After doing a good amount of research, the new Canon S100 was considered by many the best pocketable “semi-manual” camera out there. It had a few new features over it’s older brother, the S95. The ones that interested me the most was the 1080p vs 720p video, and 5x zoom vs 3.8x zoom. My intention was to wait until the S100 went on sale sometime this year, and buy it then. It’s retail price is $430, not cheap at all for a non-DSLR camera.

One of the things that concern me the most about bringing electronics to a long trip is that I have to be mentally prepared for the possibility that everything can get lost or stolen. I once had a backpack with almost $2,000 worth of stuff in it stolen at the Peru/Bolivia border, and while I don’t intend to have it happen again, the chances are not small in a multi-year trip. The more expensive the stuff, the more it hurts when you lose them. So when the Canon S95 went on sale on Amazon for $229 at the end of last year, I thought about it for like 30 minutes, and came to the conclusion that the extra features of the S100 was not worth an extra $200.

I’m very happy with the S95. There is a Aperture Priority Mode (where shutter speed is adjusted for you), a Shutter Priority Mode (where aperture is adjusted for you), and a Manual Mode you can can freely adjust both. I had read in photography books about shutter speed and aperture size, but having not had prior chance to manually control them, I could never really fully understand them. After playing the S95 for about 15 minutes, I totally understood the relationship between the two. I like the ability to save pictures in RAW format, which allows for more post-processing options (something I know nothing about, but want to learn). I also like how simple, clean, and elegant it looks. I added an $8 GGS Glass Screen Protector which fit perfectly.

Canon S95

Canon S95 with GGS Glass Screen Protector

Things I wish were a bit better is the video recording. Even in 720p mode, it doesn’t look very crisp compared to my old Panasonic, which also recorded in 720p. The 3.8x zoom could also be a bit limiting in some situations but I guess I can always crop the picture later.

Here are 2 pictures I took using Aperture Priority Mode. You can see the different in the blurring of the bottle in the background.

Canon S95 - Aperture Priority Mode Set To f2.0

Canon S95 - Aperture Priority Mode Set To f8.0

I usually try to not make a big deal out of new years. It’s nice to see how people around the world get together to celebrate it, but as far as our personal lives are concerned, it doesn’t make a huge different. I mean, you go to sleep on a Saturday in 2011, and wake up on a Sunday in 2012. Except for the festivities, it’s really like any other Saturday -> Sunday transition. Having new year resolutions are nice and all, but if a resolution is important enough and we are serious about pursuing it, we really don’t have to wait until January 1 to get started. It could easily start on December 29 for example. A lot of us also look back at the ending year and see what we have experienced and accomplished. It is always good to get perspective on our lives, but again, why wait until the new year to do it, when it can be done at anytime, and more frequently than once a year?

Having said all that, when the calendar turned to 2012, it made me realize that the trip is right around the corner. I still have a lot of things to do before departure. It feels like moving to a new city, but worse. At least when you are just moving, you can just dump all the junk into boxes and sort later. I’m trying to minimize my possessions so they won’t take up too much space while I’m gone for 3+ years. I also feel that I haven’t researched enough about possible destinations. In the internet age, this can always be done once on the road, but I think the pre-trip research is a very fun process. It gives me the chills sometimes when I discover a new place through a video or a picture, and say to myself “I want to, and will be there”.

My departure date should be around the beginning of November, and the first destination will most certainly be New Zealand. That leaves me 9 more months at home. Aside from the many hours I spend working, the planning for the trip which I’m not doing nearly enough, I also want to enjoy the comforts of home that I know I will miss once on the road. I’m a big sports fan and I will miss following my teams on TV. I will also miss my room, my bed, my computer with dual monitors, my car, etc. All pretty superficial things, but I got used to them. There are also a few places I would like to see around here (like the Grand Canyon) before I leave. Going on a long trip like this is not all 100% positive. I actually enjoy my life back home and I’m not leaving to try to escape from something.

To help better manage my time and tasks, I started making a list of all things I need to do before departure. The list includes tasks like donating old clothes, booking the plane ticket, updating the theme on this blog, etc. There are about 150 items on the list. I put the travel related tasks on this post, and will be updating it regularly. I will hopefully finish these tasks with time to spare, so I can enjoy the last days before departure without stress.

For some reason, I was really excited about getting the new passport. I checked online almost everyday on my application status. The regular service is supposed to be from 4-6 weeks, but I got it under 3 weeks. I also got my old passport back in the mail a couple of days after the new one.

Aside from having more pages, the cover is also much thicker than the old one, probably because of the microchip they put in it now. Of the 52 pages, only 41 are available for visas and stamps, the rest contain miscellaneous information.

New US Passport

Old 24-pager US Passport vs new 52-pager

Assuming that I don’t lose it or have it stolen, this little blue book is going to be my inseparable companion on many adventures around the world.

Updated: December 21, 2011

Here’s a list of tasks I need to complete before the departure for my round the world trip. I’ll be crossing them out as I complete them, and adding more as they come up.

Logistics

• Decide on first destination
• Book plane ticket to first destination (unless it’s Mexico, in which case I’ll travel by land)
• Buy travel insurance

Documents

• Renew US passport
• Proof of vaccination

Gear

• Buy packpack (around 40 liters)
• Find a lightweight hair clipper (I have short hair and cut it myself every 2 weeks)
• Research and buy a netbook (I think the pros outweigh the cons for carrying one)
• Buy compact camera

Money

• Cancel unused credit cards
• Get a Capital One credit card (no foreign exchange fees when used overseas)

Books

• Read The Rough Guide’s “First-Time Around The World” 
• Read National Geographic’s “Journeys Of A Lifetime”
• Read “The Tao Of Travel” By Paul Theroux
• Read Lonely Planet’s “The Big Trip”
• Read Lonely Planet’s “Travel Photography”
• Read “The Photographer’s Eye” By Michael Freeman
• Read Lonely Planet’s “Travel Writing”
• Reread “Vagabonding” by Rolf Potts

Milford Track by OneEighteen on Flickr

New Zealand will likely be my first destination. I can’t wait to get there and hike (or tramp, as they call it other there) it’s many trails (or walks, as they call it). There’s so much to see and do that I think I could easily spend a whole year there. The 9 most popular walks are branded as The Great Walks.

Great Walk	Distance	Suggested Days	Hut Costs (NZD)	Camping Costs (NZD)
Totals	551 km	37	NZD 1072	NZD 392
Lake Waikaremoana Great Walk	42 km	4	123	49
Tongariro Northern Circuit	50 km	4	124	82
Whanganui Journey	144 km	5	107	75
Abel Tasman Coast Track	51 km	5	143	49
Heaphy Track	82 km	5	123	49
Routeburn Track	32.1 km	3	103	31
Milford Track	53.5 km	4	154	N/A
Kepler Track	60.1 km	4	154	46
Rakiura Track	36 km	3	41	11

They are all hikes on foot except for the Whanganui Journey, which is a canoe trip down Whanganui River. The suggested days for each hike above are on the conservative side, I’d probably do them in fewer days but I also don’t want to rush just for the sake of going faster. The hut and camping costs on the table above are based on the number of nights spent on each walk. There are very few places where huts are not available, so for those nights I used the cost of a campsite spot to calculate the hut costs.

Huts or Camping?

All of walks have huts, which are shelters that in general have stoves, beds and toilets. There’s usually also camping spots around these huts. I imagine that the huts are a fun way to meet a lot of people, but I really enjoy the whole camping in a tent experience. When lights are out, I think I’d prefer to sleep by myself in my tent, rather than hearing other people snore. I will probably end up doing a bit of both camping and staying in huts.

Reservations

These walks are hugely popular and all require reservations during peak season (when I’d be there). Today (November 23, 2011) I went to the online reservation website and tried to book huts for next Monday (November 28, 2011) to get an idea of availability and how far in advance I’d need to make reservations. The most popular walk is the Milford Track, and the earliest available date is March 15, 2012! There are also no camping spots for this walk. Two of the other walks (Heaphy Track and Abel Tasman) would also require some advance booking. The remaining ones have plenty of hut and camping spots available and could just be booked a few days in advance.

