Weather

Weather for Port Renfrew

http://www.theweathernetwork.com/weather/cabc0230

Two weeks to go.

Misc Gear

For me, at least - the feeling that "we're actually going to do this" is just now setting in. With that in mind, I actually looked at all the links, etc that were discussed below. I also found a few others that I thought were interesting:

http://www.sentai.com/mudhounds/intro.htm (a great trip recap - I didn't realize the trail could be so crowded)

http://legrandbleu.swissworld.com/frameset_wcte.html (another recap - not as lengthy)

http://www.i-needtoknow.com/pop/gear.html (a very thorough gear list)

After reading these thoroughly, I've determined I'm going to purchase gaiters and a backpack cover (to double as a waterproof sack) - but skip the poles (which I've never liked hiking with). Any other "must haves" that people are considering?

Food and water

Food

We are each responsible for our own breakfast, lunch, and trail snacks.  

{My staples will include a french press mug for fresh coffee; cinnamon/nuts/oatmeal sealed, cooked, and served in individual seal-a-meal bags; instant soup/cheese/crackers for lunch; dried fruit and energy bars for the trail.}

I see us using 2-3 stoves to boil enough water for all our needs.  We'll need only a few pots and pans.

For our dinners together, Graham has point ( with my lapdog assistance)  to outline proposed dinner menus.  Graham will have more to say about this.  The intention is to package up meals that could be easily prepared  with minimum of cleanup. These are mostly dried or dehydrated ingredients, augmented with some fresh and some spices.  Prep should mostly involve heating food packages in boiling water or stirring boiled water into bags of ingredients.  

  

Please respond to this post sharing any dinner desires as well as diet limitations.

Water

Parks Service recommends that we treat all drinking water.  

1) Bob has volunteered his new water treatment gizmo that looks like a ball point pen.  It can treat a liter at a time in about a minute.  Good for about 500 liters before re-charging. 

2) Supplement that with standard iodine tablets.

3) If necessary, we could boil additional water at dinnertime.

Food prep and cleanup duty will rotate among teams. Each evening, 2 men will be responsible for setting up cook area, preparing and serving dinner.  2 different men will be responsible for cleanup and hanging food/etc. on bear line, as well as retrieving it from the bear line the following morning.   

How's your training?

Last Saturday I hiked Mt. Si, an hour outside Seattle and the beginning of the Cascade Range.  It is a good training hike, basically 4 miles of switchbacks up through Douglas firs and return 4 miles back down.  Took me about 2 1/2 hours up and 2 hours down, with just a 15 pound pack.  Time was less important to me than avoiding any re-injuries and paying attention to my stride and foot placements.    No injuries, but sore quads and calves.  

What I appreciate about our parks departments is how  they must have brought in a lot of earth-moving equipment, etc.,  to make this hike steeper and more difficult than the last time I hiked it. 

My weight has plateaued at about 190 ( down from 210) and I intend to lose at least another 5 pounds in the spirit of ultralight camping.     Duke        

Sun, Moon & Tides

Here's  some data to anticipate and plan our hike:

The sun rises a little before 6AM and sets a little after 9PM throughout our hike.

The moon will be in 3rd Q for our trip.  Beginning July 24th, the moon rises at 11:30 PM and sets 15 hours later, about 2:30 PM.  The moon rises about 75 minutes later each subsequent night.  On July 31, the moon rises at 4:43 AM and sets 15 hours later, at 8:54 PM.   

Following is the excellent chart Rob prepared; it shows the approx. high and low tides for checkpoints along the entire hike, and highlights the high tides which prevent hiking on the beach. 

West Coast Trail Tides

Travel Costs

This post summarizes expected travel costs to and from Seattle. I have fronted the cost of the Juan de Fuca Express, which is the boat that takes us from our parked cars at the Pt. Renfrew end (south) of the WCT up to our starting point at the Bamfield end (north).

The following assumptions apply:

• per-person ferry fares calculated based on vehicle + four passengers
• same route there and back (minus boat ride to trailhead on return trip)
• $10 per person for gas, should the drivers accept it (insert "how expensive gas is" cliche here)

Travel Costs
From Seattle	per person
Fauntleroy Ferry	$7
Coho Ferry	$21
Gas	$10
Boat to trailhead	$99
To Seattle
Coho Ferry	$21
Fauntleroy Fery	$2.75
Gas	$10
Total	$171

feet

In addition to the shipwrecks, wildlife, and geologic formations we can expect to see on the trail: maybe a human foot will make its way to our side of the island.....

http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/localnews/2008012092_foot23m.html

[if you haven't yet, please check out other recent posts and reply with feedback]

West Coast Trail Guidebook & photo links

I want to make sure everyone knows about these links.  They include Parks Canada requirements and recommendations and save us from re-collecting much of the same data, so we can plan our own trip.  

Please add any other links you recommend.

 Duke  (206/953-9250)

http://www.westcoasttrailbc.com/trail_guidebook_map.htm

http://www.westcoasttrailbc.com/index.html

http://www.westcoasttrailbc.com/photo_journal.htm

SHARED EXPECTATIONS

SHARED EXPECTATIONS

Leave No Trace Camping

Get up and break camp together.

