Words & Photos from James K. & Alex R.
James
The hiking program was a perfect break after term 4. After a weekend's rest, everyone arrived at the bus station at 8:30, ready for a day of fun on the mountain. After an hour-long bus ride, we arrived at the East Sooke Trail. The sun was bright, and the temperature was warm. Our group of six gathered, and we looked at the map and learned about true north and how to use a compass properly. After looking around and determining our path, we trudged along a muddy trail and found ourselves at the coast. We checked our compasses to see if we were headed in the right direction, and surely enough, we were. It was at that point that some of us layered down, and we continued south. We stopped at a hill a few minutes later and took in the beauty of the ocean. After this stop, we kept going until we reached the petroglyphs. We wandered for a while, trying to find the drawings, and we eventually spotted a picture that resembled a seal. We sat down and decided to have lunch there. It was a beautiful, sunny spot on the rocks. We had already gotten lucky with the weather, but somehow we got even luckier and saw a pod of orcas. It was a pod of 4, and they swam close to the shore. That lunch was a magical experience. We started down the trail to head back after finishing our lunches and tried to name all of the States. We eventually arrived at the bus and headed back to SMUS.
On the second day, we started the day off with another hour-long bus ride to Mystic beach. We distributed some gear to carry for the hike and set off. We walked until we crossed a bridge over a stream and kept going. We arrived at the beach after about 40 minutes of hiking. We found a cave to settle in and set up an A-frame tarp with two ski poles and rope. We played on the beach for a little while, and then we set up a propane stove cooked some macaroni and cheese. It ended up getting a bit burnt, but we all agreed that it added to the flavour. After disassembling the cooking station and A-frame, we headed back to the bus and finished the second experiential program.
Alex
It was a chilly, yet sunny morning, that began with a short meeting at Derby to gather up any essentials we needed. We were all very excited, as it had been an entire month since we had gone hiking together. The forecast looked very positive, and the temperature was only to get warmer. We set out on our way to east sooke shortly after. It was a lengthy bus ride, especially compared to the ones we had last month, but the time was adequately filled with some conversation or some catching up on lost sleep.
By the time we arrived the temperature had warmed up significantly. People were already taking off their jackets and stuffing them in their bags. Unfortunately, my group was too large to stay as one, and we were forced to split in half, but we quickly got going on the trail one group after another. The trail itself was amazing; a winding path around an assortment of trees, roots and rocks were accompanied by a gentle breeze coming from the water next to us. We would continue to walk for around an hour and half, admiring the nature around us while engaging in questionable conversation, before we found a nice flat area by the trail to have lunch. After a bit of relaxing, we made our way to the end, where a memorial of sorts stood firm on top of a hill. While we were admiring the view around us, we encountered a pod of orcas, going in and out of the water as they travelled by. There seemed to be around four or so, with one of them being significantly smaller than the rest. Overall, it was the landmark moment of the hike.
The hours that followed were relatively straightforward; since we were all pretty tired, we took a flatter and shorter route down what seemed to be an old logging road on our way back. Here, the forest was a lot denser, filled with frighteningly large trees and interesting plants that provided a much calmer and quieter environment. It was a very welcome change after a thrilling morning. Once we returned to the parking lot for a quick bathroom break, we went down to the beach to relax for the hour that remained. Some of us layed down on our mats, while others threw rocks at huge boulders to try and break them. After that soothing and much needed hour, we boarded the bus and headed home for a day to conclude a great day of hiking.
Day 2
The weather was on our side once again; not a cloud was in sight as we prepared to board the bus. This time, the journey was going to be a very long one, as we were heading to mystic beach, past Sooke. The bus ride totalled to around 2 hours, which was spent conversing and catching up on sleep, similar to yesterday. Once we finally arrived, we quickly embarked on the short walk down to the water. Today was when we would be learning all the skills we needed to learn, as we had a long and beautiful beach to use. Once we arrived, we began to set up our tarp, the first skill of the day. Mudmee and Ryan both contributed by finding and humping over multiple big bits of wood to use as poles, whilst the rest of us figured out the knots and began to tie the corners of the tarp. Overall, it was set up without any problems at all. Next up was the cooking. We learned how to use a portable cooker, and gave Ryan the honours of cooking the instant noodles that had been brought by different members of the group. Once the noodles were ready, we all feasted on the soft sands. With just an hour or so left, we explored the lengths of the beach a little bit before packing up for the day and heading back up. We boarded the bus, and headed back to the school, exhausted, but pleased.
While it was a much calmer day as far as exercise was concerned, we were still able to admire the wonderful nature around us and learn essential skills along the way. It counterbalanced perfectly the slightly more demanding hiking of the day before, and helped put the icing on the cake of another great hiking experience.