Back County Camping 101- Cape Scott Adventure May 2021

“ The longest journey begins with a single step “ -Lao Tsu

The original plan for the May long weekend was to hike the Sunshine Coast Trail. But, due to health authority and travel restrictions, David Marlor and I decided on Cape Scott. Cape Scott is located on the most northern tip of Vancouver Island. There is a lot of history in this park known for it's old growth forest, sandy beaches and rugged terrain. This area experiences heavy rain and violent storms, which explains the lush rain forest and muddy trails and bogs. It was my first time this far north on Vancouver island, David planned the itinerary and the route we would hike. We had planned the hike as part of our Fat Dog 120 miler race preparation in August.

We set off Saturday morning and after an hour drive, arrived at the trail head parking lot, which was full, mid-afternoon. I'm a rooke when it comes to back country camping. The art is packing all the essentials, for any weather condition, enough food, clothing and essentials for three nights. Leave no trace principles which means carry out what you carry in. This was the first outing with my new Osprey Renn 50 litre pack. I filled every nook and cranny of the pack and attached my new Manduka travel yoga mat (1 kg) to the outside .We were going for three nights so we needed enough food; mostly dehydrated camping meals. My pack weighed about 25 lbs, including 2 litres of water. Your pack should only weigh 20% of your body weight. My pack felt balanced and conformable, with most of the weight on my hips. I could feel my glutes burning, which is a good sign, as you don't want your shoulders taking all the weight. Hiking poles really help too for balance, getting over big logs and to gauge the depth of the mud bogs. Be careful when taking off your pack. David warned me. It was the weirdest sensation, a “springy” feeling as if I was going to fall on my face, with the extra 25 lbs off my back.

Day 1 – Hike from trailhead to Nissen bay (15km , 4-5hours), camp on beach.

The trail was quite muddy with a few deep mud bogs and many boardwalks. There were also signs warning us about wolves and bears in the area. David and I both had bear spray and kept conversation as we hiked along the trail. About one kilometre from the beach a big black bear came out of the bushes onto the trail in front of us. The bear looked like it was drunk as it was staggering down the path. It was funny to watch. I didn't even feel scared, I was more in awe of the bear. I said “David ..get out your camera” . We were about as close as we wanted to get to it. David was singing “Mr. Bear song.” The bear eventually disappeared into the forest so we continued on. Moments later the bear reappeared. We had to decide then if we should backtrack to the previous camp site about 7 km back. It had been a long day, I was tired and just wanted to get to the beach and set up our camp. Again the bear disappeared into the bushes, and we continued on to the beach. As we passed the bear, I could see that he was chomping on something. The bear had no interest in us. He was probably thinking “dumb humans are back“.

We got to the beach and set up camp, ate a dinner of Organic Anne's mac and cheese with tuna and some veggies I had dehydrated . Dinner was tasty. Everything tastes better after a long hike in the outdoors. We put all of our food, stove and toiletries into the food cache before bed. You never want to have a trace of food near your backpack or tent, especially when there is a bear in the area. I never bring anything scented either, better to be safe than sorry. Camping on the beach was relaxing, listening to the sound of the ocean waves crashing onto the beach. There was one another tent far away from ours on the beach I kept asking David if he was sure we were far enough from the tide. I didn't want to wake up swimming in the ocean.

Day 2 – Nissen bay – Lighthouse and Guise Bay

Waking up to the sound of ocean waves and birds loudly chirping, and the call of nature got me out of my warm sleeping bag. As I was walking to the outhouse, I was greeted by another hiker “Good morning“. We we passed each other going opposite directions. I decided to get our food from the food cache. My hear sank when I opened up the cache and discovered all of our food and David's Jet boil stove was gone! Who would do that! I ran back to the tent to tell David the news. Not a great way to start the morning . I could see the other hikers packing up their camp. I walked over to their site trying to remain calm, while I was panicking inside. David was right behind me. I could see all of our belongings in clear view. Turns out one of the the guys who joined the others the night before, had mistakenly took our stuff thinking it belonged to his two buddies. They were very apologetic and gave our stuff back to us. Thank goodness ! My heart was racing and adrenaline still flowing through my veins. I did some yoga on the beach and we ate breakfast of oatmeal and packed up camp.