Re-group at lunch stop.

Re-group for evening campsite.

Each evening common dinners together.  Rotation for 2 men to prepare meal; 2 men to clean up and hang food, etc. on bear lines; other 4 men have free time.  

Buddy System:  Rick & George/Matt & Jason/Graham & Josh/ Bob & Duke

Each pair responsible for their shelter as well as food for their own breakfast, lunch, and snacks. 

Most of what we cook (morning & evening) will be boiling water, so we can share 2-3 stoves with 2-3 pots.  

Shared gear for purifying drinking water.

Evening campfires.  

Sunny days, without a cloud in the sky.

A GREAT ADVENTURE!

 

TRAVEL & LOGISTICS - PRE-HIKE

TRAVEL & LOGISTICS  PRE-HIKE

So far, here's what I see:

We can use my home on Lake Union and Graham's home in West Seattle for prep, staging, bunks, and mobilization.

Tuesday, July 22

Rick and George fly into Seatac about 4 PM Tuesday July 22. I will pick up. Bunk at Lake Union.
Matt & Jason fly into Seatac about 6PM . Graham or I will pick up. Bunk at West Seattle.
Can you men plan to ship your pack & gear in advance, and avoid potential lost luggage?

Josh & Bob - I think you each need to get from Portland to Seattle by Tuesday evening. Bob could sleep on Lake Union and Josh in West Seattle.

Wednesday July 23 

Note: Based on Pt. Angeles Ferry. Alternate route is crossing border at Blaine, and taking Tsawassen Ferry.

7AM We load up and depart in 2 vans from West Seattle and take the 7:45 ferry from Fauntleroy Dock to Southworth.
Drive north to Port Angeles.
12:45PM Ferry to Victoria BC and go through Canadian Customs. ( Need passport)
2:30 PM Drive (about 2 hours) west to Port Renfrew. Dinner out; sleep in campsite near boat shuttle.

Thursday July 24

6:30 AM - 10:30 AM Boat shuttle from Pt. Renfrew west along Vancouver Coast to Banfield.
Hike to trailhead
1 PM Ranger briefing at Banfield Trailhead - Mandatory
2PM BEGIN hike to Day 1 Campsite

OVERVIEW

OVERVIEW

It's time to start pulling this together. We are 8 men together taking on the adventure of the West Coast Trail. We hale from around the country with different backgrounds and experience; most of us will only meet for the first time on Day 1.

My intention is to begin a series of posts on separate topics, such as

Shared Expectations
Travel & Logistics
Gear
Training
Food
Budget

You may want to add other topics. My want/hope is we can create chains of responses and dialogue according to topic.

I see these posts as drafts, based on my understanding. We can use this process to share, review, confirm, clarify, reconsider, change, adjust, propose alternatives, take on assignments, reach agreement, and support one another getting ready for this expedition.

Duke

Overview

Contact

Hi Matt, et.al.,

I'm with you on the blog. George and I just did a 6.6 mile trail this morning up to 8000 foot pass in the Organ Mts. directly east of Las Cruces. 106 degrees here today. Glad we left early and with adequate water. We're in training.

Rick Powell

Test

OK -- this is just a test post from the blog. Please visit the blog (http://www.impassableheadland.blogspot.com/) and write a comment to confirm that you received an email version notifying you of this post.

Matt

Bears & varmints

Well, after watching the movie documentary "Grizzly Man" that Carolyn brought home from the library and careful consideration of whether a neon green spandex suit might attract bears like a neon green flatfish lure attracts salmon, I decided to buy bear spray and a holster for it at REI ($49.95 + $13.95). I may yet decide to return it to REI (ie Return Every Item) because I don't want to be standing there in front trying to protect the group from a charging bear alone (even if Josh is standing next to me with his bowie knife).

Is anyone else thinking about bear spray? Maybe we don't need it.

In any case the bear protection information recommends cooking and hanging food, scented items and cooking utensils at least 100 yds away from where you sleep for he night. They also recommend avoiding established campsites where bears and other animals become accustomed to finding food.

Some of the established sites on the WCT have locker boxers to keep animals out of food supplies. Others require hanging. What is our plan?

I have two bear cannisters if someone wants to borrow one for the trip. I plan to hang my items.

Rob

Daily food schedule question

Duke(ster) indicated early-on that we will each plan and carry our own breakfast, lunch, & snacks with a group menu to be developed for the evening meals.

A couple of questions for the group to expedite personal planning:

1. Will plan time to cook at each meal or plan to eat on the run? Breakfast (coffee)? Lunch? Dinner? What does the group prefer to do?

2. I think a group meal for eight each evening will be hard to accomplish and maybe cooking in pairs will work better. What does the group think?

3. What is the plan for food items? The finest of steaks and chops? Freezer bag cooking meals? Dehydrated (Mountain House, etc.) meals? MREs? Bear steaks provided by Josh the hunter and his bowie knife? Anyone have some good ideas?