Costs

New Zealand is an expensive country to backpack, and starting my trip by staying there for 3 months is going to take a good chunk out of my overall budget, but I’ve been wanting to go there for a long time, so I’ll try not to worry too much about this. Doing a lot of hiking will also save me loads of money, since most days while doing walks, I’ll be spending less than US$35/day. If I’m camping, some days will be way less than that. This is great because some backpackers have averaged US$80-100 while doing city travel in New Zealand, and I can’t imagine spending US$7,500-9,000 for a 3-month stay.

Which Walks To Pick?

As far picking which of these walks to go to, when presented with many  choices I always ask myself “Can I do them all?”. The total distance for the 9 walks are 551 km (342 miles), and the total number of days suggested is a combined 37 days. Of course, this doesn’t include traveling from one walk to  another. Booking in advance while coordinating where I’ll be on each day during my 3-month stay in New Zealand will be a bit of a challenge while taking away some freedom and flexibility.

I will probably be staying close to the 90-day visa limit in New Zealand. Even if I did all the tracks one after another, I’d would take a least 50 days including transportation and preparation for the following walks. It will most likely take me longer because 50 days would be an insane pace. This would mean that hiking would take a big chunk of my stay in New Zealand, leaving me little time for city travel and other stuff. I think I’m OK with this. There is no way I could see everything I wanted to see in 3 months, and if I had to pick, I’d rather do hiking in nature instead of city travel in this country.

On the other hand, while I think it’d be nice to do all walks, I don’t want it to become a exercise of checking items off a list. I’m sure there are many walks in New Zealand that are not as well known but equally amazing. In regards to difficulty, most of the Great Walks are also on the easy side. I think I’d also like to try some of the more demanding walks.

I think the best course of action will be to book the 2 or 3 Great Walks that requires advance reservation before my departure, and once there, try to do the other ones as time and desire permits.

I cut my own hair every 2-3 weeks, and while I could just go to different barbers around the world during the trip, I think it’ll be safer and cheaper to do it myself. For years I’ve been using a heavy Wahl hair clipper, but I was looking for something smaller and lighter to carry in a backpack.

I ordered the Phillips Norelco Kid’s Hair Clipper online and it arrived a few days ago. I’m very surprised and happy at how small and light it is. It only has a combined weight of 6.4 oz (181 g). 4.4 oz (124 g) for the unit, and 2 oz (57 g) for the charger. It has a battery and can work with or without the charger attached, and comes with 2 adjustable lock-in combs, but I really only need  to bring the shorter one with me.

Phillips Norelco Kid's Hair Clipper

Side View

Adjustable Comb

Petra, Jordan

I first saved these 2 National Geographic pictures of Petra, Jordan to my computer on November 26, 2004. They left me in awe and really fueled the wanderlust in me. I knew I had to eventually get there. Since then it has been voted as one of the New Seven Wonders of the World. I haven’t done much research about Jordan. I don’t know much about it. I hope it’s as good as it looks in these pictures, but this destination is more symbolic than anything else. Getting there would be going to probably the first source of inspiration for my upcoming trip.

Petra, Jordan

The best way to find out much you’ll need is to look at what people with similar travel philosophies have spent in similar trips. I have come to realize that there is really not a “right” way to travel. Different people travel for different reasons and have different comfort levels. Even the same person can enjoy contrasting “types” of traveling. Last year I went from hiking and camping the wilderness of the West Coat Trail to drinking margaritas next to a huge swimming pool in decadent Las Vegas all within 24 hours. I enjoyed both of them equally.

Pre-Trip Expenses

My likely first destination is New Zealand, and I should be able use frequent flyer miles for the plane ticket. Aside from that, I’m budgeting $2,000 for a netbook, new digital camera, backpack, vaccination, and some other smaller things.

Countries To Visit

The majority will be cheaper third world countries because I find them more exotic and adventurous. I’ve already been to expensive Western Europe so I will try to avoid it or spend as little time there as possible. I will focus most of the traveling in South East Asia, Indian Subcontinent, Middle East, Eastern Europe, Africa, Central and South America.

Transportation

By the time I leave for my trip, I’ll have about 200,000 AAdvantage frequent flyer miles, and since they now allow you to get one-way tickets, I should be able to use them for a good number of my flights. That should save me a few thousand dollars. I’m aware they have a round-the-world ticket option, but it’s not very useful to me since it has a 1 year time limit. As far as local transportation is concerned, I don’t mind taking local buses and trains. Some of them can be uncomfortable, but I find them to be very interesting because for the duration of the bus/train ride, I feel like I’m living the life of a local person.

Lodging

I’ll be staying mostly in dorms in hostels, with some couchsurfing mixed in. With a bit of research before arriving at a city, I can avoid the bad/dirty hostels. From time to time I will get a private room in a hotel/hostel because I do think it gets tiring to have to continually deal with other roommates and the lack of privacy.

Food

Mostly street food because while I can spend long periods of time alone without any problems, I find it very lonely and uncomfortable to sit at a restaurant table by myself. Besides, street food usually taste great. You can see exactly what you are going to get, as opposed to items on a restaurant menu which would probably be in a language I can’t read. In cheaper countries I wouldn’t mind going to restaurants with people I meet along the way. I’ve never cooked in hostels in the past but I think if I’m staying in a place for a longer period, I’d be inclined to do it. Sometimes I also like to just grab some ingredients to make a sandwich from a grocery store and eat it on a park bench.

Sites and Activities

I really don’t want to skimp on these. I would really like to go to all the museums and sites and adventure activities (bungee jumping, paragliding, etc) I’m interested in. Unless something is so outrageously expensive that I won’t do it out of principle. Also included is a trip to the 2014 World Cup in Brazil. Since traveling does get tiring if done non-stop, I envision a lot of days where I’m lounging around doing nothing, so averaging these days with those where I spend more on expensive activities should still keep my budget under control.

My Estimates

Considering all of the above, I’m planning to budget US$ 60/day on average, which amounts to $21,900/year, which I’ll round up to $25,000/year to cover plane tickets and other unexpected expenses. I’ll try not to be too militant about the budget to avoid worrying too much about how much I’m spending, instead of just enjoying the journey. If I end up spending more per day, I’ll just shorten my trip and come home early.

Yeah, that’s a lot of money, but I think it’s the best money I’ll ever spend.

I think of the Trans-Siberian Railway as the ultimate train ride. At 9,259 km (5,753 miles), it is the longest railway in the world going from Moscow to Vladivostok. Although I might be more inclined to do the Trans-Mongolian Line, which branches off at the Russian city of Ulan-Ule (about 2/3 of the way from Moscow to Vladivostok), and goes through Mongolia before arriving at Beijing, China.

Trans Mongolian Railway. Photo courtesy of Josh Gerritsen.

Whatever route or direction is taken, there are 2 ways to do this journey. One is to just hop on the train and stay on the it until the final destination, which takes about a week. Another way is to get off the train and stay a few days at some of the cities along the way. Both ways has its appeals.

A week-long uninterrupted train ride would be great at getting to really know some of the people on it. I would assume that after so many days together, you would become pretty good friends with a good number of them. Also the idea of doing the whole route without stopping appears to be more “epic” than one that has been broken down into pieces.

On the other hand, it would be a shame to travel through so many miles without stopping at a single site or city along the way. What good is it have visited Mongolia when it was only from the inside of a train car? With no time constraint, I think I’m more inclined to make many stops along the way. Maybe when I get older I’ll get another chance to relive the journey uninterrupted and all in one seating.

Interesting Trans-Siberian Railway Links

Moscow-Vladivostok: virtual journey on Google Maps – View the entire journey from a passenger seat through YouTube videos, while tracking your current location on Google Maps.
Seat61.com – Lots of practical information and pictures.
Josh Gerritsen’s Trans Siberian Railway Trip – Great account of the trip with amazing photographs.

On my first trip to Europe in 2002, I did a fair amount of research beforehand mainly because it was my first time traveling solo, first time backpacking, and first time going to the region. I wasn’t sure if it was going to be easy or hard, so I wanted there to be as few unknowns as possible. I ended up realizing that backpacking travel is not hard.

On a overland trip through Peru, Bolivia and Argentina in 2005, my backpack was stolen halfway through the trip and I was forced to improvise the rest of the way by winging it with only a very small, newly-acquired, half-full backpack. It was very liberating. I enjoyed figuring out things along the way, and just relaxing and not worrying too much. The lesson learned was that things will usually work out in the end with a little bit of instincts and common sense (too bad I didn’t have the instinct or common sense to avoid having my backpack stolen in the first place).

