WCT Day 5 - Caves

We woke up really early to another sunny day to make Owen's Point by 8am, which is when tides are the lowest. Owen's Point is along the beach, and it has tunnels that are only accessible at low tides. As we were walking along the beach, there were some very large gaps that we had to jump over, and if we slipped, we would've fallen a good 40 feet into some water with no easy way out. The gaps were maybe 4 feet, but it's far with your pack on and jumping from one slippery rock to another. We each had our fair share of slips and falls along the way, but we were very fortunate that they weren't at points where we would fall to our death - and no kidding, there were places where a single slip would've sent us over cliffs or far down to a rocky creek, and the terrain was filled with roots or slippery fallen trees that require your full concentration. At these points, we had a very strict "no falling" rule that we reminded each other on. I meant to ask how many people have died on this trail and consequently the survival rate, but I completely forgot.

The caves at Owen's Point were amazing, and we had a lot of fun climbing in, out, and around them for a while. The next part of the trip involved climbing around large boulders and rocks, which required a lot of patience, planning and leaps of faith. They were difficult to navigate around, and some were very slippery. There was a seal that kept following us along the way and popped his head out a couple of times, but every time I tried pointing it out to Nicole, she couldn't see because there were boulders in the way. It kind of felt like a Polkaroo situation. We met up with Sean and other hikers at the last campsite, and we said our goodbyes and headed for the last 5k of the trip. We were told that it would be the hardest part of the trip and it would take us 5 hours, but it only took us half the time. Maybe because we were expecting something brutally difficult, but to me it didn't seem as bad as everyone said it would be. By the end, we were all so exhausted and our legs seriously felt like lead weights. Hiking with these packs is definitely more exhausting than cycling through the mountains.

After finishing, Rinita came to pick us up and we headed to her place in Port Renfrew. Rinita has been so nice to us to go out of her way to help us, and seeing her and a real shelter was a very welcoming sight. We spent the rest of the evening with her, playing Oh Shit (card game) and relaxing. It was nice to go to sleep in a bed.