Thanks

Rob

Blisters and Bliss

There is a bunch of interesting stuff about the WCT available at the link below.

http://members.shaw.ca/blistersbliss/

This appears to be some of the content from "Blisters and Bliss", the book referenced here, and it includes a bunch of little trail anecdotes. The pictures are good, too.

Matt

Travel Schedule - Update and Confirmation

Gentlemen - We are GO! for hiking the West Coast Trail, north to south, in July.

Thanks to Graham we have confirmed permits to hike beginning the afternoon of July 24, following the mandatory 1 PM Park Ranger briefing at the Banfield trailhead.

Thanks to Matt we have reservations on the July 24 water shuttle from Pt. Renfrew north to Banfield. This boat leaves Pt. Renfrew at 6:30 AM and gets us into Banfield about 10:30 AM, subject to how many Orca whales we slow down to watch.

It will take most all of Wednesday July 23 to pack up and get through customs and go from Seattle to Pt. Renfrew. (Matt is researching the options - details forthcoming.) Based on prelim costs and ferry schedules, my guess is we will travel in 2 cars by land and ferry to Victoria, BC, and then drive to Pt. Renfrew. We will overnight in Pt. Renfrew.

So that means men travelling from Atlanta and New Mexico need to arrive in Seattle no later than the evening of Tuesday, July 22. Airport pick-up, hot showers, and a warm bunk will be provided.

Dukester

Reservation

After 15 minutes of hitting redial and another 20 minutes on hold, I was able to get through. We now have a reservation for eight people from the Bamfield/Pachena trailhead for July 24. Reservation number 2301955.

I will be getting an e-mail with more information, I will post that when I get it.

Ropes

Well,since we need 50 feet of rope per each two hikers and I didn't have a rope I just bought 50M of used 11mm climbing rope on E-bay.

I think I'll cut it up into 3 pieces. Then we'll need only one more.

RWV

Reservation and Hike Fees

On May 1 I will be making our reservation for the hike. At that time I will have to pay the fees for the hike. To collect the fees from each you, I think it is best if you were to send me a check. The total amount is $182 (see this post for reference). My address:

Graham Ford
4117 46th Ave SW
Seattle, WA 98116

P.S. I know my bank allows me to do online bill pay directly to a person using name, address, and phone number. Please e-mail me directly if you would like my phone number.

Greetings from New Mexico

Greetings,

I figured I'd better weigh in on this forthcoming adventure in that I've been the recipient of an onslaught of emails over the past several weeks without any acknowledgement on my part. As indicated by Bill, we'll be joined by George, a friend of mine here in Las Cruces, NM. His email is: jardengeor@zianet.com. I'll get him information on the blog tomorrow. At 72, George will be the senior member of the group, although he just completed the Bataan Death March memoriam last Sunday - a 26 mile walk. I'm 62 and a retired university professor. George is a still practicing physician in town, so we'll have our own team doctor on the trip. For Bill and I, this will be our fourth expedition together - the first a 5 day backpack trip to Mt. Marcy, NY, ~1962; the second a 10 day canoe trip to the NY Fulton Chain of Lakes, ~1963, and the third a 10 day sea kyacking trip to Prince William Sound in Alaska, 2002. Of course, Bill and I shared lesser adventures exploring the Long Island 'wilderness' in Boy Scouts in the late 1950s as well.

Looking forward to meeting up with all of you.

Rick Powell

Our Party now 8

Rick Powell called me & confirmed, as previously intended,  his friend George will be coming with.  That makes us 8, a good size.  And I suggest, our final addition.

I will contact Powell and make sure he gets himself and George linked up on this blog.

MJ - is there a way to create a summary of names, email adddresses and phone numbers? 

Gear Lists

Well, Josh is the only one so far to send in a gear list spreadsheet.

Does anyone but me have any bear cannisters or sacks? I think some thought needs to be given to protecting our food not only from bears but racoons and other animals. Although limited numbers are allowed to hike, the preferred camping sites are well used and probably populated by poachers.

Prelim Cost Info

UPDATE with 2008 pricing information: we will each owe $182 at the time of the reservation. This is an increase from original post with 2006 cost info. See below.
Taken from the Parks Canada website (http://www.pc.gc.ca/pn-np/bc/pacificrim/co/visit/tarifs_fees_E.asp?Park=21)

BACKCOUNTRY USE AND CAMPING
West Coast Trail

	Per Trip, per person	$127.50
	Reservation, per person	$24.50
Additional boat/ferry fees for Gordon River ($15.00) and Nitinat ($15.00) are collected on behalf of private operators when Trail Use Fee is paid.

Welcome to Impassable Headland!

Hello there! I think I've got this set up, at least in its basic form, with the proper permissions established for you all. This blog will be our central repository for data, ideas, and whatever else we can fit in here. It will be important to check back here regularly.

To start a new topic, click "New Post" and start writing. To respond to an existing topic, click "reply" (or whatever it is) and comment on an existing post.

I got the name of the blog, "Impassable Headland", from the West Coast Trail map at right. I just thought it was a cool term.

Matt