Isla del Sol, Bolivia

For my upcoming Round The World (RTW) trip, which I’m hoping will last 3 or more years, the goal is to travel slow and not be on any kind of schedule. Building on past journeys, I now have enough trust in my traveling know-how to not worry too much in advance about the logistics for each destination. I would like to travel by land wherever is safe and feasible.

Destinations

Most of the pre-trip planning will mostly be just figuring out which places I want to visit. Inspiration can come from a photograph, a movie, or an online blog post or article. Over the years I have made a mental list of places I wanted to visit in my lifetime, and the idea of an RTW trip come up as a way to kill all the birds with one shot. I definitely don’t want this trip to be about ticking off a long check list of destinations. There are some must-see places, and some with lower priorities, but I will have to remind myself to stay very flexible and enjoy the journey more than the destinations.

For my first destination, I’m leaning toward either New Zealand or Mexico. New Zealand because I plan to do a lot of hiking there, and since I don’t want to be carrying all the hiking gear during the entire trip, I think it’s best to just get most of the hiking done at the beginning and then mail the equipment home. From there I can move on to Australia and South East Asia. The other choice is Mexico because one of my “must-do” items is traveling from the United States to the south of Argentina by land (or vice versa), going through most of Latin America. Mexico is only about 130 miles (210 km) south of where I live.

What To Pack

Unlike a wilderness backpacking trip, this one will mostly involve city traveling, so I’m not too concerned about trying to get the perfect packing list. If I forget to bring something, or if an item doesn’t work out, I can buy or replace as I go. I think a backpack in the neighborhood of 40 liters should be enough.

I’m also leaning towards bringing along a netbook computer. With wi-fi connections available in a lot of hostels, it will make writing this blog and communicating with people much easier. On the other hand, I don’t look forward to worrying all the time about it getting stolen. If it becomes a pain in the ass during the trip, I can always sell it.

Getting Things In Order Before Departure

There’s of course a number of logistical tasks that needs to be completed before departure, which I listed in this to-do list. Why bring the Taiwanese passport along with the American passport? It is easier and sometimes cheaper to get into certain countries like Argentina, where American citizens need to pay a $131 entry visa fee.

My initial plan to is go for a minimum of 3 years. I’m not sure where I’ll be going first (probably New Zealand), and I don’t think that is very important either in such a long trip. I have many places that I want to visit for sure and I know that eventually I’ll get there. I have no idea how many countries or cities I’ll end up visiting, or how long I’ll stay at each place. I like to travel slow and have complete freedom, so I might stay in any particular place for 1 day or many months. After 1 year I might get tired of it all and decide to come home. Or, I might just keep on traveling for the rest of my life, stopping from time to time to work and save money to keep on traveling. I really don’t know what will happen, and I don’t think I’m supposed to at this time.

What I do know is that a little bit before June 2014, I’ll be in Argentina to meet my high school friends before going together to the 2014 World Cup in Brazil. We are all getting older and a few of them are starting (or planning soon) to form families, so we see this as our last chance to take a trip like this together.

There are a million things I want to do, see, and experience during this round the world trip. Too many to list them all in this post without making it unbearably long, so I’ll post them in separate posts between now and my departure day.

Machu Picchu, Peru

I was able to able to get round trip tickets from Los Angeles on short notice using 25k airline miles. Not bad at all even though the first flight had a stopover in Chicago.

I arrived at the airport at 9am and after my flight was delayed twice, the airline was able to switch me to a direct flight departing in 10 minutes. I’m glad I didn’t have any checked baggage. At almost 6 hours, the flight was long and uncomfortable. When we arrived at the New York City, the plane circled over the JFK airport for a while waiting for authorization to land before running low on fuel and heading to Boston to refuel. With all the endless delays on that day, I didn’t get out of the airport until past midnight.

It was 30ºF and I realized that I hadn’t packed enough clothes. After a long cab ride, I arrived and met my friend (who had arrived earlier in the day) at a Brooklyn hotel.

I spent the next 4 days trying to sight see as much as I could since my time was limited. Not my favorite way to travel, as I like to do things in a more leisurely pace.

The next day (Thursday) was spent crossing the Brooklyn Bridge, walking around Manhattan and meeting my friend Cindy for dinner and drinks. Check out her blog on travel and NYC food.

Brooklyn Bridge

Brooklyn Bridge

Manhattan

One of the new World Trade Center towers

Statue of Liberty from Battery Park

Wall Street

The scene of so many movies: Grand Central Station.

Grand Central Station

Super crowded Time Square.

Time Square

Time Square

On Friday, we visited what according to many is the best pizza place in NY: Di Fara in Broolyn. The place is family owned and very small with only about 3 tables. Every pizza is hand tossed by the owner and the wait was over 2 hours during lunch hour. It was worth it though.

Later on, I visited the Museum of Modern Art (MoMA). Since there was only 2 hours to go until closing, I had to rush through everything, but I was able to see all the most significant paintings. I saw a lot of the paintings you see in most art history books. Very impressive. I also found a curious set of photographs by Chinese photographer Ai WeiWei. At the time I didn’t know anything about him. Apparently, he is quite controversial and was arrested by the Chinese government a few days later.

Ai WeiWei photographs

Ai WeiWei photographs

Saturday afternoon was spent at Metropolitan Museum of Art (The Met). This place can rival the best museums in Europe. I spent 4 hours there and barely scratched the surface. I’ve never seen so many Van Gogh paintings under one roof except at the Van Gogh Museum in Amsterdam.

Metropolitan Museum of Art

Van Gogh paintings at The Met

Saturday night was the main event: the soccer match between Argentina and USA. I had to root for Argentina since I grew up and lived 15 years there. It was my first chance to see Lionel Messi, the best player in the world. The match took place at the New Meadowlands Stadium in New Jersey. The traffic to the stadium was horrible and we were 10 minutes late. It ended in a 1-1 tie.

Lionel Messi

Argentina vs USA. 1-1 at the New Meadowlands Stadium

The return trip to New York was a terrible experience. We stood in a very long line in the parking lot in 25°F temperature with strong winds waiting to ride the bus.

I was so impressed with The Met that I had to return to the museum on Sunday. I then took a quick stroll through Central Park before heading to the airport.

All in all, I really enjoyed NYC. It’s a place where I’d love to live if it wasn’t for the very cold weather. I liked the fact what you can walk and take public transport to go anywhere. The museums really impressed me. I know that there so many places that I haven’t seen which means that I’ll have to return eventually for a longer trip.

The Mountain from Terje Sorgjerd on Vimeo.

Journal entry for August 17, 2010.
Approximate distance hiked: 5 miles, 8 km.

West Coast Trail - Day 6

Woke up a little bit after 8am. Monika & Marie were already up, and most campers had already packed up and left. We said good bye to Kirk, who left before us. There is an impressive set of ladders right behind the beach.

Thrasher Cove ladders

The ladders are followed by a steep set of switchbacks. It’s mostly uphill until around km 73. The trail then flattens out, with a few hills mixed in. It is mostly forest with large tree roots. Muddy in some areas but mostly dry. The last 2 km seemed to take forever. Marie was a little grouchy, I think she had gotten tired of the weight of her backpack.

Last few kilometers

We arrived at km 75, the end of the trail, at 1:10pm.

Km 75. The end.

Km 75. Nice bed hair.

Km 75. The end.

We laid down for a few minutes, waiting for the ferry to pick us up. The road back to civilization is on the other side of Gordon River, which can only be crossed by ferry. By the way, the fee for the two ferries on the trail were already included in the price of the WCT permit.

Gordon River ferry

Since I had finished the hike 1 day early, I could have stayed until 4:30pm to see if the West Coast Trail Express bus had a free spot for me, but since girls had a car and were driving to Vancouver that day, they were nice enough to offer to drop me off at Victoria.

