The last few kms were pretty tough and technical. We were pretty motivated: showers! sushi in Victoria! We were hiking pretty fast, but I think it still took us until about 1 o'clock to get to the end (km 75!).Just before the end, we started running into groups of people who were just starting their hike. For the most part, they looked pretty pie-eyed, and at km 74 to their 1, we felt like seasoned veterans. All the beginning hikers looked very very clean, and they smelled amazing. Everyone. Even normally very unattractive people. At this point we smelled horrendous, I'm sure! My Prime jersey especially had several suggestions of incineration rather than cleaning.
The second ferry of the trail took us across the Gordon River and back to the WCT trailhead to check out. When we checked in to start the hike, there was a whiteboard that said the number of folks evacuated from the trail since 2002, in the ballpark of 50-70 people a year. When we left, 41 (or 47, we couldn't tell) people had been evacuated. 5 days later when we finished our hike, 61 people had been evacuated!
There are hot showers in Port Renfrew that we a) heaven b) wonderful anti-hypothermia devices after waiting around for the boat, the permit, the lift back to the other side of Port Renfrew etc. I got 6 minutes of bliss for two loonies. I have no idea why they don't change $20 - I would have paid.
After the two hour drive between Port Renfrew and Victoria, we had a sushi feast and hopped the ferry to the mainland. We stayed overnight at Liesl's family friend's before making a break for home the next morning.
What an amazing trip! If you at all thinking of going (or maybe now you are) you should!
The photos in this post are somewhat random. More photo credits to Alli, and also some dude who conveniently ended the trail (don't miss the km 75 in the group shot) at the same time as us. A
lli, Weaze, do either of you have a shot of the suspension bridge from day 4?
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