Tatchu Peninsula - Day 3

Day 3 was our shortest hike of the trip, in fact we arrived at our camp so early that we contemplated continuing on to the next and final sight. Considering our previous surge channel experience, we had our reservations knowing we would be crossing another one on this day; Our reservations turned out to be unfounded as this one was no where near as treacherous. We reached our camp spot by early afternoon, and spotted a small black bear at the far end of the beach as we approached - he didn't notice us, and ambled off into the brush eventually. After debating walking further that day, we opted to stay considering that the tide would not be on our side by that time, and the next camp-able spot was Rugged Point, the final spot. This turned out to be a great decision! After setting up our tent, we came across the skull of a black bear; it was bleached by the sun and ocean and had barnacles growing on it. As such we dubbed our beach Bear Skull Bay. The beach was made up of perfectly smoothed and rounded pebbles that had been baking in the sun all day. We alternated between jumping in the ocean and drying ourselves on the pebble beach, and it was as good as any spa treatment you could get. During our relaxing afternoon, we were visited by a young socially awkward male deer. He hung around our camp, coming quite close to us on several occasions. We realized that considering his age, and the low number of hikers that come through the area, he had probably recently left his mother and had probably never seen humans before. We obviously named him Hank, because - who wouldn't?

Stopping to pump water in a picturesque spot

Hiking around the tidal pools

Another beautiful lunch spot

The skull of a black bear

Taking shelter from the sun and wind

Our socially awkward friend Hank

The old bear hang conundrum

A common theme in our hike celebrating both the beaches with hard packed sand, and our agreement to take this adventure together

Bear Skull Bay as we dubbed it

Tatchu - Day 1

Tatchu - Day 2

Tatchu - Day 4

Roll Call

The puppies are almost eight weeks old now, so we thought we should do some updated photographs of them.  Eight of the puppies have gone into other foster homes in pairs, as sixteen puppies at this age is just too many, and this way they could get more individual attention. I have been fostering two personally, which has been both fun, and exhausting. The puppies shown here are the remaining eight, plus my two.  As they are almost eight weeks old they are also almost ready for adoption. If you are interested in any of these or the six other pups previously shown, you can apply to Broken Promises Rescue, but do it quickly!

Wren

Bryn

Thia

Banjo

Keely

Boone

Emerson

Sid

Hendry - (we think his ears might just stand up)

Berkley

Tatchu Peninsula - Day 2

The rest of the hike involves walking north up the coast of the peninsula. There are a couple of places where the tides can become an issue, so it is pretty important to know the tide schedule, and time your days accordingly. This stretch involved a particularly challenging surge channel, and a river crossing at the end of the day. We started our day following in the footsteps of a beautiful coastal wolf. He lead us around the end of the beach where we had camped, to where he met up with another wolf. They disappeared into the woods at that point. The day was filled with beautiful, though sometimes treacherous, coastal formations. I found the descriptions in this blog post to be pretty accurate to our experiences, although we didn't use the same camps as them. 

Around mid-morning we stopped and watched as the Uchuk sailed passed on its return voyage from Kyuquot, it was both comforting and lonely to see them sail by. We wondered if they had been looking for us, as we had looked for them. We hiked past sandstone point, with its petrified wood and tidal pools; then through Jurassic Point - where supposedly there are dinosaur foot prints to be found - a fact we were not aware of until after the hike. After crossing a river, easily done at low tide, we found a beautiful coastal meadow, it was warm and sheltered from the wind and the crash of the waves.  It wasn't long before our belongings were scattered amongst the wildflowers and bees, and we were resting face down in the grass. That night was the best sleep I had the whole trip.

It's always an honour to see our coastal wolves, even if it's from a distance

A couple of sea caves

Some beautiful Tafoni formations

The Uchuk as she makes her return voyage from Kyuquot

Ancient petrified wood

I admire the stubborn bravery of the little crabs, snapping their claws as you step over them.

Backpacking isn't always pretty, but you do what you can

A beautiful cove to stop for lunch

Sometimes the easiest path leads to a dead end

A grassy meadow as we reach the river crossing

This river would be considerably harder to cross at high tide

Some Castilleja growing amongst the driftwood

A beautiful view from our camp

Sunset on day two

Tatchu - Day 1
Tatchu - Day 3
Tatchu - Day 4

Tatchu Peninsula - Day 1

Bright and early on a Thursday in June we boarded the MV Uchuck III in Gold River to begin an eight hour journey to Port Eliza where we would begin hiking the Tatchu Peninsula. The Uchuck sails a delivery route from Gold River to Kyuquot stopping at fish farms, logging camps, and remote communities to deliver supplies from food, to laundry machines, to constructions supplies. We were joined by a group of older travellers who were onboard the Uchuck for a round trip cruise to Kyuqout. We quickly became the talk of the ship amongst the cruise goers, marvelling at our big adventure. One gentleman sat beside his wife, shaking his head, as she peppered us with questions. When we finally arrived at Port Eliza the cruise goers gathered on the deck to see us off, even (awkwardly) clapping as we began our hike. 

The first leg of the hike consists of 10.5 kilometers of logging road before turning on to an old spur road that takes you to your first beach, also the first camp spot. Part way along the logging road we encountered our first black bear. We kept a safe distance and politely asked him to vacate the road so we could pass. If you are planning to attempt this hike this is fair warning that the spur road is not easy to find. We were told by the local float plane pilot that on average only about six groups per year do this hike - as a result the spur road was quite overgrown, and was only marked by a single, faded piece of flagging tape. We weren't truly certain we had taken the correct turn until we made it to the beach. This stretch of bush whacking also gave us the chance to perfect our very own style of loud sing talking in order to inform any near by wild life that we were coming. There was evidence abound of near by predators in the form of fresh droppings and broken branches, but we luckily did not meet any of them.

Some items to note for the first camping spot: The tide comes up high on this beach, so choose your spot carefully. We picked a spot quite close to where the trail meets the beach as it looked dry; the next morning we could see that the tide had come up to within feet of our tent, and this appeared to be the only dry spot on the beach. Also, there is a stream that appears from the sand near the far North end of the beach where the rock appears. We pumped from this stream, and it was probably the best tasting water I have ever had!

Where the Mill meets the water in Gold River

The old crane and pulley system is used to deliver goods to the docs of camps

Jen on the back deck as we pull away from Gold River

Reference materials are key

Resting up after a late night drive and an early morning to catch the boat

Ready to set out

Everything we need for the next four days

Saying goodbye to the Uchuck

Road beer from the locals

Power stance as we check out a view point

Tatchu - Day 2
Tatchu - Day 3
Tatchu - Day 4