Once back in Victoria, I checked back into the the same hostel I had stayed prior to the hike. I really didn’t want to spend any more time in that town though. I had already spent 2 days there before the hike, and I still had two more days to go until my flight. I had a couple of friends from Argentina who were visiting the United States at the time. They were going to stay with me in California once I got flew back from Canada, but they were in Las Vegas at that moment. I decided to change my plane ticket and fly there the next morning. It was a huge contrast to go from camping at Thrasher Cove one day, to the totally artificial world that is Las Vegas the next day.

In conclusion, I had a lot of fun hiking the West Coast Trail. The first 2 days were a little underwhelming, but the last 4 days were very enjoyable. I certainly spoiled it a little bit by doing the Lake Ozette to Shi Shi Beach Hike the previous week. Even though the Shi Shi Beach hike doesn’t have the amazing WCT ladders and bridges, the landscapes are very similar to each other.

I also found the hike much easier than I anticipated it to be, especially after having watched this documentary during my planning stages. I’m sure that having 6 sunny days helped a lot on the difficulty level, to the point that I almost feel I didn’t get the full WCT experience since I didn’t get any rain. Monika & Marie’s struggles with their heavy backpacks despite being excellent athletes makes me believe that my light backpack was also a big factor. After spending over a month of total decadence in Argentina prior to the hike, I started it in pretty bad physical shape, but the only day in which I felt really tired was Day 3 after a 21 km day. I wished the trail was longer, maybe twice as long. When it ended, I wasn’t even missing civilization that much, like it did towards the end of the John Muir Trail.

West Coast Trail Journal Index
Part of the Pacific Northwest Trip Journal

Journal entry for August 16, 2010.
Approximate distance hiked: 5 miles, 8 km.

West Coast Trail - Day 5

I had set up the alarm for 7:30am, but woke up a half hour earlier instead to the noise everybody else was making in camp. I packed up quickly and hiked together with Monika and Marie. I switched my 15 lb (6-7 kg) with Marie’s 50-60 lb (23-27 kg) backpack for the first mile or so. What a difference it made. I had to focus on every step I took just to keep my balance.

Hiking through forest

In order to get to the last campsite at Thrasher Cove, one can go inland or take the beach instead. The beach route goes through Owen Point, which can’t be passed during high tide. We had timed it so that we would get there during low tide. There are two spots where one can access the beach from the trail. We took Beach Access “B” at km 66. Apparently there is a very dangerous slope between Beach Access “A” and “B”, so it’s safer to take the later one.

Beach around km 66

The beach section was a lot of fun. The hiking is mostly over rocks instead of sand. There was one surge channel about 1 meter wide that we had to jump over. We soon run into another hiking group in front of us.

Jumping over surge channel

We run into another hiking group

We then arrived at another much wider surge channel. This one looked like it would require an Olympic long jumper to handle it, but luckily there was a way around it.

Wide surge channel

West Coast Trail

West Coast Trail

West Coast Trail

We arrived at Owen Point around 11:30am during low tide. The views were great and there was a little island about 100 meters into the ocean with lots of sea lions on it. We stayed there for a while and ate lunch.

Owen Point

Owen Point

Owen Point

The last section before Thrasher Cove involves a lot of hopping over large boulders and walking over logs. I had a lot of fun despite the hot relentless sun. My gloves were very useful in helping me handle the boulders.

Marie, boulder hopping

We got stuck behind a very slow group with no easy way to go around them. We almost didn’t beat the rising tide in one section.

Walking behind a very slow group

Thrasher Cove is a very nice beach, but it doesn’t really have enough spots for tents for the large amount of people that camp there. We arrived early around 2pm and had the whole afternoon and evening to sit around and enjoy.

Both Monika and Marie lived in Alberta at the time, but Marie is originally from Quebec. According to her, French Canadians are generally loud and like to joke around a lot. So she was indeed giving me an introduction to French Canadians, since she was the first one I’ve ever met.

Once the sun stopped hitting the beach directly around 4pm, it started to get a little bit foggy and chilly. We run into Kirk again and ended up sharing a campfire. It was very foggy during sunset, so I wasn’t able to take any decent pictures.

Camping at Thrasher Cove

Marie, Kurk, Monika and me at Thrasher Cove

Next entry: Day 6 – Thrasher Cove to Gordon River
West Coast Trail Journal Index
Part of the Pacific Northwest Trip Journal

Journal entry for August 15, 2010.
Approximate distance hiked: 10 miles, 16 km.

West Cost Trail - Day 4

I woke up around 8am to the scorching sun hitting my tent.

Carmanah Creek campsite

Just for fun, I decided to take the cable car that goes over the Carmanah Creek campsite. I could have easily crossed the creek by jumping over it on the beach. This particular cable car required a lot more pulling than the previous one I rode.

Carmanah Creek cable car

I didn’t enjoy much the next 7 km on the beach. My pace on the sand was slow, and the sun was killing me. I run into Kristin and her two friends, who I had met on the bus out of Victoria. They were all having a great time. After a brief chat, we went our separate ways.

Crab on the beach

Mussels

Lots of whale watching boats

According to both my guidebook and map, the beach section after Walbran Creek is very dangerous. It is highly recommended to take the inland trail instead, so I did. Once again, lots of boardwalk sections on the trail, with some minor root climbing mixed in.

Root climbing

Hiking over logs

There is a huge set of ladders going down to the amazing Logan Creek Bridge. On the other side there’s another huge set of ladders going up.

Logan Creek Bridge

Logan Creek Bridge

Logan Creek Bridge

The trail after Logan Creek became very muddy and full of huge tree roots. I loved this section because it was fun to figure out how to deal with the terrain without getting mud into my shoes. I crossed Cullite Creek by cable car. I think this was the shortest cable car on the whole trail.

The next 4 km to Camper Bay was even more muddy, which I enjoyed even more. I much preferred this type of terrain to beach hiking. There was also one section that was different from anywhere else on the trail. It was wide open with no trees.

Wide open section

I arrived at Camper Bay around 6pm. The campsite is strange in that it is about 100 meters from the ocean, but you can’t really see it because the view is blocked. There were already a huge number of tents set up. While looking for a spot to set up mine, a gentleman asked me “Are you Kevin?”. It turned out that he had read this blog while planning for the WCT. He had googled “West Coast Trail” and “Ultralight” and had found my WTC Packing List post. Our dates coincided and we were going in opposite directions, so he knew he would probably run into an Asian hiker with a light backpack. Him and his wife were the only ultralight hikers I run into on the trail.

I shared a campfire with Kurk, a guy from the area. Later on, Monika and Marie arrived at the campsite and joined us.

Before this day, I had enjoyed the trail but was not overly impressed by it. I had a lot of fun this day, and it changed my opinion completely.

The plan for the next day was to get up early at 7:30am (early for me, normal for most people) so that I could arrive at Owen Point during low tide. A lot of people coming from the opposite direction told me that it was a must see.

Next entry: Day 5 – Camper Bay to Thrasher Cove
West Coast Trail Journal Index
Part of the Pacific Northwest Trip Journal

Journal entry for August 14, 2010.
Approximate distance hiked: 13 miles, 21 km.

West Coast Trail - Day 3

While looking at the map the previous night, I decided I was going to finish the trail in 6 days instead of the originally planned 7 days. The weather was good and I had so far found the trail relatively easy. The plan for the day was to hike 21 km to Carmanah Creek.

Seagulls by Tsusiat Falls

I left Tsusiat Falls and started hiking around 10:20am. I chose to hike on the beach instead of the trail. My pace was slowed by the loose dry sand and the wind blowing into me. I joined the trail around km 29. The next 2 km has a little bit of elevation change, and in some sections, the boardwalk was in pretty bad shape.

I arrived at Nitinat Narrows which is only passable by ferry. After a 5 minute wait, the ferry came and picked me up.

Waiting for the Nitinat Narrows ferry

On the other side, I found Nick and Lorna, along with Steve and his group of 6 hikers. There’s a little stall where they sell soft drinks and serve cooked fresh crab. I didn’t feel like eating crab so I only grab a can of Coke. I wanted to save my appetite for later in the day at Chez Monique, a burger place by the beach.

I stayed at Nininat Narrows for a while before saying goodbye to Nick and Lorna, who were ending their hike there, and were waiting for a ferry that would take them back to civilization later in the day.

The next section of the trail has a lot of boardwalk, which means fast hiking. Some sections were completely destroyed and new boardwalk had been installed.

