Blue Bayou

Bonnie and Andy arrived safe and sound on Thursday afternoon. We celebrated their arrival with dinner at the Blue Bayou restaurant in Brentwood Bay.

Bear Beach

Kyle and I drove up island for a much needed weekend away.  We decided to camp on Bear Beach - where we'd never been before, and would need to hike into on the Juan de Fuca Trail.

Pete Wilson Creek was the first of about twenty creeks/valleys we would cross on the trail, and the only one with a suspension bridge.

The first part of the trail takes you to Mystic Beach - A short 2.5km trek we've done a couple times before.

My 21lb pack was no problem!

The stairs down to Mystic Beach have been very well maintained.

Pointing out the wonderful view.

Mystic Beach

We took a break on the beach for a quick lunch before heading back on the trail.

There were lots of surprises along the way - Like these twin trees that had been blown over during a storm early this summer.

The long hike was tough, but nice weather made it easier to manage.

Kyle brought his water filter, which we used to get drinking water from a couple of clear streams along the way - So much better than having to lug bottles of it with us.

One of several breaks I needed to take.

"This is where they grow telephone poles."

 

 

One last break (only three - not bad!) before we make it to Bear Beach.

A fallen tree becomes a wonderful bridge.

It took about 4.5 hours, but we made it! 

Kyle sets up our tent on the beach so I can rest my sore knees.

The view from our spot.

There were about half a dozen other tents on the beach, but more than enough space so we weren't crammed together.

There were a couple of seals just off the beach.

 

Kyle relaxes on the beach, watching the seals swim as I blow up the air mattress and set out the sleeping bags.

Sunset - so pretty!

The weather cooled quickly once they sun set, but we were glad to have the many layers we'd packed in our backpacks. There wasn't much dry wood at all on the beach, and despite our best efforts we couldn't get a fire going. 

We cooked a hot dinner of freeze-dried chicken and rice over a new camp stove Kyle bought.  He even made me some tea before bed.

 

It was a little overcast the next morning, but we warmed up quickly with more tea and another hot meal on the camp stove - Breakfast mac and cheese!

The tide was significantly lower in the morning.

The campfire that was not to be!

A better shot of the cliffside we camped beside. The layers of soil and rock were incredible.

Our neighbors had packed up and moved on before we finished breakfast - Many of them had just spent a night on their way to the end of the trail in Port Renfrew.

One last look at our campsite before packing all up.

Ready to go!  We decided to try and hike a trail straight up the hill, rather than going back along the trail. We figured it would be a little easier to hike the 10km along the road, rather than tackling the many hills/creeks/valleys we had to climb into and out of the day before.

Turns out the trail to the road was not really a trail... which we realized when we read a helpful little sign in a ziplock bag someone had tacked to a tree. 

It doesn't look like a steep climb in the picture... but trust me - It was. 

Once we got up the hill (only took us about 40 minutes to get from sea level to the top of the hill) we were pleasantly met with a few more surprises on the way.  Enormous tree stumps and abandoned trucks added a little more excitement to the adventure.

 

The abandoned forest road that will take us to the main road!

We made it! Hiking along the road was not too bad. Drivers were very accommodating of us walking on the shoulder,  and gave us a lot of space.

 

After a quick lunch break of fruit and Cliff bars, we headed back on our way.  

We passed this area of the wood was being clear-cut.

The last sign before arriving back at our car, which we had parked at the day-use lot of China Beach.   The hike back along the road was much faster - We made it in 3 hours, leaving us plenty of daylight to drive home.

Lakeside

We spent Saturday afternoon and evening at Sarah and Greg's enjoying Prospect Lake.

 

A keg on the deck, warm weather and awesome company - What more could we ask for?