It was a cold night in the tent .... and when we woke up, it was either break out the camping gear for coffee and breakfast, so weasel our way inside the house. We lay there for awhile until I whispered "well.....I think I will go see what Pat's up to" .... lol. We made our breakfast in her kitchen and made her a mocha and had a nice visit with her and Bob. It was a good start to the morning!
Turned out their home was closest to Saltery Bay, so we took that as a sign that it was the hike we would be doing!!! Off we go!!!
Our first stop for lunch ... (we made many stops on the way up the 'escalator' .... which was a brutal UP section ... beautiful ... but UP!!)
We had a great break ... pepperoni and hummus was the new favorite .... while we were sitting, we heard girls voices in the distance ... turns out it was our friends that we were supposed to do the hike with initially!!)
It was a fun encounter because neither of us saw anyone else on the trail that day after this ... they were finished the hike and we were just starting, so it sure was fun to cross paths! They off-loaded some food, water tabs, rope .... gave us some hints on what to expect next ....
This is Marcy on the left and Tasia in the middle ... Chris's side of the family! Tasia and I met for coffee last summer in Kelowna where I invited myself on her girls trip ;-) And then asked if my sister could come too lol. We've had a group thread going for over 6 months .... it was nice to connect.
And we are off again !!! To Fairview Bay Hut!
We wore brand new (to us) hikers .... got some pressure spots ... would stop and tape up so blisters wouldn't form ...
At one point, we were both done .... hot, heavy packs, HOT ....so we were along the ocean and dropped our packs and walked down to the water and Carrie got all the way in, but I couldn't remember if I brought extra underwear ... so I just went up to my knees ... and just as we are cooling off....huge ferry rollers decide to come in ... and we barely saved our boots!! When we were getting dressed again, we switched boots ... and turned out after the switch was the better fit! Patagonia's were slimmer and better for my feet, and the Keens were a wider shoe and perfect for hers .... so none of our blisters developed after the switch! Funny hey?
After we cooled off ...and kept plugging, really unsure if we were close or not .... finally the hut came into view!!! There was a family there who had told us that there was a Czech couple who slept on the deck of the hut the night before because the hut was actually over-run with mice, and a bat pooped right on his face in the middle of the night!!! After we checked out the hut, the air circulation was so bad in it, Carrie and I decided to set up our tiny tent on our own small little piece of the property up from the water ... it was perfect.
We slipped out of our hikers and signed the guest book ....
After setting up the tent and getting settled, we wandered down to the water with our books and had some quiet time on the water. Carrie stayed in the sun for awhile before she joined me for a nap in the shade.
Then it got too cold and we went back to the sun until it was time for dinner .... we had the best dehydrated beef stroganoff for dinner!! Pour boiling water into the bag, wait 15 minutes and boom! Gourmet dinner!! It was amazing ....
We made a fire that ended up being more annoying with the smoke than nice, but we had dinner and Carrie went back down to the water for awhile to wash the dishes and I stayed to watch the fire ... we both crawled into bed around 8 ....
The night was uneventful but WARM! The night before was COLD! It was very confusing weather. Every time she would move her feet, it would push against her side of the tent, making my side of the tent push on my feet! So I kept thinking it was a bear on the outside of the tent, tentatively touching my feet to see if I was edible!! We did find out the next day that the hut our friends skipped out on hiking had a grizzly walk through the camp the night they skipped!! Glad I found that out AFTER our hike ... I am already hyper aware of big noises in the bush ... which is why I sleep with earplugs and bear guard in the tent.
Our first stop for lunch ... (we made many stops on the way up the 'escalator' .... which was a brutal UP section ... beautiful ... but UP!!)
We had a great break ... pepperoni and hummus was the new favorite .... while we were sitting, we heard girls voices in the distance ... turns out it was our friends that we were supposed to do the hike with initially!!)
It was a fun encounter because neither of us saw anyone else on the trail that day after this ... they were finished the hike and we were just starting, so it sure was fun to cross paths! They off-loaded some food, water tabs, rope .... gave us some hints on what to expect next ....
This is Marcy on the left and Tasia in the middle ... Chris's side of the family! Tasia and I met for coffee last summer in Kelowna where I invited myself on her girls trip ;-) And then asked if my sister could come too lol. We've had a group thread going for over 6 months .... it was nice to connect.
And we are off again !!! To Fairview Bay Hut!
We wore brand new (to us) hikers .... got some pressure spots ... would stop and tape up so blisters wouldn't form ...
At one point, we were both done .... hot, heavy packs, HOT ....so we were along the ocean and dropped our packs and walked down to the water and Carrie got all the way in, but I couldn't remember if I brought extra underwear ... so I just went up to my knees ... and just as we are cooling off....huge ferry rollers decide to come in ... and we barely saved our boots!! When we were getting dressed again, we switched boots ... and turned out after the switch was the better fit! Patagonia's were slimmer and better for my feet, and the Keens were a wider shoe and perfect for hers .... so none of our blisters developed after the switch! Funny hey?
After we cooled off ...and kept plugging, really unsure if we were close or not .... finally the hut came into view!!! There was a family there who had told us that there was a Czech couple who slept on the deck of the hut the night before because the hut was actually over-run with mice, and a bat pooped right on his face in the middle of the night!!! After we checked out the hut, the air circulation was so bad in it, Carrie and I decided to set up our tiny tent on our own small little piece of the property up from the water ... it was perfect.
We slipped out of our hikers and signed the guest book ....
After setting up the tent and getting settled, we wandered down to the water with our books and had some quiet time on the water. Carrie stayed in the sun for awhile before she joined me for a nap in the shade.
Then it got too cold and we went back to the sun until it was time for dinner .... we had the best dehydrated beef stroganoff for dinner!! Pour boiling water into the bag, wait 15 minutes and boom! Gourmet dinner!! It was amazing ....
We made a fire that ended up being more annoying with the smoke than nice, but we had dinner and Carrie went back down to the water for awhile to wash the dishes and I stayed to watch the fire ... we both crawled into bed around 8 ....
The night was uneventful but WARM! The night before was COLD! It was very confusing weather. Every time she would move her feet, it would push against her side of the tent, making my side of the tent push on my feet! So I kept thinking it was a bear on the outside of the tent, tentatively touching my feet to see if I was edible!! We did find out the next day that the hut our friends skipped out on hiking had a grizzly walk through the camp the night they skipped!! Glad I found that out AFTER our hike ... I am already hyper aware of big noises in the bush ... which is why I sleep with earplugs and bear guard in the tent.
