It’s broken up by year so that you can start with the most recent trip reports. They will probably be the closest to what you will experience with the trail. Trip reports from 30 years ago probably won’t be as accurate as you need them to be.

If you find a trip report that isn’t on here or want to write a new one, please let us know!

West Coast Trail Trip Reports

2014

Marc Bourdon’s Solo 5-day Trip – Marc Bourdon’s Blog – May 2014

Brad McCartney’s 5-day Trip – BikeHikeSafari – August 2014

2013

Amanda Johnson’s 5-day Trip – UBC Varcity Outdoor Club – September 2013

Rick McCharles 6-day Trip – BestHike – July 2013

2012

Barb’s Trip – August 2012

Chris’s 5-day Trip – Flying Upside Up – July 2012

Wolfgang Greystoke’s 7-day Trip – Trailspace – May 2012

2008

Hank Leukart’s 8-day Trip – Without Baggage – July 2008

2007

Brett’s 5-day Trip – Brett on Stuff – September 2007

Janets 7-day Trip – Western Wilson – September 2007

2006

GuidodJones Trip – Flickr – May 2006

2005

Jason’s Trip – Flickr – August 2005

Information about the West Coast Trail

The West Coast Trail on BestHike.com

The West Coast Trail on Victoria Hiatus

Tours

Sea to Sky Expeditions West Coast Trail

The post West Coast Trail Trip Report Roundup first appeared on Pack & Trail.

We found this one at Thrasher Cove on the West Coast Trail as we hiked through. If you are having one of those days, you could just use it for a bit and place it back on the trail for someone else.Very useful for walking under those “low hanging bridges”.

The post Some days are just crazier than others first appeared on Pack & Trail.

At a couple places on the West Coast Trail you can see into the logging history of the area. Steam donkeys were one of the relics on the trail that you get to gaze at in confusion while hiking by. Cool, it’s a steam donkey! What’s a steam donkey?

I had a bit of an idea but didn’t really know until I wrote this post up today. Here is what a steam donkey is.A steam donkey is basically a steam-powered winch that was used in the past for logging. The “donkey” part of the name refers to small engines that were often in sailing ships. The “donkey” engine was a small secondary engine that helped load or unload cargo, raise and lower sails or power pumps.

The steam donkey is basically  a steam engine with a winch attached to it. The winch would have a hemp rope or cable around it that would be taken off into the woods by the “line horse”. The cable would be attached to a tree that had been cut and then drag or “skid” the log back to the steam donkey using the winch.

The trees would be moved back to mill or “landing” where the trees would be transferred to boat or rail.If the steam donkey needed to get to a new location, crews would attach the cable around a tree or other strong anchor point and the donkey would pull it self overland to the new location.

Often other things were attached to the steam donkey like water tanks, fuel oil tanks or a “donkey house”, which was a makeshift shelter for the crew.

The post What is a Steam Donkey? first appeared on Pack & Trail.

My feelings towards the ladders ranged from excitement to hatred. We’d come around another corner and sometimes I’d be happy to see another ladder, they added interested to the trail and meant we were dropping down into a river gorge.The only problem with the ladders is that for every ladder you went down, there was an equivalent ladder up. If you went down 200 metres into a valley then there would be 200 metres of ladders lurking in the near future to get back up to the trail.

No matter how sick we were of climbing ladders by the end of the trail, nearly every ladder offered a great view of the lush green forest around you. 

The post 75km Countdown: The Ladders on the West Coast Trail first appeared on Pack & Trail.

**

Mud.

Lots of it.

I expected to see a lot of mud on the West Coast Trail but I don’t think anything really prepares you for how much there really is.The photo above is a mud pit not 50 metres in from the start of the trail. We had officially begun the trail and we had officially begun the mud.

Some of the trail is nice and dry. The south end is a lot of mud. If you take beach routes, you’ll be spared the mud. Beach routes have their own … challenges. More on that in another post.

Even knee deep mud is really just what you make of it. It doesn’t have to be that bad. A couple of girls we met on the trail were doing the entire trail in Chaco sandals. Pretty crazy in my opinion!

No matter how bad it can seem, they still managed to get through all the mud fine.       

The post The First Mud Pit of the West Coast Trail first appeared on Pack & Trail.

At the end of our second day hiking we were beat. We were tired and sore and just wanted to sit and rest and not move a muscle. We had hiked a considerable distance the first day and the second and were starting to feel the kilometers on our feet and the pounds on our backs.

Multi-day trips are the only way to see some beautiful places but they do involve carrying a bigger backpack with more gear. The biggest change from day-hiking or even just walking around the mall is how much you are carrying.

Day hiking is great. You don’t need to bring much, your pack is light and everything is good. Hiking for multiple days, everything is on your back. And it’s much heavier than just a small day-pack. One of the biggest complaints I hear about multi-day backpacking is how heavy the gear is.

Do you have to carry an enormous pack with you when you go multi-day hiking? Does it have to be really heavy? Let’s look at a few of the pros and cons to carrying a larger backpack.

Pros to carrying a bigger backpack

More space

Bigger backpacks give you more space. Even the same backpack in small, medium and large will give you more litres of space as you move up in size. There isn’t much leeway for which size you choose though since it’s dependent on your height.

What you can choose is how many litres you go with. Do you get a 60 litre pack for a multi-day trip? Do you get a 70 litre? Do you go small and get a 50 litre?

70 will give you more space to pack in or to fill up on the way. If you need to carry gear for a friend, you might have space if you have a larger pack.

There is a downside to having more space that we get into in the Cons section.

So what can you do with that extra space?

More gear

With more space you can have more gear. You can bring more stuff with you on your hike, more creature comforts, more food, more dry clothes. This extra gear can make a hike much more enjoyable. Along with having more space, bringing more gear has a downside to it as well that you will have to balance out for yourself. We get into that in the Cons section next.