New boardwalk going around old destroyed sections

Boardwalk in pretty bad shape

Tree root climbing

I saw some bear and cougar warning signs which got me a little paranoid, but fortunately I didn’t run into any.

Bear and cougar warning

I decided to take the beach access at km 36. After 1 km, I rejoined the inland trail.

Makeshift chair by the beach

A bit after km 41, I arrived at Cribs Creek campsite. A good number people were camping here but I moved on.

Looking back at Cribs Creek campsite

More beach walking until a little after km 43, where I rejoin the trail. Shortly after, I arrive at Carmanah Lighthouse.

Restroom sign

Carmanah Lighthouse

Access back to the beach is through a steep set of ladders. While climbing down these ladders, I could see the cooking smoke coming out of Chez Monique from a distance. I started to fantasize about the cheeseburger I was about to eat.

Steep ladders to the beach

Chez Monique

Chez Monique is the only restaurant on the trail. They are famous for their cheeseburgers. They have a little farm on the back of the restaurant where they grow their own vegetables. They also had about 5-6 WWOOFers who were helping out on the farm and restaurant.  A buffet dinner was available for $30, but I ordered the $20 burger instead. I didn’t want to stay long since it was already almost 6pm and I still had another 2 km to hike. The burger was very very good. It was huge but I must have finished it in less than 2 minutes.

Strange rock on the beach

I arrived at Carmanah Creek campsite a little bit before Monika and Marie got there. I had briefly run into them at Carmanah Lighthouse early in the day. Both of them run marathons and triathlons, so they were in pretty good physical shape. But both them said that they had packed too much stuff and were struggling with their heavy backpacks. They invited me to join their campfire later in the night. I would end up hiking the last 2 days with them.

Carmanah Creek cable car

Deer by Carmanah Creek campsite

Carmanah Lighthouse from a distance

Next entry: Day 4 – Carmanah Creek to Camper Bay
West Coast Trail Journal Index
Part of the Pacific Northwest Trip Journal

Journal entry for August 13, 2010.
Approximate distance hiked: 6.8 miles, 11 km.

West Coast Trail - Day 2 Map

After sleeping very well, I woke up a little bit after 9am. The fog had cleared and the weather was great. I was able to see a couple of whales deep in the sea. They were hard to spot from a distance though. Looking south, I could see the Olympic Peninsula.

Darling River campsite

Darling River campsite

The tide was low so I tried to walk a little bit closer to the sea to get a better look of the whales. While going there, I found a bunch of tide pools with lots of starfish in them.

Starfish

The first 2 1/2 km out of Darling River campsite is all beach hiking. At the end of this section there was what looked like a ranger station,  and right by it, part of a shipwreck.

Shipwreck

I joined the trail inland and crossed Tsocowis Creek by bridge.

Tsocowis Creek

The terrain became more rugged than the previous day.

Where's the trail?

I stayed for a  while at the Valencia Bluffs lookout, looking for the remains of a shipwreck, but I found nothing. Maybe it was due to the high tide at the moment. Moving on, I found a “grader” next to the trail.

Grader by the trail

I rejoined the beach around km 20. The temperature was high and the sun was punishing with the absence of shade. The following 3 km to Klanawa River is all beach hiking, with one section that is only passable at tides below 2.7m. Since the tide was quickly rising, I wondered for a moment if I was going to get caught by it, but ended up managing just fine.

Klanawa River could have been easily forded through the beach, but this one my first chance to use one of the cable cars.

Klanawa River cable car

Klanawa River cable car

The cable car was a lot of fun. It stops halfway, and you have to pull the cable the rest of the way to reach the other side. I would recommend using gloves for this.

The next 2 km or so are to Tsusiat Falls are inland and mostly on boardwalks. In some sections, the boardwalks were either slippery, and/or in pretty bad shape. There is a nice lookout point with a bench to sit on. I was told to look for whales there, but couldn’t find any during my 20 minute break.

Bench with nice views

There is a nice set of ladders right before Tsusiat Falls.

Ladders going down to Tsusiat Falls

Tsusiat Falls

Tsusiat Falls campsite

There were already a good number of people at the campsite when I got there around 5pm. It is a huge campsite though, with plenty of space for lots of tents. I pick a spot right next to Nick and Lorna, who I had met the previous day. Since it was late in the summer, the water stream coming down the falls was somewhat weak. It was still perfect for the nice shower I took underneath it.

I met Stephan from Germany, who was also doing the hike solo, although going the opposite direction. He was one of the very few solo hikers I met on the WCT. I’d later run into him again at the hostel in Victoria.

The weather was beautiful. I ate dinner with Nick and Lorna. I learned that Nick is a writer and Lorna is an actress. They were visiting the area and decided in the last minute to do the WCT, although they only had enough time to do half of it. Their hike was ending the next day at Nitinah Lake. We shared a campfire and stayed outside well after it got dark.

Sunset by Tsusiat Falls

Sunset by Tsusiat Falls

Next Entry: Day 3 – Tsusiat Falls to Carmanah Creek
West Coast Trail Journal Index
Part of the Pacific Northwest Trip Journal

Journal entry for August 12, 2010.
Approximate distance hiked: 8.7 miles, 14 km.

With great anticipation, I woke up at 5:20am to catch the 6:15am bus that would take me from Victoria to the West Coast Trail Pachena Bay trail head. I tried to make as little noise as possible to not wake up my other hostel roommates. I took one last shower, knowing that I was not going to be taking another one for a long while. While checking out of the hostel at the front of desk, I see two sisters getting ready to leave too. As expected, they were also doing the WCT, but unlike me, they were going northbound, from Gordon River to Pachena Bay.

Weather forecasts predicted a whole week of sunny days with almost zero chance of rain. It looked like I had gotten very lucky.

For a moment I thought I was going to be late to the bus stop, but I ended up making it there 10 minutes early. There were already about 20 people there. They all looked happy and excited.

West Coast Trail Express

Once on the bus, I sat next to Kristin, who along with two friends, was doing the northbound hike. The drive to Gordon River takes about 2 hours and it’s pretty smooth. About 70% of the people got off the bus there. I said goodbye to the 3 girls and we estimated to run into each other on day 3 or 4 of our hikes. From there to the northern trail head is another 2 hours, but the terrain becomes much rougher. Many sections are not paved and it’s only wide enough for one vehicle at the time. When huge logging trucks came from the opposite direction, our bus had to move over to allow them to pass. We arrived at Pachena Bay at 12:35pm.

During the 40 minute orientation, they told us which restrooms on the trail were out of commission, how to identify animal tracks, which areas had no water, etc. They gave me a waterproof map and and tide table, and taught me how to use it. On my way out of the Information Center, I met an older lady who had just finished the hike, she was very happy but a little delirious because of how exhausted she was.

Backpack, hiking pokes and hat

West Coast Trail - Day 1 Map

At exactly 2:12pm, I started my West Coast Trail adventure. Right away, I saw signs warning about tsunamis.

Pachena Bay trail head

Tsunami warning

Being only about 30 miles away from the location where I did the Shi Shi Beach Hike, the landscape is almost identical: green moist forest and sharp cliffs. The first section was very easy on excellent boardwalks. Shortly after the start, I see the first set of the famous WCT ladders. I was very excited to try my hands on them.

Wooden boardwalks

West Coast Trail

Two kilometers down, 73 to go

Slugs

Despite the dry weather, some sections were still very muddy from previous rainfall. Since I was wearing non-waterproof trail runners, I tried to go around the mud.

West Coast Trail

After hiking inland for a while with no views of the ocean, I finally got a first peek of it in an area with lots of sea lions.

West Coast Trail

Sea lions

Sea lions

At km 10 I reach the Pachena Lighthouse. The fog was heavy so visibility was very low.

Pachena Lighthouse

Pachena Lighthouse

Pachena Lighthouse

Pachena Lighthouse

The first campsite is at Michigan Creek at km 12, I got there a bit before 6pm. There were already about 7 tents set up there.

Michigan Creek campsite

I decided to go to the next campsite which was 2 km further down. On the way there, I run into at least 20 hikers going the opposite way, they were all finishing the hike the following day and were going to camp at Michigan Creek that night. I run into two young American guys and we chatted for a bit. They turned out to be the only Americans I met on the trail.

