West Coast Trail
Location: Entry points are Pachena Bay in the North (Bamfield) and Gordon River in the south (Port Renfrew).
Photo Date: June 2018
Description:
We had been mostly miserable up until the point when this picture was taken.
It was late on the third day of hiking a trail called the West Coast Trail, which spans 80km of beautiful Western BC coastline. Me and my hiking partner Greg had both been hit with a cold that day, and had been experiencing nothing but rainy weather since we started the hike. This was when we came across the famous burger shack, a small, family run, restaurant built for the backpackers who trafficked the trail during the summer months. Hungry and cranky, we decided that a hot meal might boost our spirits. In the endeavour to improve our mood we succeeded, although it wasn’t the food that made the difference...
Still grouchy we sat down and were greeted by a cheery lady who, even though we came after closing, agreed to serve us without a complaint. She took the opportunity to give her young son practice at taking our money and giving us our change. After a few short minutes, her daughter, who couldn’t have been more than seven, came out and plopped the burgers in front of us. Looking out over the ocean shore as we ate, a question came to my mind. I had read a few stories about the “Graveyard of the Pacific” (as the dangerous and unpredictable coast in the area is known) while prepping for this hike, and so I asked this cheery lady, who was sitting nearby, “have you ever seen a boat sink out here?”. She looked down, her smile faltering, and responded “yes, my dad was coming to shore with restock a few weeks ago when a wave flipped his boat, he died out there”. We both looked up in shock, and after offering our condolences, proceeded to make small talk with her until we finished eating.
As we walked away with our packs, we were silent, but for the crunching of shells under our feet. I looked over at Greg and said “so that was wild eh”, “Chyea” he responded, “It’s amazing that she is able to stay up and running after... her dad... it really puts things in perspective”. We agreed to try to be less miserable from that point forward, and to take a photo to commemorate the moment. Almost as if on cue, a group of hikers came into our view. One of the hikers agreed to take our photo, and we crossed some rocks to incorporate a little bit of the blue sky, that had begun peeking out for the first time this trip, into our frame.
Contest Year Submitted: 2019
