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