Mud, Moss, Sand, and Stone: Becoming the Real Muddy Buddies on the Nootka Trail

Dates: May 4th – May 10th

Participants (divided into car groups, which is an important detail of the story):
Car 1: Duncan MacIntyre, Sri Chaitanya, Diana Laschewski, Ann-Cathrin Muller
Car 2: Flavia Caprez, Diego Fernandez, Xi Liang, Anneke Dresselhuis, Laura Romer

The trail: Nootka Trail. Hiking from the north end of the island all the way to the south!

May 4th

Once we reached Horseshoe Bay, some of our group members became familiar with a quintessential BC Ferries experience – where on earth did we leave the cars? After being confused by the number of washrooms on the side of the queues, we finally found Xi’s car, and could happily return to ours before the boarding process started. Phew, we did not want to be that group everybody hates before even being on the ferry.
Reconvening our car groups on the ferry, we stood in wind that literally blew us away – so we returned to the covered area and got to know each other better. Arriving in Nanaimo, we agreed to meet again at the Upana Caves (after devouring fish and chips on the docks in Campbell River, of course).

After just a few more hours of driving through the very picturesque Strathcona Provincial Park, we were just seconds away from reaching the cave parking lot when we encountered our first bear on the side of the road. For some of us, this was our first ever BC bear!

Exploring the caves was an absolute blast. We compared the functionality of our headlamps, discussed whether the holes in the huge map could be bullet holes and wondered what we’d do if a bear were to hide in a far corner of the cave.

Not wanting to reach our Rec Site in Tahsis too late, we decided to continue our drive. While our car played the excruciating game of “Whose Triangle Is It”, the other group delved into light discussions concerning childhood trauma, the meaning of birth order, and romantic histories.

Our wonderfully prepared dinner by the legend that is Anneke (you will be hearing more about their creations throughout this report) served as a perfect end to an already exciting first day.

 

 

 

May 5th

With our water taxi leaving at 7am, we had an early start. We started out the boat ride somewhat enthusiastically, singing Moana songs and enjoying the beauty of Nootka Sound. However, the closer we got to the open ocean, the less excited we got (even though we still enjoyed ourselves quite a bit). The water literally fell onto us, drenching every single piece of clothing we wore, including our packs. Sri’s camera was also affected pretty badly, making us all think it could not be saved (disclaimer: somehow Sri fixed it). For context, even our awesome skipper Chris was quite distraught by the high waves – but we made it.

Our first day’s trek started off on a beach with an enormous shipwreck, which felt somewhat apocalyptic.

 

Knowing we’d have to beat the high tide, we continued walking, eventually having to cross a very large creek. For some reason, this didn’t convince us to simply wait for low tide – no, we decided to continue. We were literally knee-deep in mud and waist-deep in water, and therefore covered around 100m in one hour – We would therefore officially like to also call ourselves “Muddy Buddies” (thank you Julia, the organiser of the JDF trip, for this awesome name).

Continuing through the rainforest, we eventually reached our first campsite on a gorgeous sandy beach. The weather did not give us any slack, with cold winds and rain stopping us from drying off or simply warming up (which for some reason didn’t stop us from going swimming) – being woken up several times at night by the heavy rain, we all hoped we’d experience at least some sun throughout the rest of the trip.

 

 

 

 

 

May 6th

Continuing the trail on the many different terrains (forests, rocks, sandy beaches, rocky beaches etc. etc., this trail has it all), we were all still hoping for at least a few sunbeams. And surprisingly, it worked. Even though it was still quite cloudy and our clothes didn’t fully dry, we saw patches of blue sky and felt the warmth of the sun on our skin.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Arriving at the second campsite, Sri and I almost jumped for joy. People had built a cabana and installed a tarp – the simple things that now felt like luxury.
But that’s not even it! The campsite was next to a huuuuge waterfall, which we were already discussing sliding down until we noticed how strong the current was. This didn’t keep us from running into the ocean and then dipping into the river.

This was exactly what we needed after the adventure of the day before. Life slowly creeped back into us, giving us the motivation we needed for the next few days.

