♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ Welcome, everybody, to Vancouver Island.

I am at the Pachena Bay campground right now to start the West Coast trail.

This trail is well known across the world, and it's extremely unique as there are ladders, cable cars.

There are even ferry crossings on this trail, it goes across beaches just like the one I'm standing on.

And through the forest where there are bears, cougars and wolves, it's 47 miles or 75 kilometers.

And I'm going to be starting it in just a minute.

But first, let's just take in this beautiful scenery.

This is Pacific Rim National Park.

And this trail goes along its southern coast through a couple indigenous First Nations lands as well, which they share the trail with us, which is very nice of them.

And I am so excited to try this challenging route.

I have heard a lot of reviews about how hard it is because of the beach crossings and I'm really excited to give it a try.

because of the beach crossings and I'm really excited to give it a try.

Day one on the West Coast trail is officially about to begin.

I actually camped right here at the beginning of the trailhead last night in Pachena Bay.

This is the beginning or the end of the trail.

For me, it's the beginning.

But you can actually do this trail in two different directions from north to south, which is how I'm going to be doing it.

You can also do it from south to north.

The permits for this hike and it is permit only are somewhat hard to come by.

So a lot of the times you have to just take what you can get.

But I also actually really wanted to do this one from north to south, because the northern section is a little bit easier and I wanted to do that with a heavier pack as opposed to doing the hard sections when my pack was heavier.

So excited to get on the trail this morning, will be doing about ten miles today.

will be doing about ten miles today.

“birds chirping ” “birds chirping ” I am just about four kilometers in to the hike this morning.

My pack is heavy.

And while I did try to do a little bit more of ultralight things on this go around, I actually brought my big camera and my tripod.

I also have a solar panel to charge the batteries for that.

So I've got a little bit of extra gear.

So it kind of circumvented those ultralight things that I brought.

But we're doing about 13 kilometers today, give or take a few, depending on which campsite I choose to go to.

Already passed a few people that are finishing the trail today that said, there is some bears ahead.

So I guess we'll see if we see any critters.

So I guess we'll see if we see any critters.

I'm at eight kilometers now, and this is also the mile marker where several people pass over told me that they saw a bear.

So I'm sure it's probably not here anymore, but I'd be looking up into the trees a little bit more than I normally would.

For this next little bit.

This temperate rainforest is home to some 7000 black bears, one of the densest populations on the planet.

It's quite common to see them in the forest or foraging on a beach for mussels or barnacles.

And it's not just bears.

This island is also home to around 700 cougars.

Thanks to a large population of black tailed deer.

But the creatures I've seen the most of so far are the banana slug, which actually eats poop and can live up to seven years and get this has 27,000 teeth.

I basically stopped dead in my tracks because I heard this noise.

And you know what it is?

Sea lions, I'm actually getting to a part in the trail where on the ocean there is a sea lion haul out.

And you can actually hear them all.

(see lions barking) All right.

That stuff was really awesome.

The sea lions were so vocal, and you can tell that there's some big males down there looking for mates.

A little bit sunny as well.

So took a little bit of a break.

Got some snacks, couple more kilometers to go before the first campsite option.

And I'm going to see how I feel there, maybe spend the night there or keep going to the next one.

♪ ♪ ♪ Right now I'm at the Pachena Point Lighthouse.

This is just a little bit after the sea lion haul out.

This lighthouse was built in 1907.

So this stretch of coastline along the Pacific Ocean is actually nicknamed the graveyard of the Pacific because there were hundreds of shipwrecks along this deadly stretch of coast.

With unpredictable weather, thick fog and rocky shorelines.

This area has wrecked thousands of ships since the 18th century and cost the lives of 700 people.

This graveyard of wreckage stretches from the northern coast of Oregon up to the northwest corner of Vancouver Island.

And to this day, you can find parts of ships large and small, scattered on the shorelines.

From the lighthouse.

I'm heading along the coast towards the Strait of Juan de Fuca.

This is a 96 mile long outlet and the international boundary between the U.S. and Canada runs right down this channel.

This region is richly endowed with a diverse array of marine species and birds like salmon, whale, seal and eagle.

Thanks to the more than 100 miles of coastal kelp beds that provide rich habitat and food, ♪ ♪ (bird squalking) I'm at 12 kilometers now.

This is where the Michigan campsite is.

And if you are hiking the trail from south to north, this will probably be the last campsite that you stay at because I only get a couple more miles.

And today I'm actually going to continue on to the next campsite.

But this one is really beautiful right on the beach here.

There are a couple of food caches here and some outhouses as well for anyone that is coming through here or is staying at this campsite.

♪ All right, Two kilometers left to the Darling Creek, where I'm going to be spending the night.

I am walking over the seabed right now, and it is very slippery.

♪ Okay, everyone.

And welcome to Darling River.

I'm going to give you a little bit of a home tour here.

Now, this campsite I was told is extremely beautiful.

And it is.

Check out where I'm going to be sleeping.

Look at this total Robinson Crusoe vibes.

I've already got my tent set up.

Welcome to my humble abode for the night.

