Wikipedia: "The West Coast Trail is a 75 km (47 mi) long backpacking trail following the southwestern edge of Vancouver Island in British Columbia, Canada. It was built in 1907 to facilitate the rescue of survivors of shipwrecks along the coast, part of the treacherous Graveyard of the Pacific. It is now part of Pacific Rim National Park and is often rated as one of the world’s top hiking trails."

I'm proud to report that Neil, Dale, and I are honor graduates of the August 2011 West Coast Trail adventure. I'm a firm believer in the saying that luck comes to those who plan for it. This was pretty much the case for our West Coast Trail hike. We had planned on hiking the John Muir Trail in Yosemite but we made a last minute decision to cancel the hike due to doubtful trail conditions as the result of last winter's heavy snow. With less than 3 weeks to spare we scrambled to find an alternative hike that measured up to the John Muir Trail. The West Coast Trail came up in Google as a top North American trail. Despite the popularity of the trail and the reservation system I was able to get three slots on the desired dates. All three of us were sufficiently in shape from training for the JMT that our 47 mile West Coast Trail hike was a more or less a walk in the park and consequently we were able to enjoy the wonderful scenery and finish each day fresh. While our packs certainly didn't fall into the ultra light category I stayed under 35 pounds including food and water for a six day hike. Neil and Dale stayed under 40 pounds. The weather certainly cooperated and we only had one day and night of rain at Tsusiat Falls camp. Unbeknownst to Neil and Dale, I was secretly hoping for a rain day so that I could get a taste of the WCT's legendary crappy conditions. Following the WCT, Neil and Dale headed back to Victoria while I hiked the adjacent 30 mile Juan de Fuca trail the next day finishing it easily in under 32 hours.