West Coast Trail.....?

[colbys]

anyone ever hike the west coast trail on vancouver island in british columbia?its in pacific rim national park.
i did it in 97' on my way up to alaska and it kicked my ass.I thought i was mister "i just did the AT 2 years ago and this would be cake",boy was i wrong,rain every dam day,really difficult hiking.not alot of elevation gain,but very dangerous.i must have fell or tripped 20 times in short time it took to finish it.alot of walking on the beach,if you time the tides right.i did it in early season(may) and had so much rain it was like hiiking in a river the entire time.
of all the long hikes,day hikes,ive done,id have to say it is(pound for pound)the toughest hike ive ever done.its only 77 km long,but man it is a bitch,a great challenge for anybody.

[Tha Wookie]

I did the American version, an 1800 mile counterpart. You're right, tideblazing is very challenging. I beleive in the future it will be regarded as a very cool and unique way to hike.:sun

www.trailjournals.com/westcoast (http://www.trailjournals.com/westcoast)

[PKH]

Yeah - did that in the late seventies when it was still pretty new. I was young and ignorant - it seems that everyone was. Wonderful but .... a genuine ass kicker. These days the number of hikers is strictly limited - good thing too. This trail is still not for pussycat hikers.

Cheers,

PKH

[jags]

Hi Colbys,
I did the WCT last June and had a great time, even though it was tougher than I expected.
I posted a couple of comments with links to journals and photos by others back in June 05, on this thread(page 3).
I may even go back and do it again this year or save my pennies for a September hike in my native Scotland.
I think it is safer and easier now than 10-20 years ago but the south-west end, if you skip Thrasher's Cove, is still one tough 10 km hike. It takes all day.

Jags