Saturday at 1:30pm we all clambered into cars and headed off to the trail that lead to Keeha Beach. The trail was about 4km away from Bamfield so it made sense to drive to the trail then walk from there. The trail that leads to Keeha is winding, muddy, littered with fallen trees and absolutely beautiful. There was a boggy lake about half way through with an old boardwalk and when you got to the end of the path there are hundreds of buoys hanging in the trees! The hike is (for the average hiker) a two hour hike. Well I managed to do it in one and a half hours so take that average hikers! When I got to the very end of the trail, I got my first view of Keeha and it was incredible! What a beautiful beach! I didn't realize North Pacific beaches could be so amazing! White sand, huge rolling waves, tall pine trees and warm sunlight!
Once everyone arrived we put all our food in the bear box (because we're in bear country, and yes I've seen a bear out here) and went to set up camp a little bit farther down the beach. In total we had 5 tents, two lean-tos (for the guys) and a fire area. Everyone was assigned a task and I was put on the water team. We were told to go to the 'stream', fill the water containers and put water purifying tablets in them. So me and a couple classmates went down to the 'stream'. Reader I kid you not when I say that this was no stream. It was more like a huge puddle. We filled up the containers and I almost gagged. There were bugs floating around in there as well as sand, some plants and a rock (not sure how it got in the container since it was bigger than the opening of the container). We put the purifying tablets in but it really didn't make much of a difference. The water still looked like pee. Needless to say I was thankful I brought two litres of good water from Bamfield.
Aside from the pee water (which really was where I drew the line), everything was so fun! We had a big bonfire and cooked hotdogs and marshmallows and just hung out chatting and fooling around. The cool thing was that the profs and TA were chatting along with us and we got to see a different side of them. We all went down to the water before going to bed and just kind of stood there. It was actually one of the best parts of the trip, just watching the waves come and go. Since we had to wake up at 5:00am (again...) for the low tide, we all went to bed before 10:00pm. There were five people including myself in our tent and it was a tight fit. But laying on the sand was actually pretty comfortable!
This morning was spent looking for inverts in the intertidal zone from about 5:00am til around 10:00am. We then headed back to camp so we could cook lunch. It involved some improv since all we really had were bagels. My lunch including a fire toasted bagel with cheese and humus. It was pretty good though! A guy in my class made a peanut butter, jam and marshmallow bagel. Yuck! But he said it was good! We had the rest of the day free to do what we wanted. Unfortunately we all have projects due Tuesday so we basically had to head back after lunch. Before we left we saw a grey whale and a sea lion in the bay. It was so cool to see them that close! The sea lion was just swimming around, having a good time and catching fish. The whale didn't stay for very long but it was still awesome to see! We got back to Bamfield around 3:00pm and now we're all showering and napping. I'll say that the shower felt awesome! I feel pretty proud of myself right now! Not only did I manage to camp, I actually enjoyed myself! Heck yes!
Alrighty Reader! Have an awesome rest of your Sunday (or start of your Monday for a certain girl on the other side of the world...)! Relax, take it easy and maybe chow down on a peanut butter, jam and marshmallow bagel! I love and miss you all! Until tomorrow! :)
No comments:
Post a Comment