West Coast Trail - Tsusiat Falls to Carmanah Point (km 46)

Day 3 was our 'big day' of hiking - 20 kms. Right off the bat, we got to go through the Hole in Wall (km 27), which I had been looking forward too for a while. You have to time the tides right to walk through the Hole in the Wall (otherwise you have to walk around it via the forest route).

The first Ferry crossing was this day, at Nitinat Narrows (km 32). This was part of the reason we stayed at Tsusiat Falls (we got there early, 3 pm) - the Ferry only runs between 10 am and 4 pm, or so. We needed to get there during the day. The Ferry crossing was kind of cool, Weaze bought us Cokes on the other side (what a treat!) and I spent more of the rest of the day saying 'Nitinat Narrows' over and over in my head - funsies.

We drank the Cokes a while past the Narrows with lunch - Spam lunch. Sound gross? Normally I would agree. It was SO good. Mmmm, Spam. Don't worry, it was the reduced salt kind.


Km 34 was the area called Clo-oose that made Weaze and I laugh during the orientation. Are we there yet? No, but we're Clo-oose.


We pushed on, and up (SO up) to the lighthouse at Carmanah Point (km 44). This was a major lung and leg burner. Thankfully there was a great view of sealions from the top for distraction.


Km 45 was Chez Moniques - now it will all make sense why we hiked so far in one day. Chez Moniques is a little resteraunt on the beach that serves burgers and beer! Yum. Okay, so I had my second Coke of the day instead of a beer. The burgers were huge and decilious. There was a tarp covering the tables, which was good, becuase it started raining (read: pouring) while we ate dinner. We had pecan pie for dessert, trying to wait out the rain before going the last km (only 15 minutes) to the campsite at Carmanah Point. The rain out-waited us!


There were a couple of other hikers at Chez Moniques, but they must have camped there (or something), becuase we had Carmanah Point to ourselves. Well, not entirely to ourselves: there was a very young black bear hanging around too! Between the bear and the rain, it was a pretty early one in the tent.

Note: photo credit to Alli on the Hole in the Wall shot, as well as the one with Weaze and I walking away.