Before we headed off we needed to refill our water. After a short hike to the water source, we discovered the colour of the water was rust colored and had a white foam film on it. The foam is a natural phenomenon that occurs on lakes and streams. According to the B.C. ministry of environment: “Foam is produced when organic matter decomposes and releases fatty acids that act as surfactants or surface active agents.” After filtering the water we added a purification tablet just to be safe. I also added a Wild Berry Nuun tablet which made the water more palatable and pink coloured.

We did a small out and back section of the North Coast Trail. The trail here was very boggy,thick mud and lots of bugs with lots of fallen trees to climb over. You would want gaiters for this trail. David lost his balance and fell onto his back, going over a big log ( picture). It was slow going and not really enjoyable so we turned back to start our hike to the Lighthouse as planned.

We hiked along the white sandy beaches. It was like being on a tropical vacation. I was mesmerized by watching the waves.

Nels bight was populated with tents. It's a popular weekend spot for people to set up camp and day hike from. Our plan was to camp on Guise Bay away from the crowds.

Hiking along the trail to the Lighthouse we ran into the three hikers “creepy humans” who had mistakenly stole our stuff. They had just come from the Lighthouse and warned us that there was a bear who they named “Drools”. We hiked up the logging road climb arriving finally at the lighthouse. We were greeted by the lighthouse keeper who had lived there for 25 years. He was friendly and said we could refill our bottles with fresh water. As we climbed up the ladder to the Lighthouse, another big black bear appeared and sat in the grass yawning and curled up for a nap as if he were a cat. We waited till he was gone before making the decent back to the beach. Apparently there were two black bears that wander the Lighthouse area, but were harmless.

Cape Scott Lighthouse. You can go up to the platform.

The rain started as we headed down to where we were going to set up camp. Good thing we had hiking umbrellas. David bought them for thru hiking. Hiking umbrellas are good for sun, rain and snow and attach to the pack – hands free. Trying the keep our packs dry we put on the rain covers. We set up camp in the rain and ate our dehydrated meal under the rain tarp. I was happy I had saved my little can of wine for this rainy evening. It was dry and cozy in David's waterproof Seven Moon's Design's tent. Part of back country camping is being prepared for any weather conditions. Have extra dry layers to change into, because if you're wet you are going to get cold quickly! Merino wool works great because its comfortable, moisture wicking and odour resistant. Pack your sleeping bag into a dry bag as you do not want that to get wet.

Day 3- Guise Bay – San Josef Bay 24 Km

The skies cleared up as we packed up our camp and headed to San Josef Bay. We stopped for a quick lunch break of cold dehydrated salad, and laid out the tent in the sun to dry it out. Along the way we found a small fern waterfall to refill our water. The water was so clear it almost didn't need to be filtered, but we did anyway. It tasted so good ! My legs and feet were starting to feel tired from the previous two days of hiking. San Josef beach was my favourite beach! It was a popular spot since its only three kilometres to the trail head where we started. You could tell people had been partying, some beer cans left behind (we carried them out). The sunsets were spectacular !

I did some yoga on the beach the next morning before we packed up. The peace and quiet, sound of the ocean waves and being out in nature for three days with no cell reception( other than the Garmin InReach satellite link for safety ) was recharging for the soul.

If you've never been to Cape Scott, it's worth checking out. It is very remote, has lots of wildlife and beautiful sandy beaches and great hiking!

The back country check list:

Make sure you have the 10 essentials:

navigation,
sun protection,
insulation,
headlamp,
first aid supplies,
fire starter,
shelter,
repair kit,
dehydrated food, and
water.

Also, make sure you carry Rain gear, gloves, hat, extra buffs, wine, socks, Insect repellent, water filtration system and or water purification tablets.