The mandatory briefing ended up being more interesting that we might have expected, given its compulsory nature. We were told what to do when encountering bears, how to ford rivers safely, where wasps’ nests might be found, what would happen in case of earthquake/tsunami, how to read the tide charts we were all issued with and (most disappointingly for many) that the burger shack known as Chez Monique was closed for the season. After completing the briefing and paying another fee for entrance into the national park, we repositioned the car about 500m down the road, slid into our packs and set off to get on the boat that would take us the short trip across the Gordon River to the start of the trail.
We settled in easily to a slow rhythm and fortunately the weather cooperated for us for the first few days. As we intended to be in the forest for seven days, we were carrying everything we knew we’d need, and a few things we thought we might enjoy having (chief among these luxuries were a trio of folding chairs and a portable espresso maker). In retrospect I think we’d all leave the luxuries behind if we did the trip again. It was late in that first day that the aches started to appear and we all remembered that we weren’t the spring chickens we still believed ourselves to be. I think we all felt it differently, some in the hips, others the shoulders or the knees. But it was in that first long slog to our first campsite that the enormity of the task ahead of us started to sink in. The West Coast Trail itself is only 75km in length, but it traverses an untamed and rugged landscape in old growth rainforest. The weather can turn quickly and the most beautiful morning can easily turn into a chilling downpour by midday. To navigate the trail doesn’t require much in the way of navigation skills, but it requires some planning and strategy to ensure that goals are met on time and that supplies are sufficient to finish the expedition. Approximately 6,000 hiking permits are issued each year for the trail and we were told that 60 to 100 hikers every year fail to complete the task and need to be evacuated. At the beginning of the trip we were fortunate to have extremely beautiful weather, which was much appreciated by us because the southern part of the trail is more rugged and has many more ladders and bridges to deal with than the northern portions of the trail. In the rain, the trail, bridges and ladders are as slippery as glass and one bad move could leave you sprawled out in a gully or worse.
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