Juan de Fuca :: Day 2

 

Our second day on the Juan de Fuca trail is an ode to my naivete. You see, I knew it would be strenuous, I knew it would be muddy, I knew there would be logs and roots to avoid but I foolishly thought it would be those things at different times at different spots along the trail. The reality is that it is all those things at one time at any given time on the trail. I grossly overestimated my own body.

Our plan for day 2 had been to pack up and hike the 5kms to Little Kuitshe campground. We woke to rain and clouds. I had almost no sleep the night before and F was down to his last pair of dry socks. After a cup of hot chocolate and some granola, we did as planned and packed up. We trekked along the beach back to West Sombrio where we stopped for snacks. Here we encountered our first suspension bridge (and as it would turn out, our only suspension bridge). I think everyone enjoyed crossing the bridge except me. 

The mud began on the other side of the bridge. It was slippery but doable. We passed several mushrooms and banana slugs (F loves to look out for slugs. He would guard them to make sure they were not stepped on during our hike.). Then it was back on to the beach. I think this was the beginning of my downfall. I have chronic joint issues and inflammation in the tendons of my heels. I wore good supportive boots and used a hiking pole to help steady myself. However it was still raining and the rocks were becoming slick. I frequently slipped and wobbled causing those tendons to ache. We reached a spot where the tide was too high to pass. We stopped for lunch in the hopes we could pass soon. 

After an hour and some crab hunting, the tide was still too high so up and over we went. It was slippery, steep and muddy. The steps of roots and logs to help up the slippery hill were meant for someone taller than me. I really struggled to clamor over them. Surprisingly the children seemed to do better with some help from the adults. I could feel the ache in my ankle worsen. Descending down the other side to the beach again did not help. 

We stopped at the marker for 3kms to Little Kuitshe for water and rest. I was feeling this crushing sense of defeat. I know I am fat and I have joint issues but it has never stopped me from hiking before. I just go slowly and take breaks as needed but I carry on. I was feeling concerned that I may end up pushing my ankle to the point of injury. Little Kuitshe campground is only accessible by foot so I would have to walk out if I walked in. I was determined to carry on. I tried to push the pain to the back of my mind and get on with it. Not more than five minutes into hiking again and the pain turned to weakness. It was becoming harder and harder to bear weight on that ankle. I couldn't keep up with my kids and I was feeling defeated. That was the breaking point. We turned back.

I limped back along the beach and over the bridge to our car. I was crushed. I didn't even complete one section of the Juan de Fuca trail. I kept thinking "what if I had taped my ankle?" and "what if we started at the other end of the trail?". I tortured myself the whole night after we returned. I decided to use my defeat as motivation to strengthen that heel and go back. I see my physiotherapist this week and I'll ask her to help me come up with a plan. Juan de Fuca; this isn't over.

Juan de Fuca :: Day 1

 

About a month ago I made the ambitious plans to take my family to hike part of the Juan de Fuca trail. I knew I wanted to spend Mothers' Day with my family in the wild. I read a lot of blogs, talked with friends who have done the trail, read recent experiences on AllTrails; I felt prepared. We have hiked in to camp before but haven't truly backpacked with our children. I put a lot of time and effort into making our packs light as possible but making sure we would be warm, dry and most importantly not run out of snacks. 

F carried a Deuter Climber 22L pack and A carried a MEC Escapade Youth 32L pack. Finding good sized and appropriate fitting packs for my children was a challenge. I think there is a lack of good fitting backpacking packs for children under 16. Nevertheless, I managed to fit their clothing, sleeping bags, mugs, water bottles, headlamps and snacks in their own packs. They each had a hiking pole as well to help with the muddy conditions.

The Juan de Fuca is well known for it's muddy conditions. That side of the island is wet, windy and unpredictable. We were pleasantly surprised however by a clear and sunny day for our arrival at Sombrio Beach. We parked at Sombrio West and hiked the 1.8kms over to Sombrio East for a night on the beach.

Sombrio itself is a beautiful spot. Tricky terrain as you are walking over basketball sized rocks and washed up kelp but there is a lot of beauty to distract you. We found plenty of sea urchins both alive and deceased, starfish, lipets, slugs, bald eagles, seals, cormorants and even a hummingbird. 

By far my favourite part of the trip was the Hidden Waterfall. It's easy to miss (hence the "hidden" part) but well worth the visit. You follow a small stream up from the beach to a sandstone cave of sorts. The stream is lined with ferns and salmon berry and is lush and green. You can feel the cool mist of the falls before you can actually see them. I think it might be as close to magic as I have ever seen on Earth. I stood by myself in the mist at the base and grounded myself in that place. I could feel it healing my tired soul. 

We watched the sun set and even enjoyed the warmth of a rather smokey fire. We made sure our tent was above the tide line and our food was safely in the bear cache and curled up in our awesome family backpacking tent for the night.  I thought the waves would be a soothing way to fall asleep but even with ear plugs it was more like a constant roar. Sleep was rather elusive that night which made for an even more difficult second day. Day 2 in the next post.

Here Comes the Sun

 

The past couple days we have been enjoying summer-like weather. The skies have been clear and the temperatures in the 20s. We've been making a point of visiting gardens around the city. The cherry blossoms are almost gone but the rhododendrons are starting to bloom. The hillsides are covered in white fawn lily and common cammas. 

We visited Beacon Hill Park a few days ago and found the turtles out sunning themselves. It's also the time of year for peacocks to show off for the ladies. It's a noisy place when this happens. We also came across great blue herons nesting in the trees. In a few months the ground will be littered with turquois egg shells. 