A few other thing that I have at this campsite, which is really awesome, is a nice little bench for cooking my food tonight.

Over here we have a hammock, or I guess I can throw my backpack on there as well.

Then there is a couple other campsites here at this one as well, right here along the beach.

♪ All right.

Day one on the trail is complete.

In my tent, as you can see.

It's about 9 p.m..

So sun will go down in a few minutes here.

But I'm pretty tired After today.

I did about 14 kilometers.

Tomorrow will be a little bit shorter but I really enjoyed this campsite.

I definitely could have hiked quite a few more hours today, but just nothing really compares to this.

cool campsite that I'm out right now and up the river here where I got water and kind of went for a little swim.

There's actually a waterfall that I just checked out.

So today's just been a really perfect day and the weather has just been better than I've ever been told.

It usually is here on the West Coast trail.

So really, really lucked out with good weather.

I'm going to get some sleep and I will see you guys in the morning.

♪ ♪ ♪ One of the things you have to pay attention to on this trail are the tide charts.

So this morning, I'm actually getting to walk along the beach to my next part of the trail because it's approaching low tide.

And this section can only be hiked if the tides are below nine feet.

And nine feet is around high tide, which was at 3 a. m. this morning.

So getting to experience this beautiful fog filled beach before heading back into the forest in a little bit.

Hi seal guys.

One of the things I've noticed there is a lot of along these beaches is crab pot buoys and ropes from all kinds of different fishing vessels that have just washed up here on shore.

There are, you know, empty barrels, There are buoys, there are ropes and all kinds of pieces of plastic from probably commercial fishermen that have been fishing for crabs and other things off the East Coast for decades.

All right.

Right now I am at Tsocowis Creek.

This is a couple of kilometers past where I camped last night.

Definitely another spot.

You could camp on your first day if you wanted.

Right along the beach as well.

And from here, we reenter the forest.

I will say this morning, I have got a headache.

So probably going to stop a little bit and get some electrolyte powder in me.

But I'm excited for this pretty stretch through the forest.

♪ Now, unsurprisingly, the most common reason for rescue along this trail is for slipping and falling, especially when it's raining.

These coastal areas where there are all these rocks is really dangerous.

So you really have to take it slow and watch your step this is like walking on a gravel pit that just never ends.

Everything is really soft and slippery and rocky.

Oh, I cannot wait to be done with this section.

All right.

First cable car.

This is hilarious.

Ready here we go?

Hopefully nothing falls out.

Cool, so now, without jumping, dumping anything overboard.

Lets see, Oh.

This way.

Hoo, well that was an arm workout.

There are a lot of things in my videos that I have to do twice to show you guys the experience.

This cable car will not be one.

That was really hard by myself.

Definitely.

The Park Service recommends that you wait here until somebody else comes if you are alone.

But I haven't seen anyone for a couple of hours.

So either way, we're across and the hike continues from here.

This trail is so unlike almost any other hiking trail I've ever been on.

Heading into the ruggedness of the forest, almost always means roots, mud, or in today's case, ladders.

And the arduous climbs up and down are exhausting, but worlds better than the steep ascending and descending that you would normally have in their place.

Because of the wild weather here on Vancouver Island and the wetness that usually exists in these forests, the ladders on the boardwalks are often in disrepair.

So you definitely have to watch where you put your hands as many of the ladders have missing rungs and many of the boardwalks missing boards.

All things that add to the treachery of this already difficult hike.

Just go to the next campsite.

This is called Tsusiat Falls.

And there is a big waterfall here that I'll show you in a little bit.

Now, it's really early in the day, actually made it here before 3:00.

So a lot of daylight left.

I wasn't super sure I was going to end up staying here, thinking about moving on to one of the tribal lands that has a campground in about five more kilometers but decided to stay.

So I'm just going to filter some water, get camp set up and get something to eat.

♪ ♪ Just the other day I was saying how I really wanted to swim in more waterfalls this year, and since there happens to be one at this beach, well, let's go for a swim.

All right.

That was brisk!

The ocean is definitely colder than this waterfall.

But that is still freezing.

But the nice thing about going into coldwater, even on a cool day, is that as soon as you get out, you feel extra warm.

So I'm probably going to just enjoy the rest of this evening, maybe have a hot chocolate.

And I'll see you guys later.

♪ ♪ ♪ “birds chirping ” Good morning.

It is day three today.

I am starting the day with a beautiful beach walk along the coast here.

And today is a long day.

About 20 kilometers, give or take a couple, depending on which campsite I go to next.

There are a couple of really fun things along the way that I'm not going to spoil, but I wanted to show you where we are on the map.

So we are currently here since Tsusiat falls and today I am hiking along this stretch of coastline.

Now you can actually choose at this location to go in the forest or along the beach.

Now, the beach right now is passable because it's starting to be low tide.

But you do have to pay attention to these tide charts and the corresponding tide chart that is on this map as well.

So we're going to go all the way over here and then we're going to go across the river on a ferry and then all the way hopefully to here at the Carmanah Lighthouse.

♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