Gone hiking

I’m heading to Vancouver Island tomorrow morning to hike the West Coast Trail with some friends from my swim team.

This can only go one of two ways: it will either be an amazing experience or the stupidest thing I’ve ever done.

I’m excited about the hike, which stretches 77 kilometres along the rugged west coast of Vancouver Island. But I’m nervous about hiking through the backcountry with a 40-pound pack on my back for eight days. I’m worried my foot injury will flare up and leave me stranded in the middle of the wilderness.

I’m not totally stupid, though. I’ve been testing my foot by cycling up to Grouse Mountain and hiking the grind after work (see previous post). I promised myself if the nerve flared up, I would back out of the trip. But I haven’t felt one twinge of pain in at least two months.

If it does flare up, I can tough it out. We're only hiking about 10 km a day. Besides, I’ve done loads of backcountry trips where I've suffered through way worse -- extreme weather, altitude sickness, raw blisters, bloodthirsty mosquitoes. This trip can't be any worse.

It's a lot more fun that it sounds, honestly! I'll be back in Vancouver on August 3rd, hopefully with only good stories to tell. . .