Today the sun was beating down on us again which called for the sprinkler. Our garden and my children loved the cool shower. If it's this hot in April, I fear for the summer months. It's hard sometimes to remember that sunny days aren't necessarily good. Typically April was a cooler month; as the saying goes "April showers bring May flowers". I hope for the sake of our forests we get more rain in the coming weeks, otherwise it could be a difficult season for forest fires. 

Beach Saturday

 

 "The sea, once it casts its spell,

holds one in its net of wonder

forever."

Jacques Yves Cousteau

The beauty of living on an island is that there is no shortage of beaches, inlets, coves and estuaries to explore. We visit the sea year round. This particular beach is one of the few with sand so it's a favourite regardless of the season. We ran into some friends and found some treasures. I feel like we breathe a little easier and walk a little lighter after an afternoon by the sea.

Rock Hunting

 

For the past few years we've been exploring the world of geocaching. It was really fun for a while. It was a great family activity. However, relying on the GPS app was a big challenge and sometimes I just wanted to put the screen away and be in nature. So we stumbled upon this movement called Sooke to Sidney Rock Hunt. The community would paint rocks and hide them around their communities for others to find. You could keep the rock or re-hide it somewhere for another to find. It was wonderful fun!

We've found rocks in the most unexpected places (in a parking lot, on a ledge by the liquor store) and it's been a motivation to get outside and visit places we haven't been before. The kids and I both painted rocks with enthusiasm. We wrote the year on the back in the hopes that at sometime in the future we will find the rocks again and be surprised by how long it's been since we painted it. 

It's very tempting for my children to keep each rock they find. It's like treasure for them and the would love to have a box of their collected rocks. However, the spirit of the movement is to spread joy with the rocks and share art and nature with the community. It doesn't seem right or fair to keep every rock we've found. So they each have one or two rocks that mean something special to them and the others have been re-hidden for others to delight in. 

If you'd like to take part in the fun search Sooke to Sidney Rock Hunt on Facebook to find the group (I'm no longer on Facebook so I don't have the link). If you find a rock on the island labelled SSRH or SS Rock Hunt those are part of the hunt as well. Enjoy, be safe and have fun.

Snowy Mountains

It used to be that we would get a couple days of snow a year. Maybe one day to stay home from work and school to play but not much more than that. Lately, however, we've been feeling the effects of global warming in a noticeable way. No more snow. Not even a flurry. So many of the books we read feature snow as a major part of winter. One more when it was very frosty A came running to me excited about the "snow". She asked to go sledding. It was sad to see her heart sink when I told her it wasn't in fact snow. So this idea of a road trip to the snowy mountains was born.

The winter months are always tough for us financially so I wasn't sure we could make it work. But gas prices fell and I managed to put aside a little bit for the quick trip to the mountains. It was a long drive but worth it. It was the perfect day for snowshoeing too. It was snowing big, soft flakes of snow when we arrived but by the time we got the sleds hooked up and our trail passes it cleared.

We had barely made it down the trail before A jumped out of her sled and wanted to make snow angels. F had to join in of course. The snow was deep so it was fun to just sink into it. We continued on through the snowy woods. We noticed animal tracks in the snow, watched Whiskey Jacks swoop by our heads and listened to the snowy silence. A had really wanted to make a snowman but we didn't want to leave one in the way of trail users so instead she and her dad made a snow mouse to take along with us.

After an hour on the trails we decided to head back to the lodge for snacks and sledding. As we finished our snacks and got dressed for sledding the snow began to fall again. I'm glad it did. Falling snow is completely magical. The wind did pick up however and it got a bit cold. A had begged for sledding for weeks before the trip but when standing at the hill she decided she didn't want it. F however, could barely stand to wait his turn. I could hear him laughing the whole way down. He had the biggest smile on his face as they walked back to the top.

I'm so glad we did this for our family. It was precious time together, special memories and endless fun. I hope we can find a way to make this a winter tradition. Even after years of no snow, winter just isn't the same until I've had a day with the white stuff.

Cows, Car Rides and Cheese

This weekend we decided to drive up the island for a mini-getaway. A stay-cation if you will. We are on a tight budget these days so I did my best to stretch our dollar on this trip. It was a bit stressful but definitely fun. Poor F had a hard time in the car this trip so we had to make lots of stops. It was raining for most of the drive so we didn't visit the beaches as I hoped we could. We did, however, make a stop to one of my favorite farms. Farms are a fantastic, free way to have fun and learn about your local farms and food.

Little Qualicum Cheeseworks and Morningstar Farm is such a fun place to visit. Not only are their cheeses amazing, it's such a great learning opportunity to see exactly where our food comes from. It was still drizzling when we arrived but we took cover in the animal pens. Both kids adored the rabbits. You could tell they were used to visitors because they barely batted an eyelash at all the scratching and stroking.

We visited the calves (oh my they were sweet!), donkeys, sheep, ducks and most importantly the cows. The kids got to visit the maternity pens and give those girls some scratches. Then we took a look at the milking pen. No one was in there at the time but A and I checked out the equipment and talked about how it must work when the pen is full of cows. Then we walked over to the cheesemaking window. "1/2 of excitement packed into 8 hours" as we've made our own cheese before we completely understood this sentiment. Of course the way to finish a tour of a cheeseworks factory is to taste the cheese (my favorite part). We couldn't leave without taking some of our favorite cheese home.

As we were leaving F noticed a tractor. He is a boy obsessed with driving. We could hardly convince him to leave. I think he would have liked to sat on that seat until sheer will brought the thing to life. While he was "driving", A spotted a horse. She tells me often that horses are her favorite animal. It was a gentle horse and happily visited with us. Eventually we bid farewell to the farm and got back in the car to continue our journey.