I arrived at Darling River campsite around 6:15pm. There was no one around. It is very close to a creek (i.e. fresh water) and there was plenty of firewood around. Nick and Lorna, two young Canadians who rode the same bus that morning, got there a little bit later. They were followed by a group of 6 hikers who were also on the bus.

There is a bear locker by the campsite and an ultra deluxe compost toilet.

Bear locker

Amazing compost toilet

Because of my repeated failures in starting fires in the past (latest incident was on the Shi Shi Beach Hike), I spent a little time on google a few days before trying to learn how to do it property. I was able to start one right away. I stayed by the fire until around 10pm before retiring to my tent.

Day 1 was in the books. It had been a easy and pleasant start.

Darling River campsite

Next Entry: Day 2 – Darling River to Tsusiat Falls
West Coast Trail Journal Index
Part of the Pacific Northwest Trip Journal

West Coast Trail

Planning
Packing List
Day 1 – Pachena Bay to Darling River
Day 2 – Darling River to Tsusiat Falls
Day 3 – Tsusiat Falls to Carmanah Creek
Day 4 – Carmanah Point to Camper Bay
Day 5 – Camper Bay to Thrasher Cove
Day 6 – Thrasher Cove to Gordon River

Part of the Pacific Northwest Trip Journal

West Coast Trail

Journal entry for August 8-11, 2010.

After finishing the Lake Ozette to Shi Shi Beach hike and hitchhiking back to Port Angeles, I spent the rest of the day there waiting for next day’s ferry to Victoria, Canada.

Victoria Express ferry

Victoria Express ferry

Victoria Express ferry

I took the Victoria Express ferry, which was cheaper than the Black Ball ferry. Apparently, the Victoria Express was later acquired by Black Ball, and it is not in service anymore.

The ferry ride was enjoyable. The weather was cold and windy in Port Angeles in the morning, but when I arrived at Victoria, it was sunny and very warm. Going through customs was quick and easy. I then walked the 15 blocks from the ferry terminal to the Ocean Island Hostel.

I checked into my room and found out that it was way too small to fit 3 bunk beds and a large refrigerator. They were fitting 6 people into a small bedroom. Three of the people in there were staying long term, which meant that they had a lot of stuff scattered around the room. All in all, I wasn’t impressed, especially since I was paying $22/night. I was glad to be relocated to a different room the following night, with mostly tourists backpackers instead of long term residents.

Over the next few days, I met a lot of interesting people in the hostel. One 19-year old girl had hitchhiked across Canada by herself. There was an English girl who had been backpacking around the world for 2 years, and was soon going home. An German guy was traveling across Canada and made money by picking fruit in farms from time to time.

Some of the sites I visited included the Parliament building, the Royal BC Museum (very impressive), and Fisherman’s Wharf.

Victoria Harbour

Victoria Harbour

Parliament

Fisherman's Wharf

Fisherman's Wharf

Fisherman's Wharf

Fisherman's Wharf

Fisherman's Wharf

Fisherman's Wharf

I had a good time in Victoria, even though I found everything to be very expensive. I do think I spent too many days here. Maybe 2 days instead of 4 would have been perfect.

Next entry: West Coast Trail Day 1 – Pachena Bay to Darling River
Part of the Pacific Northwest Trip Journal

Journal entry for August 7, 2010.
Approximate distance hiked: 3 miles, 4.8 km.

It started raining in the middle of the night. Not a strong rain, but a constant one. I packed up quickly and walked the 0.5 mile to the northern end of Shi Shi Beach, where the trail head is. On the way there, I spotted lots of starfish stuck on the rocks.

Starfish on Shi Shi Beach

Starfish on Shi Shi Beach

Starfish on Shi Shi Beach

Shi Shi Beach

One last look at Shi Shi Beach

There is a recently constructed 2.5 mile trail to a parking lot by Hatchery Rd, which is the only road that goes to Shi Shi beach. The trail starts with a very steep climb, before flattening out. In many parts it was extremely muddy, but I still enjoyed hiking it. I made sure to look around and enjoy the green forest scenery. I didn’t take pictures though because I didn’t want my camera to get wet.

Unlike from Port Angeles to the start of my hike, I wasn’t able to organize a shuttle to pick me up and return to Port Angeles. No buses came to this area. The closest they go to is to Neah Bay, which is about 12 miles north, so I was hoping to hitch a ride there. When I reached the small parking lot, I only saw 3 cars. I was expecting a lot of activity with people arriving and leaving, but that was not the case. Time was very tight, since the only Saturday morning bus leaves Neah Bay at 9:50am, and it was already 9:15am. 10 minutes later I see 3 people finishing the hike and arriving at the parking lot, but they told me that they had no space in their car. I stand there in the rain for about 30 minutes, there was no traffic whatsoever, so I decided to started walking the road.

Hatchery Road

I had never hitchhiked before, except for when I finished the John Muir Trail one year before. I wouldn’t really call that one instance real hitchhiking, since it was under different circumstances (everybody at Whitney Portal were hikers leaving for Lone Pine) and I was able to get a ride within 1 minute. This day was very different. It was still raining, but the rain gear kept me dry, except for my feet. I was having fun walking through the countryside, I could see the ocean from time to time, and there were a few small houses and farms on the side of the road. I felt a real sense of adventure, walking into the unknown. I walked about 3 miles, with about 10 cars passing and ignoring me. I started to wonder if I was going to be able to get a ride at all. Finally, a gentleman named Justin picked me up in his pickup truck. He was on his way to Neah Bay. He was very nice, and told me he had lived the area his entire life. I got to Neah Bay around 10am, way too late to catch the bus.

Port Angeles was still 80 miles away. Neah Bay is a very small town, but the road that goes through it had a fair amount of traffic. I walked to the edge of the town and stuck my thumb out again. Within a minute Paul picked me up on his new-looking Range Rover. I felt bad getting his leather seats wet, but he told me he didn’t mind. Paul is originally from England, but is now living in Neah Bay working as the captain of a cruise ship that goes all the way to Alaska. He was driving to Clallam Bay, 20 miles away, to rent a couple of DVDs. There was no other closer place for him to do this, and he had no cable or TV signal where he lived. He also had hiked the previous week the same hike I had just finished.

Paul left me at Clallam Bay, where I resumed my hitchhiking adventures. I got picked up again within a minute, this time by Robert in an old pickup truck. I was starting to see the pattern: if you a single guy, only single male drivers will pick you up. Families and single female drivers will look at you with distrust, understandably. Paul is a fisherman who had just spent the previous 4 days on a fishing boat. He was nice enough to do a little detour to show me a small waterfall, the Elwha Dam, and spectacular Lake Crescent with its crystal clear water.

Waterfall

Lake Crescent

Lake Crescent

Robert dropped me off at the Wilderness Information Center in Port Angeles, where I returned my bear canister. I thanked him for the huge favor he had done for me, and said good bye. I then walked the 20 blocks or so back to The Downtown Hotel, and spent the night watching TV.

I really enjoyed the Lake Ozette to Shi Shi Beach hike. It was completely different from anything I had done before, and it was more challenging and fun than I had expected. The hitchhiking was a lot of fun too, and I was lucky to meet three very nice and interesting people. I enjoyed learning about their way of life that is very different than the one I see everyday in Los Angeles.

The whole area of the Olympic Peninsula is just gorgeous. I feel that I barely scratched its surface, so I hope I’ll get another chance to return in the future.

Next entry: Victoria, Canada
Lake Ozette to Shi Shi Beach Hike Index
Part of the Pacific Northwest Trip Journal.

Journal entry for August 6, 2010.
Approximate distance hiked: 8.1 miles, 13.0 km.

I woke up a bit before 9am, after almost 11 hours of sleep. The outside of the tent was very wet. The fog was very thick and because of this, there was a very light but constant drizzle. I did the usual morning camp chores and went to get some water from Ozette River. The ocean tide was high and it looked like it was pushing the river water inland. It was impossible to scoop water without me actually getting into the water. I felt lazy and gave up, deciding to get some more water down the road. This proved to be a mistake.

I broke camp at 10:30am. The first section was mostly sand beaches and what seemed to be a thick layer of dried seaweed.

Dried ocean seaweed

Dried ocean seaweed

I soon reached tree huge fallen trees.