Cons to carrying a bigger backpack

Heavier backpack

A bigger backpack means more fabric, metal and plastic to make it. Often larger backpacks have more padding so it’s more comfortable to wear. All these extra bits and pieces add up in weight. Bigger backpacks are heavier than smaller ones, even with no gear inside.

Heavier gear

Having more space and more gear with you is great for comfort and emergencies but there is a negative. The downside is that it weighs more. Every single thing you take adds more weight. When you are hiking many kilometres in a day, all this weight adds up to a pounding on your legs.

From experience I know that if you have space you will fill it. It’s like the backpacker’s version of Parkinson’s Law which says, “work expands so as to fill the time available for its completion.” The backpacker version says, “if you have space in your backpack, you will fill it.”

More to store

Bigger backpacks are, well, bigger. They take up more room in your garage, in your car, in the tent. When you are strapped for space then you’ll want to look closely at how much you really have to spare for a large backpack.

Decisions

Now you have some decisions to make.

• What gear do you want to bring?
• How much do you want to carry?

For every item you want to take with you on the trip:

• Is this truly a necessity or is it just nice to have?
• For the necessities, is there a smaller lighter version of this you can take instead?

The post The Pros and Cons to a Bigger Backpack first appeared on Pack & Trail.

The post Photo: Bridge 102 on the West Coast Trail first appeared on Pack & Trail.

Most people associate running with pain and torture and place extremely negative connotations on it because that’s something they need to put themselves through to “get fit”. Why, if it’s going to be so much pain and torture, would you make yourself run 75 km non-stop?

I find it hard to peg down just one reason I why want to do the run this summer. There are so many. There are a few main ones that come up repeatedly.

Why not?

The human body is an incredible thing and can endure an almost unlimited amount of punishment we throw at it. So if it’s possible to do these radical things, why not? Who is there to say we shouldn’t do these things? What reason do we have to sit on our butts instead of spending some time getting healthier and more fit and taking on one of the most challenging runs of our lives? I say it’s a waste to sit around and let these bodies waste away while the infinite number of incredible things we could do goes unchallenged.

A challenge

Life is not meant to be easy. If I wanted life to be easy, I would go live with my parents, get an easy job and watch TV all day. Easy. And a huge waste! There is absolutely no challenge in that kind of life, no learning, no excitement. When the most exciting thing that happened all day was watching what Darcy said to Barbara on some TV show, there’s a problem. Completing challenges and learning new things increase your skills and make you comfortable with new things that you never thought possible. Just a few years ago I thought a 5 kilometer run was tough. It was an insurmountable challenge that I thought I could never get used to. Guess what? I do 5km runs now in my sleep. I don’t even think twice running that far. All because I did it the first time and it because easier. It just gets easier after that. Can I run 75 km? I’m not sure. But if I can, who knows what’s possible after that.

A gateway to incredible places

Most of the time I don’t think of running as fitness and something that I have to do. Running is something that I love doing because it takes me to places that you cannot get otherwise. It takes me up mountains, around lakes, along trails lined with ferns and trees that I’ve never seen before. It takes me out of the city, away from civilization and the havoc and pollution it creates to a beautiful, more peaceful place in the woods and in the mountains. Most people say they would love go and see these places, yet never make a move towards going. Start running and you will end up wherever you would like to go.

Unplug

So many people these days are plugged in so much. They’re on some sort of electronic device all day for work and all evening for pleasure. We’ve come so far with technology and it can do great things but sometimes we rely on it too much. We can’t find something to do unless we turn something on. We can’t communicate unless we are typing. We can’t relaxing unless we’re watching something on a screen. Why not go back thousands of years and look at what we did then? Eat, sleep and run. That’s it. Sounds like a great life, right?No plans. Nothing to worry about. Why not get back to that for an hour and go for a run. Think of nothing but running. The wind, the dirt, the trees and the sun. That’s all you need. It’s not hard. Just unplug and go.

Fit Can Be Fun

So there are probably a few other reasons together with the ones above why I’d attempt running 75 km. The point is that I don’t see it as fitness. I don’t see anything I do as torture, or boot camp, or pointless pain. Every minute I’m out running, hiking or riding is a minute that’s a million times better than one in an office, or watching TV at home or paying taxes.  That’s what matters. I don’t care how hard it is. I don’t care how far I’ve run or how far I’ve got left to go. Being out there pushing my muscles as far as they will go is one of my favorite places. Yes, I’m getting more fit every kilometer I run. But the most important part is that I’m having a great time doing it.

You Don’t Have to Run

Running is just one of the things that I do. I love it. It’s simple, I can do it anywhere and it really doesn’t cost anything. But if you don’t like it then you don’t have to do it. There are so many other things you could do instead. What about volleyball, soccer, hiking, climbing, mountain biking, ultimate frisbee, swimming, rowing or snowshoeing? There are so many things that you can do that will get you fit but don’t feel like, dare I say it, “the gym”. Ok, you may love the feeling you get from pumping iron there or giving it your all on the treadmill. Great! A lot of people don’t though. And they feel like they’re supposed to go because everyone says you’re supposed to be fit. Only part of that is true.

The part that is true is that you’re supposed to be fit. You’ll feel better, think better, look better and live longer when you’re fit. Everything in life is better when you’re fit. The part that isn’t true is that it has to be a grueling, tortuous process that only happens in places called “boot camp”. Ditch the crap you don’t like and get out there and do what you like to do. You can add a huge amount of activity to anything you do. Fitness doesn’t have to be bad. It’s just hiding under fun.

What are you doing to get outside and have fun this year? What “fitnessy” things are you ditching because they’re not fun any more?

The post Fit or Fun first appeared on Pack & Trail.