In the fall of 1997 Marty saw a documentary on the West Coast Trail. It is a 75km trail that runs along the southwest coast of Vancouver Island. At one time it was used to rescue people stranded by shipwrecks along the coast there. Now it has become a major recreational trail for hikers. Marty was inspired. He stopped by the firehall I was working at and invited me to come with him on a trip to hike the trail. I agreed immediately.

That was how my trip started. Over the next few months plans were made and reservations were confirmed. By the 4^th of July we found ourselves on a plane to Vancouver. After a ferry ride across to Nanaimo and a beautiful boat cruise down the Port Alberni inlet, we made it to Pachina Bay; the north end of the trail.

A new campground had just been established by the Huu-Ay-Aht First Nation. We were invited to their opening ceremonies where they had traditional singing and dancing as well as a feast of local foods including salmon caught fresh from the ocean.

The next day we started on the trail. We hiked for two days and then stopped for a rest day at Tsusiat Falls. Two of the most challenging features of the West Coast Trail are the cable-cars across some of the rivers and the ladders you climb going into and out of the river valleys.

We hiked another four days heading south along the shore. On the fourth day (the seventh since we started) we had to leave camp early in the morning to make it past a certain point of land. You could only get through at low tide and when we were there that meant we had to be past by 8 o'clock in the morning. We continued on to where we had planned to camp for the night and arrived just after noon. It was raining and we were not looking forward to setting up camp. Someone came up with the idea of just pushing on to the end of the trail.

Someone came up with the idea of just pushing on to the end of the trail. We checked the map and decided it could be done. We got a hot meal into our bellies and shouldered our rucksacks. It was a hard march up over a mountain but we were rewarded in the end. The change in plans put us in Port Renfrew a day early so we needed a place to stay. The Parks Canada Wardens suggested we ask at the Port Renfrew Hotel for the Acapulco House. They gave it to us and it was great. It had laundry facilities and a hot tub.

The next day we got a ride to Victoria. We spent a day in the city before we flew home. This was a great trip. It had beautiful scenery and some tough hiking but mostly it was the great company that made the trip memorable. While I was hiking I wrote a poem about our trip and the people that we met.

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Here are the stories of other travelling I have done:

• England, France and Scotland
• Juno Beach Centre, France
• Voltigeurs du Quebec
• Paris, France
• The West Coast Trail