July 22, 2024, Halfmoon Bay, BC- The earnest young guide touted West Coast Trail, a strenuous 75-mile trail that incorporates just about every skill a wildland fire fighter, or candidate for the Survivor reality series, would need in order to meet with success. He is in university, and so has not set aside his own time to do the trek-but I could see in his eyes that the will is there. The trail's northern terminus is near Bamfield, southeast of the Ucluelet-Tofino main segment of this Reserve. Its southern trailhead is just northeast of Port Renfrew, which itself is 110 km west northwest of Victoria. The route is on par with Newfoundland's East Coast Trail, Ireland's Wild Atlantic, the Florida Trail, Rim-to-Rim in the Grand Canyon and Michigan's Keweenaw Peninsula Trail. It would be a good prep for an Appalachian, Pacific Crest, Continental Divide, Colorado, or Arizona Scenic trek.
My own short hikes today gave me a good sense of what a dedicated exploration of the area would entail. Stops were at Radar Hill, Grice Bay, Combers Beach, Rainforest Trail and Kwisitis Visitor Center (where the young man was touting the trail.)
Here are scenes from those spots.
Approach to Radar Hill. This site has the remnants of a World War II era Canadian Forces radar station, which kept watch for any Japanese incursions into Canadian airspace.
Canada was a key member of the Allied forces in the Korean War, as well. This plaque commemorates the Canadian Forces' landing at Kapyong.
Commemorative ciinul for Radar Station. Like indigenous people in the United States, First Nations people in Canada were all-in, for defending the homeland during wartime.
Grice Bay lies about three kilometers east of the main Pacific Rim (Tofino-Ucluelet) Highway. It's a major recreational fishing area, as one might expect, and there were quite a few boats being launched, while I was checking the place out.
View of Grice Bay from the west.
Southwest view of Grice Bay
Dolphins were moving about the bay-also looking for fish.
Incinerator Rock is a spot popular with surfers, just north of Rainforest Trail and Combers Beach.
The trail to Combers Beach has several elements of the rain forest, in and of itself.
Looking at these giant ferns transported me to the Silurian Era.
Huckleberries abound at Combers Beach.
Driftwood forts are everywhere at Pacific Rim. Combers Beach reminded me of Kalaloch, Washington, in that respect. (Next two photos)
This looks like a fair shelter from a storm.
The surf at Combers looks as enticing as any I've seen, north of Doheny. The beach is famous for its riptides, and guidance on how to handle a riptide is prominently displayed here.
Incoming tide, Combers Beach
Next up was Rainforest Trail. It was not really redundant, after the Combers experience, reinforcing the importance of recognizing the fragility of both the water table and the soil. Water storage is not strong here, because the soil is so thin. For communities like Tofino and Uculuet, this means taking strong conservation measures, despite the high average yearly rainfall. Rainforests endure more droughts than one might think.
Canopies help to preserve water, by limiting sunlight.
Red cedars, Rainforest Trail, Pacific Rim.
Sitka spruce coexist nicely with red cedars.
Saplings, springing up, guard the soil's moisture even more.
Finally, at Kwisitis, there was a feast of driftwood and black basalt.
Wickawinnish Beach, Kwisitis
Basalt outcroppings, Kwisitis
In this Visitor Center, we learned much about the sacredness with which the Tla-o-qui-aht and neighbouring nations approach the whale hunt, to this day. The bowhead is taken with the same reverence that other Indigenous hunters approach the hunting of bison, deer or elk. The entire animal is put to use, once the kill is made, and there was/is a strict limit on the hunt.
The balance of nature weighs on the minds of all who wish to see our Planet thrive. The Nuu-cha-hulth-aht, of Ucluelet, are no exception.
No comments:
Post a Comment