Darling River Camp to Tsusiat Point Camp
Waking up to the sounds of the waves and birds chirping was the best part of the morning. It was just before 6:30am. I peeked out my tent, and saw it was cloudy and it looks like it was going to rain. Josh was up quite early and he was heading towards the river to fetch some water. Others were still sleeping. My mind and body was slowly waking up. 15 minutes has passed and I dragged my ass up.
At 6:50am, while others were still asleep, I set off to the hidden lagoon supposedly a paradise to be found as described by the fella we met yesterday. After trekking for about 2 minutes to the river north to our camp site, I then veered to my right hiking along the river. The lagoon couldn’t be seen as it was hidden behind piles of logs which I had to hop over. There it was! Paradise as described. The waterfall streaming down the lagoon. After losing myself in the gorgeous surroundings, I had the lagoon all to myself, so I took the opportunity to skinny dip. Water was cold but satisfying. 15 minutes later, Josh came along and spoiled my party. I tried to convince him to take a dip but he was afraid of the cold.
After spending about a good half hour at the lagoon, we went back to our campsite. It was still cloudy but hoping it would clear up later in the day. Others were still asleep when we got back, so I started to make my breakfast. Eventually, everyone woke up at 8am, did their morning thing and had breakfast. The girls and Lalit wanted to go to the lagoon, so I lead them to the lagoon while Josh stayed back.
Once at the lagoon, everyone got into their swim suits and swam, went on a rock and dived into the water, took tons of pictures, and enjoying paradise. After spending a good hour of fun there, it was time to head back to our campsite and pack.
On our way back to the campsite and needing to go over the pile of logs, Thery accidentally stepped on a part of the log that appeared that had a bee nest hidden. She immediately got stung and screamed in pain for a moment. She rested for a bit while Lalit was helping her. Instead of going over the pile of logs, we went around it while Karlie and Quynh were already ahead of us. Luckily, Thery is fine after an hour or so.
Once at our campsite, everyone started to pack up as it was going to be a long day hiking to Tsusiat. At 11:40am, everyone was all packed and ready. The sun finally came out and the sky opened up. We geared up and hiked along the beach. What great timing we thought and it couldn’t get any better. Hiking with the sounds of the ocean waves with pure nature was just mind soothing.
After hiking for about an hour, we arrived at Tsocowis Creek Camp. We couldn’t hike further along the beach and stopped at the Tsocowis River. Above the river was a bridge which we had to get up to and hike in the forest.
We were trying to find path up to forest as continuing hiking along the beach was not possible. So we tried to find the way up. Karlie found a path while others went back north a bit towards the Tsocowis camp site to find way up. So I went with Karlie and she found a sketchy path near just north of the river under the bridge. I didn’t want to leave Karlie alone and the other 4 going the normal route up. So Karlie and I climbed up, snagged by tree branches and some thorny ones. I don’t recommend this route.
Finally got up to the forested trail. We crossed the bridge, went up a few ladders and crossing many more bridges along the way. There are many ship wrecks along the trail. We saw one ship wreak sites between km 18-20. We stopped for a bit and took pictures.
After crossing Billy Goat Creek at km 18, we had some views of the ocean with the tide still low. Many sites to see.
1:40pm, took at lunch break at a lookout point with red chairs. Karlie and Thery sat on chairs and others were sitting having lunch while enjoying the views. Clouds began to roll out and sun came in. It was a nice 20 min lunch break spot to fuel ourselves up.
At 2pm, we were back on the forested trail, crossing more bridges along the way. At km 19, we saw another nice site of a ship wreak. Now this one was the engine of the ship. Quite interesting! The trail was well maintained with some board walks missing some wooden planks. Watch your step!
After 30 minutes of hiking in the forest and at km 20, we went down ladders and descended down to the beach. Tide was low and sun was out and sky was completely clear. We hiked along the beach and shallow sea bed. Amazing views with small craps and live sea shells were everywhere along the shallow part of the sea bed.
One hour later at 3:20pm, we arrived at Klanawa River Camp. We steered to out left into the forest. Hiked in to the fork about 50m away, then went to the left where the cable car was. There it was, the famous cable car. The river looked amazingly pure and green with the sun shining on it with such perfection.
The cable car could only take 2 people with packs at a time. Since the cable car was on the other side, we had to pull the cable car to us from the other end. I was doing all the pulling while others watched. I asked Josh and Lalit to help but they got lazy. Pulling the rope is hard work. Make sure to wear gloves.
I got in the first ride with Thery. Then we zoomed to the middle and stopped. The river was so calm and green. Just beautiful! Thery wanted me to film her pulling, so while I recorded her, she used all her strength and might to pull us to the other side, while I was cheering her on. Once at the other side on the platform, I went down to leave my pack on the board walk, then went back up to pull others across. Karlie and Quyne took the second ride. Then Josh and Lalit. Josh lost his hiking wooden stick he found as it dropped in the river while he was on the cable car.
After everyone got across the river and from there, it was just over 2km to our Day 2 campsite at Tsusiat. We hiked on the board walk that seems to never end. Then after a km, views opened up to the beach and ocean along the forest. At the very last few 100m, we passed Tsusiat river from the forested area, went down 4 flights of ladders to the beach right at 4:40pm. It was packed with other campers. The waves were loud and big. Quite windy but sunny.
Once down at the beach, we veered to our right towards the river and found a good camping spot. Karlie and Thery relaxed and took advantage of the weather sun bathing while the sun was still out; while others and myself were resting a bit and set up our tents for the night.
We fetched some water near the flowing pond at the waterfall just north of us. Good thing we did that as the tide started to come in at around 8:30am. Strong waves starting to come in and fill up to the channel the beach.
I built a communal area near by tent out of logs and rocks. Josh helped out and we also built a log barrier to keep the wind away from our area. This is where we all sat and cooked.
After dinner, I tried to find the outhouse. So I went south on beach and met 2 ladies from Victoria and Ottawa. They were going from south to north. Chatted with them and they shared their experience about the next few days my group and I were going to experience. Throughout this hike, we came across and met many friendly hikers who actually say “hello” and start up conversations. This is something definitely will never happen in the city.
As the day was about to end, it started to get cool and the sun was about to set. Everyone was doing something. Lalit was taking pictures; Karlie, Thery and Quynh were chatting near their tents; Josh and I were watching the waves.
Wave watching was perhaps my favourite moment of all in this whole trip. Just the sounds of them and with every shape and size the waves form every 5-10 seconds or so, my mind was completely in a different state.
Only thing I can think of was nothing. Just hearing the sounds of the waves as if it was trying to speak to me. At that very moment, for the first time in years, my mind was not thinking about work, important busy schedules, and many tasks I had at all. It was quite a long day and past 10pm. So it was about time I went into my tent and turned in.