May 7th

The next day was pretty much only spent on beaches. While being annoyed at every single pebble that fell into our shoes, and the simple exhaustion that came from walking on such awful terrain, we soon switched to the many logs on the side of the beach. Sri and I played a long game of The Floor Is Lava, which made the whole escapade a lot more fun. Discussing our mutual love for gummy bears and the constant hope to see some whales (disclaimer: we didn’t), we walked and walked and walked. The eagles circling above us in the, we couldn’t believe it, blue skies and turquoise ocean set the scenery for a wonderful day on which our tents and clothes finally dried.

 

Since we had been hiking so much over the past few days, we decided to run a stretching / yoga session on the beach together – while also assigning family roles to all of our group members (shoutout to the beloved family dog).

We were unbelievably grateful for the simple presence of sun and warmth, and very much enjoyed the ability to finally make a fire and have some marshmallows that night.

 

 

May 8th

The next day, we decided to cover two days’ worth of distance. We hiked through muddy forests, along more beaches and did some light scrambling on the famous west coast rocks.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Passing by Maquinna Point, we agreed this was probably the most gorgeous view of the entire trip and spent quite a while simply sitting on the rocks staring into the distance.

After some back and forth on where we wanted to sleep and a quick dinner break (good old instant meals), we reached our final campsite in the dark.

Since we were so far away from light pollution, the stargazing that night was simply incredible. We tried identifying some of the constellations and discussed the possibility of life on other planets. Knowing we’d be able to sleep in the day after, we all went to bed full of excitement for the full night’s sleep ahead of us (Sri and Duncan cowboy camped with deer watching over them).

 

 

 

 

 

 

May 9th

Since we had covered this day’s distance the day before, we were able to chill as much as we wanted. While some people simple stayed at the campsite playing an enormous game of “Up and Down The River”, Duncan and I decided to hike back part of the trail to explore some sea caves. We were a bit underwhelmed by the actual caves – but still enjoyed scrambling on some big rocks and discussing British and Canadian politics. On the way back, we couldn’t resist running into the ocean in a little, wind-free, bay with clear water and view of the Yuquot village in the distance, which we then explored with the rest of our group once we got back.

Walking around the village seemed almost surreal – strolling on cement, standing underneath a roof and even seeing other human beings in the distance. In the church, which mainly functions as a museum, we read about the Nootka Crisis in 1789 – when England and Spain almost went to war over this island.

Anneke’s lentil curry hit the spot once again (we all started to think they were secretly enrolled in culinary school), and gave us a wonderful last night together. Watching the sun go down behind the trees, we started reminiscing. How would we even summarise everything we’d experienced on this trip? This trip report itself only gives a tiny insight into everything that happened.

That night, four of us decided to cowboy camp, knowing this would be the last night on this gorgeous island. Looking up into the stars one last time, we were all sad to be leaving the next morning.

May 10th

Before we left for the village, we took a wonderful group picture together (at the top of this report!), seconds after Duncan led a beautiful performance of the Moose Song (he definitely had too much juice). After having a few minutes in Yuquot to explore their lighthouse and docks, we boarded our water taxi and headed back to Tahsis. This time, the skies were clear, and the water was still. On the way, we saw more eagles, seals, a huge amount of otters and another bear. It was the perfect end to our adventures in Nootka Sound.

We met up again in Campbell River to have lunch together – for some reason, we picked a place in a casino. When I tell you we were overstimulated after having spent a week on a remote island……

Meeting up again on the ferry, we knew this was truly the end to our trip. Trying to see whales once again, we enjoyed the sun on the deck and simply relaxed (well, except for a quick performance of the Cotton Eye Joe). After saying our goodbyes, we headed back into the bustling city of Vancouver, with our trip now officially coming to an end (we were treated with Northern Lights that same night, which truly perfected the week).

 

Huge shoutout to Duncan for organising this trip. We all very much enjoyed it and hope we didn’t drive you crazy with our constant questions and needs. Thank you for everything!