between trees near Hansen Lagoon.
Nel’s Bight is gorgeous. My favourite stop. The most popular beach in the Park is reasonably easy to access from the parking lot. No need to hike the NCT to get here.
I set up my tent early in the day, for the first time. And walked the 2km long beach barefoot in bright sunshine.
I’d pushed to get here early to have time to side trip to the Cape Scott lighthouse. (minimum 13.6km)
It’s a pretty, varied and well maintained trail. I love log bridges made of materials available on site, this style in particular.
Some find the manned light house a bit of a let down. It’s immaculate, however.
The weather was marvelous. With views over to the island north of the north tip of Vancouver Island.
The letdown is the location of the light station, far from shore atop a hill. Somehow it’s not as exciting as those on the West Coast Trail.
Locals love grass fringed Guise Bay en route.
And unique Dune Neck to Experiment Bight.
Natives formerly dragged their boats across this sandy stretch rather than risk the circumnavigation of Cape Scott in dangerous seas.
FEAR the WOLVES
By the time I got back to the tent, it was late. I was tired.
My food, as always, was carefully locked away in the campsite cache.
🙂 Fortunately, I’d found stove fuel left behind by departing hikers.
😦 Unfortunately …, there was a pack of wolves close to the water source at Nel’s beach.
Why?
They were feasting dawn and dusk on a sea lion carcass dead directly in front of the Ranger’s cabin. Here a photo I took the next day.
The water — however — was close to the Ranger’s cabin, as well.
So wolves, be damned. I marched directly to get water. The beasts dissolved into the trees.
…
It was quite dark by the time I finished dinner. Instead of cleaning the pot, I used an old trick — filling it with sand and sea water. That prevents critters from coming to visit during the night.
But the tide was low. I had a long walk barefoot to reach the surf.
When I turned around, there was the alpha wolf, about 25ft away. They’d trapped me!
I SHOUTED. I raved. I waved (my pot).
I grabbed KELP and snapped it like a WHIP.
The wolf mother finally realized I was some madman. And finally trotted off with her brood. … At least my THEORY is that this is a mother with young ones. Some speculated the leader is the Alpha Male with 3 or 4 followers.
Here’s a wolf, perhaps the same wolf, on the same beach Aug 10th, 2012, a month before I was there.
It was much, much later before I realized she was only coming out to see where I dumped leftovers in the sea.
Wolves almost NEVER attack humans. The are among the least threatening beasts anywhere for their size and strength.
The Vancouver Island Wolf is a subspecies of grey. They will attack dogs and, indeed, there were at least two dog encounters this season in the Park. Don’t bring your dog here.
Their main prey on this Island are Columbian black-tailed deer and Roosevelt elk. While I was on the Trail, one hiker captured video of a wolf chasing a deer through the surf.
It IS possible to hike along the beach from Skinner Creek to Nahwitti River at low tide. (Start a couple of hours before low tide, if you can.)
Another day. Another BEAR.
Stumbling out of the trees at this beach — there was a bear. Studiously ignoring me.
I quietly scrambled atop this rocky outcropping. No bear could get up there.
I read my book. And then left a Summit Stone in a crack on top. 🙂
Many feel the Nahwitti Stretch is even more difficult than day 1 Shushartie Overland, but I liked it much better. There’s plenty of variety. Plenty of entertainment.
For example, the Nahwitti River Cable Car.
Now that’s FUN. I did not see any sign of spawning salmon, however. Perhaps it’s too early in the season.
FUN too are the longest stairs on the Trail — “Long Leg Hill”.
Hikers praise aloud those who built these, let me tell you. 🙂
So far as I saw, there’s only one truly impassable headland on the official North Coast Trail — at km 43.2.
Late, I arrived at high tide, and was obliged to lie down for a nap.
At some point later the girls arrived, needing to wait as well. They were more than mildly surprised when I popped up out-of-nowhere from my sleep.
As we found out the following day, the girls never actually made it to Sutil that night. Due to knee pain and failing light, they decided to wild camp in one of the pocket coves just short of Sutil, having to “hang” their food from bears, wolves and (perhaps) hyenas. 🙂
If the ladies had known in advance they were too late to get through, they could have stopped at Nahwitti River campsite.
