Cape Scott/North Coast Trail - Day 3
These are my trail journals, written for myself while on trail. They’re not meant to guide you along the hike, although maybe they’ll give an idea of what the trail is like. Mostly, it’s my initial thoughts and feelings as I hike through each day. Enjoy!
Day 3: Nissen Bight to Irony Creek
7 hours of hiking.
Woke up at Nissen’s Bight and everything was covered in fog once again. Fortunately it wasn’t too thick, as my tent wasn’t nearly as wet as the day before. I confirmed with my tent neighbours that it did indeed rain the night before, just for a short while.
By 9am, I’m ready to leave camp. I start heading towards Laura Creek, not entirely sure what to expect from what could be a big day. I reach Laura Creek at 11:15am, stopping to take a break and fill my water. Laura Creek ends up being my favourite water source of the whole trip, which I realize is such a weird favourite thing to have.
The fog rolls in thicker and it starts to mist, making beach travel on large rocks trickier. Mist eventually turns to rain, making hiking on the beach harder and bringing down my spirits. Not wanting to reach a full meltdown a la day three of the Sunshine Coast Trail, I let myself turn on music, having Lorde and Taylor Swift keep me company.
I find a dry-ish spot under some trees to have a quick lunch, doing whatever I can to keep my mood up. I remind myself that it’s the halfway point of the trip, which means I once I get to camp, I can text two of my favourite people from my inReach.
I keep plodding on, the miles feeling slow. Eventually I get to my first cable car of the trip - one of the things I had been worried about having to do solo. Hauling the cable car and my backpack is hard work, just as I expected, but I do what it takes to make it work.
Luckily I know that the cable car is my last hard thing of the day, as I ‘cruise’ down the last 1.5 kms to the camp on the other end of Shuttleworth Bight. As another hiker had told me earlier, Shuttleworth Beach was indeed gorgeous and I did love it.
As I pull in to camp, I meet one other group already set up. A group of five, including two teenage girls. We chat for a bit and they confirm that I’m backpacking on my own. I set up camp on the beach near the food cache and there’s a lovely table made of driftwood for me to use. With nature’s perfect timing, it’s stopped raining just as I’m setting up camp. It’s easily my favourite camp of the trip so far.
I spend the evening reading, catching up on my trail journal, colouring, and having dinner. Later, one of the adults comes by and mentions that the two teenage girls are impressed that I’m doing the hike on my own. I don’t say it, but I quietly hope that maybe it will inspire them to try something on their own one day.
Despite having only one other group at camp that is quite far away, I feel comfortable and fall asleep pretty quickly.
