Day Two - boulders and bogs

On a positive note I was warm last night in my little one man tent. I was on a bit of an angle and spent much of the night slipping and sliding. We all went to bed before dark but the latecomers kept me awake for a bit. I thought the ocean rolling in would drown them out and lull me to sleep but I even wanted to tell the ocean to ssshhhhh. High tide rolled in within inches of the tents of the late arrivals and probably 25 feet from the rest of us. I felt lucky to be perched on a moss covered bit of almost flat ground, a good 6 ft above sea level.
I drifted in and out of sleep all night. My mind still busy, worrying if the dog has water, did my son check the oil?, should I pee now or later? Am I going to be able to move in the morning? Why does my finger hurt? Is that root going to rip through the bottom of my tent? I should defintely pee now. Then at 5am, what in the hell is screeching next to my tent and what the hell is chasing it? I thought maybe a predatory bird and a mouse? The longer I thought about it the more outrageous a scenario my mind created. I stayed up at that point and slowly started packing up. We had a dry night and morning and after breakfast decided that we would take the beach today. This was no ordinary beach.

 We left Thrashers Cove heading north along the sea side. The sand quickly became stones which quickly grew in size. Every step a maneuver. This is where we learn to wedge. A wedged foot in theory would mean a broken ankle but here on the slippery rocks it ensures you don't fall on your ass. There was moss and algae and seaweed on the rocks only temporarily exposed due to low tide. The barnacles were our friends beneath our feet but enemies to our hands... I wore my rubber grip gloves and kept one pole operational to help with foot placement and the bigger leaps. Well the stones turned into rocks and the rocks turned into boulders. Most were slippery some were huge and some had logs across them adding to nature's obstacle course.

It took 2 hours of tackling this treacherous route to get to Owen's Point. Here we would find sea caves with pine trees growing on top. Seals and sea lions parked on a rocky point just offshore and flying over head one of the many bald eagles we are seeing daily. This is a special place. 

Unfortunately we can't stay here as the tide eventually would come in and trap us. So we carry on for another hour at least along a massive rock shelf with tide pools to dodge and surge channels to bypass. The big ones took us all the way to the tree line and the little ones we managed to jump across. Once we were forced inland by a massive surge channel and the path was across a slippery rock quite high above sea level that led briefly into the trees. There was an old time sea rope to hold on to as the drop on one side was significant and in the trees, only roots and mud to climb into and through to get to the other side. It was extremely challenging and quite honestly it put some serious fear in me.

After making it across an extensive stretch of flat tide pools we had lunch perched high beside the treeline over looking the sea. It was stunning. The homemade hummus was delicious and the rest time included removing the socks and shoes to air them out... much needed.
Eager to get to camp before the inevitable rain we packed up our gear and started the forest part of the day. The first steps into the trees were big ones and my little legs were already mad. After an exhilarating climb up we hit the trail. It was actually very pleasant and as like yesterday, very green.

It was 80% boardwalks although half of them were so badly damaged we ended up getting very, very dirty. So I banged up my knees today, both are bruised... my left knee has a little chunk of flesh gone and the blood was seeping through my pants.  For a couple of hours we slogged through mud and across shoddy boards. The spruce and cedar trees were enormous, guessing some at 300 to 400 years old and the forest lush and green, we crossed over sections by walking across logs and filled our water bottles in the creek...Finally as we approached camp we had to descend down at least 4 massive ladders.
As we approached our camp to be we were stopped by a giant rock bed and river. Our final crossing to Campers Creek. 

Our camp was quickly set up with tarps and our tents all pitched and beds made before we even took off our boots. Once organized, we all washed up and explored our massive beach. This time our tents were quite far from shore and separated from the main beach by a very wide but shallow creek. I decided to explore and take photos when, as I expected, it started to rain.

We all scurried back to the dryness under our tarps and just hung out while Chris fought with our stove. The thought of not eating after that kind of a day also put a little fear in me. Once again my hero in the kitchen, Chris fixed the stove. Eventually he served us up some curried sweet potatoe and chickpeas with rice. And a tea for dessert. We sat under the tarp for hours while the rain came down. We giggled as we tried to wash our dirty dishes with the collecting water on our temporary roof top. 

Relentless the rain was... we were feeling sore and stiff and unable to stand or stretch. Imagine 10 sore people sitting on logs cozy under the tarp watching the less fortunate souls who were late getting to camp stumble in cold and wet. That will be us tomorrow. We all had to pee and nobody wanted to get wet and drip all over their dry beds so we dragged out the bedtime process. Still it continued to rain.
As I write this, I am laying in my skinny tent. The raining pouring down hard without letting up at all. I'm not cold but it's damp. My arms are sore. My back is sore and my legs are sore. I can't stand or stretch and every now and then a drop of water penetrates the fabric of the tent above my head. It is forecasted to rain all night and into the morning. Tomorrow is the hardest day and we are going to have to pack up in the rain, hike in the rain and slosh through deep mud.
Was this a crazy idea? Fucking right it was. This isn't spirit cleansing, it's soul drowning. The only thing my soul wants to drown in is wine.
Maybe if I close my eyes I can pretend I don't need to pee quite so badly.
Sleep might just be the answer... and my only option.