Fallen trees

The terrain then got much rougher. Way more than I expected. Lots of boulder hopping required.

Boulder hopping

Boulder hopping

I met a father and his three kids in this section. They were a little bit ahead of me when I got careless and made a long jump and landed on a big slippery and uneven rock. I slipped and my right shin drove right into the sharp edge of another rock. The pain was excruciating and at first, I thought I had broken bones. After I was able to sit down and examine the wound, I realized that it was just a very deep scrape (I still got a large visible scar four months later). After a few minutes, the father of the kids came back to check on me. That was a very nice gesture. Luckily I was fine, and after cleaning and patching up the wound, I was good to go.

I reached, a bit too early, a point where a tide of 4 feet or lower was required to pass. The high tide had been at 10:30am and it was still going down. I could either walk through 2 feet of water for a very short section, or climb up a huge rock and make a long jump that, just minutes after my slip, seemed like a dangerously horrible idea. As I was trying to decide what to do, I looked around me and realized that I was surrounded by tide pools full of starfish. I had seen pictures of starfish on Shi Shi Beach, but this was the first time I saw them on the hike. I stayed there for over an hour checking them out and snapping pictures.

The elusive purple starfish. I only saw one of them.

Starfish

Starfish

Starfish

Starfish

Olympic coast

Some more rough terrain followed before hitting one of two impassable headlands. For each of them, there are trails inland that can only be reached by climbing very steep hills. Luckily, they are have ropes installed.

Olympic coast

Impassable headland

The two trails are short and go through some very wet forest. At same points, the trail is hard to follow, but there are red fluorescent markers on the trees to guide you to the right direction. There are a few lookouts with spectacular views.

Trail markers

Olympic coast

After I descended by rope from the second trail I was, without knowing at first, already at Shi Shi Beach.

Point of the Arches

Point of the Arches

Shi Shi Beach

Shi Shi Beach

At 2.3 miles, it is a very long beach. There were already a good number of tents set up. I finally found a stream of water from which to get water from. I hadn’t found any water source since Ozette River in the morning. I’ve only had about 10 oz (300 cc) of water all day, which was what I had leftover from the previous night. I walked down the beach to get closer to the trail head so that I wouldn’t have to walk as much the following morning. I set up camp about 100 yards from a large group of campers and ate dinner. For about 1 1/2 hour, I tried to start a fire but failed miserably. I’m sure the constant light drizzle was a factor, but I never really learned how to property start a fire. I vowed to do some internet research before the West Coat Trail the following week. This could one day be a life or death situation during an emergency.

It got dark, and with no fire, I decided to get into my tent. I soon as I get into my sleeping bag, I hear a female voice outside: “Hello? Hello?”. It was a girl from the group about 100 yards away. She asked me if I needed help starting a fire. I thanked her, but it was already 9pm and I think I was ready for bed. She told me that if I needed anything I could go to them. You meet the nicest people on the trail.

Next entry: Day 3 – Shi Shi Beach and Hitchhiking to Port Angeles
Lake Ozette to Shi Shi Beach Hike Index
Part of the Pacific Northwest Trip Journal

Journal entry for August 5, 2010.
Approximate distance hiked: 5.4 miles, 8.7 km.

Willie from All Points Charters and Tours came to pick me up at 8am at my Port Angeles hotel. We went to the Wilderness Information Center to pick up my permit and rent a bear canister, which is required for the hike. They also gave me a tide table and explained to me how to use it. It was a very foggy day but the 2-hour drive was beautiful. What caught my attention was how green everything was. Willie had lived in this area for a long time and told me a lot about about the history and wildlife of the region. When I talked to him on the phone a week before asking for a shuttle to the Lake Ozette trail head, he mentioned that another group of 3 was making the same trip on the same day. We had agreed on a fee which was cheap for me because I was sharing a ride. The group never showed up and Willie never mentioned about charging more. I felt bad and decided to pay him a bit more than what we had agreed on. I definitely didn’t want him to wake up early, drive back and forth for 4 hours and actually lose money.

We got to Lake Ozette a little bit before 11am and I was very excited to finally start hiking.

Trailhead

The 3.1 mile hike to the coast was flat and easy on very well constructed boardwalks.

The beginning

Tall thin trees

As I got close to the Pacific Ocean, it got more and more damp and humid. The sounds of waves and the ocean smell were getting stronger and stronger until I finally saw the beach. The views were spectacular.

First view of the Pacific Ocean

Ozette Island in the background

Cape Alava

I sat down to eat some Peanut M&Ms and a raccoon was circling me from a distance, looking for a chance to steal them from me. All this beach hiking was new to me. There is no trail most of the time, so you just walk by the water, looking for wet packed sand to sink as little as possible. I saw a little interesting island called Tskawahyah Island which was accessible in the low tide. I got close until I saw a sign asking people to not climb it since it is a sacred place for the Native Americans. I turned around and continued north.

Tskawahyah Island

Colorful rocks on the beach

Olympic Coast

Some sections of the beach were impassable, so there were short trails inland to go around. To reach these trails, I had to climb up steep hills using the installed ropes.

Ropes to reach inland trails

I soon realized that I was hiking faster than I expected. Despite slowing down and trying to enjoy my surroundings as much as possible, I got to my intended campsite at Ozette River way too early, at around 2pm. There were already 2 groups of campers, one on each side of the river. Fording the river was easy, the water only reached halfway up my shins.

Ozette River

Seagulls by the beach

Seagull

I decided to relax and stop for the day. Filtered some water and walked around the campsite. There are some camping spots on solid ground away from the beach, but you can’t see the ocean from there. Looking for better views, I decided to camp on the sand instead, hoping that the high tide (which according to the tide table was arriving in the middle of the night) wouldn’t reach my spot. One thing I noticed on the coast is how much trash is washed up from the ocean. There is a pit toilet a short walk away from the beach. Fortunately I didn’t have to use it.

Trash washup up from the ocean

Directions to the toilet

It had been chilly all throughout the day, the fog was so thick that I never saw the sun. I collected some firewood and started a fire to provide some warmth.

Camping by Ozette River

View from inside the tent

I stayed out reading maps and catching up on my journal until it got dark, and retired to my tent around 8pm. I thought the sound of the ocean waves would bother me at night, but it proved to be very soothing as I fell asleep.

It felt good to be camping again, it had been almost a year since the John Muir Trail.

Next entry: Day 2 – Ozette River Crossing to Shi Shi Beach
Lake Ozette to Shi Shi Beach Hike Index
Part of the Pacific Northwest Trip Journal

Olympic Coast

Planning
Packing List
Day 1 – Lake Ozette to Ozette River Crossing
Day 2 – Ozette River Crossing to Shi Shi Beach
Day 3 – Shi Shi Beach and Hitchhiking to Port Angeles

Part of the Pacific Northwest Trip Journal

Journal entry for August 4, 2010.

Ferry out of Seattle

Ferry out of Seattle

The bus hopped on the MV Walla Walla ferry on the way out of Seattle. The almost 4-hour bus ride was smooth and scenic.

Once in Port Angeles,  I checked into my room at The Downtown Hotel and went out for a walk. Port Angeles is a pretty small town, and there’s really not much to do. Most of the stores were closed by 6pm. I walked around the port for a while before heading to a grocery store to buy some water, Gatorate, and food for the night.

Port Angeles

Port Angeles

Port Angeles

Port Angeles

I spent the night watching TV and making the last preparations for the Shi Shi Beach hike, which I was starting the following day. I called the shuttle service that was going to take me to the trail head, they were picking me up at 8am. I put the stuff that I wasn’t taking to the hike into the small backpack that I had brought. The hotel had agreed to hold it for me until I returned from the hike.

Next entry: Lake Ozette to Shi Shi Beach Hike Day 1 – Lake Ozette to Ozette River Crossing
Part of the Pacific Northwest Trip Journal

Journal entry for August 2-4, 2010.

After getting out of the train station, I decided to walk the 12 blocks or so to the hostel instead of taking the bus. It was a pleasant night and I figured that walking would be a good way to get an introduction to the city.

City Hostel Seattle is located in an area of the city with lots of nightlife. The street is full of restaurants and bars. It is the nicest hostel I have ever visited. Everything looks very new and clean. There’s free internet, a movie room and a lounge room downstairs, another room with lots of books, DVDs and board games. Each dorm room is painted by a different local artist. There are about 3-4 shared restrooms on each floor.