The tent platforms on the NCT are fantastic. If it’s raining, you definitely try to set-up on these.
On arriving at the beautiful big beach at Sutil, I was astonished to find 3 kayaks and 4 kayakers, just dropped by the water taxi, starting a 2wk adventure. (I wished I’d come in with them to start hiking here.)
It was a birthday party. I felt obliged to finish off the leftovers from their heavy dinner. And to drink their heavy wine. And warm myself at their friendly fire.
As dusk fell we sipped wine, … and wondered whatever happened to the girls.
Hendrik Morkel waxes philosophic on a most practical matter:
… I’m convinced that it is on average lighter to go with an UL stove and dehydrated food, as I reckon it will be tastier and give more (mental) energy. …
I’m seeing a trend to hiking festivals where you can learn about local culture. This new event in Spain includes: Olive Harvest & Virgin Oil Production, Andalucian Cookery Classes, Pottery, Bodega Wine Tasting Tour, Oil Painting and several more.
February 26 – March 4, 2012
Malaga Airport, Spain
The White Mountain Village of El Burgo plays hosts to the first Andalucian International Walking & Cultural Festival.
Guided walks will explore the surrounding olive groves and beyond to the stunning Nature Park of Sierra de las Nieves. Take part in a wide variety of activities as well as colourful local fiestas including Andalucia Day and the celebration of Carnaval.
The whole thing is an invention of a company, Frontier Holidays. Looks like fun to me.
A prototype unit just shown at the Outdoor Retailers show in Vegas Salt Lake City.
… The Bearier 700 is two polycarbonate halves (production models will likely be a translucent color) that can be carried separately while hiking.
Backpackers can split them up between hikers, or carry the halves separately in or on their packs, for easier access and packing while hiking …
… at less than 2 lbs, if the Bearier 700 passes the National Park Service’s bear test, it could be a contender for the lightest canister, space-to-weight. …
Day 4 had been long long, over 30km. In the dark I lucked into finding a perfect tent site, hidden away in a rock niche high above the coast.
It had previously been used as a meditation retreat.
Dawn is the most peaceful time of the day. They are not early risers on Jeju.
Locals live by the “Sam Mu” (“Three Nothings”) – no beggars, no thieves, no gates.
Here is (by far) my favourite restaurant over 100km – the Two Weeks Coffee Shop.
The owner retired from Seoul. Because he and his wife love coffee, they purchased the property to set up a retirement job.
Every Korean can guess why it’s named Two Weeks. … You’ll have to go yourself and ask if you want to know. Bring a book and a laptop. They have free WiFi. You can hang out in their lovely garden.
Check the vista from atop the nearby cinder cone.
Known as an “oreum” (lateral volcano grown over as a hill or small mountain), the Jeju Olle never bypasses one without making you climb to the top.
That’s the second largest “city” on Jeju, Seogwipo.
They have the same huge, colourful web spiders I’ve bumped into many times in Hong Kong.
I imagine these small, timid feral cats eat the spiders, when they can.
I finished at the official Jeju Olle office in Seogwipo, a bit disappointed that I ran out of time to do route 7. Some feel that’s the best of all.
I love my clear plexiglass BearVault, happy to carry the extra weight for the convenience of tossing my food anywhere I like.
But if I tighten the lid enough for the simple plastic clip to “click”, it can be tough to open. Sometimes I need strip down, call on super human strength, and sit on the thing to squish it a little bit oblong.
Turns out that’s normal for this gear. Check this rant from thruhiker Crow:
It was 4am and I was lying in my frosty tent in the Sierras, thinking how splendid a hot beverage would be right now. I was hungry as I hadn’t eaten dinner the night before because I was low on food and one of the ways I ration my food is to skip dinner.
I was thinking: for the same weight as the bear canister I could have brought my stove, pot, fuel canister, and 5 snicker bars. Right now, I could be drinking a hot beverage and eating a snicker bar. That would be good, but instead I have a bear canister.
I reached out of my tent, grabbed my frosty bear canister, tried to open it—it didn’t budge. I straddled it and tried to open it, it wouldn’t turn a bit–it was completely locked up. And that is when I renamed my BearVault 450 bear canister: my “G…
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