Getting there is half the fun, they say. The road to Port Renfrew from Cowichan Lake used to be gravel, travelled by logging trucks and die-hards with four wheel drives. Now it is paved. However, signage seems to suffer a case of arrested development...funny way to indicate a right turn in the road.
But, when one gets to the open fjord of Port Renfrew - what a welcome to the Pacific Coast. Long beaches, lined with hundreds of logs, which have been deposited by storm surges high on the sand. And some not so high, like this one.
A thin layer of fog hangs over the waters. Surf breaks as smooth as if cut by a knife. The mountain tops of the US Olympic Peninsular rise far away on the horizon.
High fir, cedar and pine covered cliffs line the shore outside the fjord, and the surf crashes relentlessly over rugged rocks.
A little new shoot grows between the many stranded logs on the beach.
Park-like setting with a West Coast Salish flavour of the Port Renfrew Hotel and Resort. A surprising bit of luxury in the midst of a wild and empty landscape.
Tiane, a First Nation girl from Lillooet in BC's interior, working at Port Renfrew Hotel & Resort. She showed me the rustic - but very luxurious - cabins on the seashore. The porches which are overhanging the water are innundated by the crashing waves when the winterstorms batter the West Coast.
Botany Beach near Port Renfrew, where the tidepools at low tide offer ever fresh insights into a secret and wonderful intertidal world.
More Magic Mushrooms growing on tree barks
The west coast shoreline does not offer easy acces to 'higher' or safer ground to escape from rising tides, rogue waves or just plain getting off the beach. Exits are marked with red buoys hanging from tree branches or, as in this case in Botany Beach Park, with a highly visible traffic sign .
These escape signals are posted along the entire length of the West Coast Trail, a demanding and rugged five day trek without any connection to civilization, or indeed, any way off but at the end of the trail.
The trail follows roughly the West Coast of Vancouver Island between Port Renfrew and Bamfield. Intrepid trecking afficionados sign up for it and brave the elements (completely self sufficient) as well as suspension footbridges over rushing rivers, dizzying ladders up and down steep canyon walls, climbs over slippery mossy treetrunks, exposed hikes along forbidding rough shores and rocky outcrops. Each year a couple of hikers succumb to some mishap or other - and complicated air and water rescue efforts get them out of there - after the outside world finds out about them, which could be a while. No cell phone coverage either...
Well, it is what is called a "Classic Hike".
With the ususal suspects never far away...Deposited no more than a few minutes ago, still steaming, half digested berries glistening: a perfect example of bear poop. That is when one starts to make a lot of noise, hastens ones steps and gets 'outtathere-in-a-hurry'...even without a complicated rescue effort.
