KatieTheKat

If you guessed that the Juan de Fuca trail would be busy on the May long weekend, you guessed right. If you guessed that Sombrio Beach would be absolute insanity (ala dirt bikes, amplifiers, fireworks all night long, hundreds of people), then you got that one right too! Well, we also knew it would be pretty busy, but really it was a little more than expected. Still, me and 10 dear friends managed to have a super duper time hiking, face painting, eating cakes, collecting mussels, etc.

It all started Thursday for "Team Whole Trail" - they hiked through mud and muck from Botanical Beach to Sombrio Beach, where they arrived at some reasonable time on friday evening.

Then there was team cycle (Darren and I), who left Vancouver thursday evening, had to catch a bus instead of biking to Horseshoe Bay in order to make the 7pm ferry to Nanaimo, since we then had to drive down to Matt's place in Victoria that night. Friday morning we baked cakes and set off, after a delicious breakfast at "Took's on Cook"... we biked via the Galloping Goose to Sooke. In Sooke, Darren had a wee pedal catastrophe wherein his bike cleat came loose from his shoe (eeks! Something to remember to beware of from now on)... luckily he escaped with minor scrapes and there was a bike shop only a block and a half away. We stopped to get some provisions and then took a deep breath before diving in to the remaining 78km-or-so ride to Botanical Beach. It proved to be an awfully long ride. We decided to hitch hike instead of bike back to Sombrio after shuttling Greg's car south to China Beach. Sigh.. if only it hadn't taken an hour to get a ride. We eventually made it to Sombrio after dark, where we walked up and down the packed beach calling "Greg! Taryn! Tudor! Calvin!" until we got a response. Amazingly, we eventually found whole trail, and furthermore, they had recently received a call from Team Halfway, who had just arrived at the parking lot.

Team Halfway, by the way, had driven out from Victoria that evening.

So there we were: 11 people, 1 small car parked at Sombrio, 1 large car parked at China Beach, and 2 bikes hidden in the woods at the China Beach parking lot. Time for cake #1!

Saturday, after cake #2, we did the muddy trek from Sombrio south to Chin Beach. What can I say about it? It was sunny, beautiful, and fun. We harvested and ate a couple of batches of mussels that evening. Not to mention eating cake #3. (Food is important!). Oh, and in the morning, we completed a collaborative painting featuring many fabulous creatures such as the floating spaghetti monster, the wiener dog-toting eagle, and the tasty crab!

Sunday: another beautiful day, another beautiful hike. This time with extra ups and downs. Though we managed to cut off a bunch of these by hiking the beach for the last stretch leading up to Bear Beach (a great way to go, if the tide is very low!). This detour also brought us through enormous California Mussel land, which Andre and I revisited for a grand shellfish harvest later on. This time we forewent(?) our usual campfire on the beach since the wind was up and the gray sky threatened rain (though never delivered). Instead we amused ourselves with our feasting and our stern visit to a group of flare-setter-offers camped a little further down the beach.

Monday Calvin, Matt and I zoomed out of camp early to deal with transportation. Me to get a head start on biking back towards town, and Calvin and Matt to pick up the second car back at Sombrio. Sadly, we were in such a rush that we skipped playing on the enormous swing that had been erected at the southern end of Mystic Beach - it looked like a lot of fun! As it worked out, we timed things just perfectly with the weather. I had a pleasant and speedy bike ride to the 17 Mile Pub, where I met up with a carload for burgers, and by the time it started pouring halfway through lunch, we had worked out a plan that involved me not biking the rest of the way (and therefore staying dry!).

All in all, it was a fantabulous trip, and well worth revisiting the Juan de Fuca, even though my trip with Bruno in March still seemed so fresh in my mind.