I got into my room and found 2 girls from Korea who barely said ‘Hello’ back to me.

City Hostel Seattle

City Hostel Seattle

I dropped my bags and headed downstairs. In the movie room there were a group of Norwegian guys who were about to start watching American Psycho. I decided to stick around and more people joined us later on. This all brought back memories of my European trip in 2002. I hadn’t stayed in a hostel since then.

The next day, I woke up around 9am and contemplated getting up to go get the free breakfast (served until 10am), but decided to get some more sleep. I ended up waking up around 10:30, the Korean girls had already packed up and left. I made my way to Pike Place Market.

Pike Place Market

Pike Place Market

Pike Place Market

Pike Place Market

Pike Place Market

Pike Place Market

The market was a little too crowded, making it hard to walk around. I got a ridiculously expensive Turkish kebab for lunch. Most of the food I found in the area was pretty pricey.

The original Starbucks store is also around the market. I didn’t go inside because there were way too many people.

Original Starbucks store

Original Starbucks store

I headed back to the hostel to grab something and met one of my new roommates for the night. Ann was from North Carolina and had gone to Seattle to see a Joanna Newsom concert. That’s being a dedicated fan.

I needed to get to REI to get a topographic map of the Olympic peninsula for the Shi Shi Beach hike. On the way there, I stopped by the Space Needle but didn’t feel like paying $18 to get to the top. I’m backpacking after all, and should be on a backpacking budget.

Space Needle

Science Fiction Museum

It was a long walk to REI. Good warm up for the upcoming hikes. This particular REI was the biggest and most impressive I have ever seen. It even had a outdoor mountain bike test trail. Despite the thousands of items inside the store, they didn’t have the map I was looking for in stock, but they did tell me that a map store by Pike Place Market had it in stock.

Back at the hostel, I run into Ann again and we had a long pleasant chat until midnight or so. She was trying to stay up late to fight jet lag. My two other roommates turned out to be brothers from Alamaba. Probably two of the nicest and most courteous guys I’ve ever met.

I didn’t sleep well that night. Tossed and turned a lot. I got up in time to have breakfast with my roommates. I went to the map store and got the map I need before heading to the Greyhound Terminal to catch the Dungeness Line bus to Port Angeles. I was very lucky because I had not made a reservation and there was only two seats left on the bus.

Next entry: Port Angeles, Washington
Part of the Pacific Northwest Trip Journal

Journal entry for August 1-2, 2010.

Amtrak's Coast Starlight

The night before the trip, I had to wrap up a few tasks for work. It wasn’t until 8am that I was able to go to bed. After only one hour of sleep, I headed to the train station. It was OK though, I had a long 34-hour train ride to catch up on sleep. I was dead tired but very excited about what I expected to be an amazing trip.

I arrived at Los Angeles Union Station at 9:45am, 30 minutes before departure time. I thought 30 minutes would give me enough time to pick a nice window seat on the “nice” side of the train (the one with views of the ocean). I printed out my ticket, which I had purchased online, at the vending machine. There was a counter with the sign that said “Coast Starlight” but nobody was behind it, so I walked straight to the train. At the train car, the lady at the door asked me if I had checked in to get an assigned seat. Since I obviously had not, she assigned a seat for me right there. I headed for the upper deck and realized that I got an aisle sit on the side of the train not facing the coast. Great.

Coast Starlight

Coast Starlight

Spacious seats

The seats were spacious and comfortable. I sat next to a girl who lived in Vancouver but was headed to Portland. She had all sorts of electronic gadgets to keep herself entertained: laptop, Nintendo DS, Ipod.

The train left 10 minutes late. I stayed awake for the first hour, enjoying the scenery. Ever since my trip to Europe 8 years ago, I have always enjoyed train travel. I really like to see the transition from place to place and people going about their everyday lives. After the first hour, I dozed off from time to time. Around noon they started calling in people to the dining car. Apparently someone had walked by to take appointments while I was sleeping. Every 15 minutes they would call in a new group of passengers. I went to the store to get a muffin and some apple juice for lunch.

View from my seat

At around 1pm, the train passed by the Santa Barbara area, which is very beautiful. Lots of surfers in the ocean. It was a cloudy day, which is rare for this time of the year. Despite being called the “Coast” Starlight, you don’t really get to see a lot of coast, with this stretch being the highlight and one of the exceptions.

Santa Barbara area

At around 4:30pm, a lady came by to take reservations for dinner. Since I was in the last car of the train, by the time she came by all the prime time slots (6pm-8pm) were already taken. She told me I could either take the 5pm slot, or wait until 8:30pm when no reservations would be needed. I decided for the latter.

The train arrived at San Jose 20 minutes early at 8:10pm. It was going to be a 30-minute stop. I got off the train to walk around the station for a bit.

San Jose Station

Back on the train, I wondered when they would make the last call for the dining car. At 8:50pm I went to ask and was told that it was already closed. They must have announced the last call while I was off the train. I had no choice but to go to the store again and get a pretty uneventful ham & cheese sandwich.

I felt asleep around 10:30pm. I wished the seats would recline a little more, which they could easily do since there is so much space in between rows. My foot/leg rest was also also broken (it wouldn’t stay in position), which made it a little uncomfortable.

Aside from waking up a few times to switch positions, I slept relatively OK, probably due to me being very tired. I woke up around 7am. The train made a lengthy stop at Klamath Falls, Oregon. I took the chance to go out and enjoy the fresh morning air.

Klamath Falls, Oregon

Back on the train, and just like the previous day, I got a blueberry muffin for breakfast. I enjoyed it while seating in the lounge car, which has taller windows for a more panoramic view. For the next few hours, I enjoyed my book while meeting and talking to a couple of passengers. One guy was traveling around the country by train, while another lady was going back to Vancouver after visiting family members in LA. The scenery was amazing in this part of Oregon. Big lakes surrounded by huge mountain ranges. In one section the train went through some mountains and passed through about 20 tunnels.

I realized once again that I missed my chance to make an appointment for the dining car. There was no way I was going to eat that ham & cheese sandwich from the store again. I took a seat in the lounge car right by the dining car entrance and waited patiently for last call at 2:15pm. I shared my dining car table with an older gentleman who had decided on a whim to buy a train ticket and go to Montana. Also at my table were to ladies who were going to Portland to visit relatives. The burger I ordered was pretty good. I also got ice tea and some Häagen-Dazs ice cream for dessert. The bill was $9.75, not bad.

The train arrived to Portland 45 minutes early.

Portland Station

Portland Station

A lot of people got off at Portland, which meant that I could pick any seat I wanted. I enjoyed the last stretch, with Mount Rainier to the east, and expensive beach neighborhoods to the west.

Mount Rainier

Tacoma area

Prior to the trip, I had read many horror stories of the Coast Starlight being always late, sometimes for as much as 15 hours. I guess I was lucky since the train arrived at Seattle 15 minutes early. All in all, it was a very enjoyable and relaxing experience. The food was decent and I had fun meeting and chatting with different people.

Seattle Amtrak Station

More information about Amtrak’s Coast Starlight:
Official Amtrak Website – Including maps, brochures, and online ticket purchase.
Trainweb.com – Has many travelogues and pictures from passengers.

Part of the Pacific Northwest Trip Journal
Next entry: Seattle, Washington

Olympic Coast

Planning
Packing List
Amtrak Coast Starlight (Los Angeles to Seattle)
Seattle, Washington
Port Angeles, Washington
Lake Ozette to Shi Shi Beach Hike
    Day 1 – Lake Ozette to Ozette River Crossing
    Day 2 – Ozette River Crossing to Shi Shi Beach
    Day 3 – Shi Shi Beach and Hitchhiking to Port Angeles
Victoria, BC, Canada
West Coast Trail
    Day 1 – Pachena Bay to Darling River
    Day 2 – Darling River to Tsusiat Falls
    Day 3 – Tsusiat Falls to Carmanah Point
    Day 4 – Carmanah Point to Camper Bay
    Day 5 – Camper Bay to Thrasher Cove
    Day 6 – Thrasher Cove to Gordon River

West Coast Trail