(Guest Post) Sunshine Coast Trail Hike with Pearl and Peter

Guest writer, Peter here. I’ve been called in under special circumstances to report on my recent hike with Pearl.

This is the second year that Pearl and I have done an overnight adventure on the Sunshine Coast Trail in Powell River. The rule around our house is, you have to complete the first grade and then you get to do overnight hikes into the wilderness. Rose is already pretty excited about her first foray next year (assuming she passes the first grade).

Our journey took us up the East side of Tin Hat Mt., down to Fiddlehead Landing on Powell Lake, up to Confederation lake, and ending where we had parked our car at Inland Lake. We of course missed our ferry which would normally not be a problem, but meant that we had to reschedule an off-road shuttle which would take us to the beginning of the trail and pushed back our start time to 5pm. Which is a little bit late to start a 7km hike up a 1100 meter tall mountain with an 8 year old. But in the end we made it. Pearl had her trusty stuffy Whiskers to share the journey and a backpack full of her water, clothes, and our two camping pillows.

It began to rain as we reached the peak of Tin Hat Mountain. So we quickly set up our tent on a platform overlooking a steep drop off and huddled under the porch of the hut to eat a dinner of sandwiches with a number of other adventurers also seeking shelter from the rain. Spirits were high as we settled into our tent where we had an off-brand chocolate bar for desert.

There was some decent wind and rain in the night that proved too much for our old tent. We woke up to puddles and wet sleeping bags but soon warmed up with coffee, hot chocolate, and dry cereal served in a ziplock bag.

We packed up and decide to head for the summit, which has some sort of odd, space ship shaped radio tower. It’s hard to tell how strong the wind is and how dense the fog is in photos, but we got lost a couple times trying to find our way up the scrubby sub-alpine trail.

The rain let up and we left the wind behind and headed back under the cover of the forest to make our way down to Fiddlehead Landing. It took us three and a half hours to descend to roughly sea level and cover the next ten kilometres to the hut below. Pearl and I shared a set of trekking poles I borrowed from my dad. At one point I started to get some unusual clicks and pops in my right knee and Pearl graciously let me have both poles for the steepest part of the descent. Near the bottom we stopped under an old apple tree left behind by an old homestead as the rain began to pick up once again.

Pearl is pretty tough. I made her climb a local mountain which required over 1200 meters of ascent and made for a 15 km day in order to show me she was ready for this challenge. Our next section was pretty difficult. She was already tired, but still needed to trek another 8 km and ascend roughly 700 meters. It got cold. The wind picked up, it began to pour, and the fog blocked any sense of orientation. The complaints became more frequent and eventually, about a third of the way up, she said she couldn’t go on. Her legs hurt too much and she was too cold.

Obviously staying put wouldn’t do. We were out of cell reception, and the best way to stay warm was to keep moving, since all of our gear was already soaked from the night before. We had a snack, I picked up her bag and decided if she couldn’t keep moving then I would drop my bag and carry her up the mountain (they weighed about the same anyway). But, to her credit, Pearl put her head down and covered the next section trail without stopping. I don’t have any pictures of this section, firstly we had to keep moving, and also because it was so wet that I was worried I would ruin my phone (which doesn’t have a case).

It was with great relief that we arrived at Confederation Lake. No one was in the hut and we decided to just leave our tent in its bag, hang up our stuff, and stay the night in the hut. Two other groups showed up that evening with the same idea. I had intended to swim at each of the lakes we visited on this trip when I was planning it in 27 degree heat. Despite the beauty of the lake we never felt quite ready to go for a dip.

As we headed out the door to complete our hike the next morning one of the other hikers we had spent the evening with commented that her father had the same backpack as me. I mentioned that I bought it in 1999 and that it had served me well, when her partner mentioned, “Hey, that’s the year I was born!” And it hit me: people born at the turn of the last Millenium are adults! But more importantly: I’m getting old!

The last section was a breeze. We made the last eleven kilometres in about two hours and forty-five minutes. Compared to the hiking of the day before this felt like smooth sailing. Plus we were hiking towards where we had camped just two weeks prior and things began to feel more familiar. We stopped stopped at a picnic bench where I remember placing a sleeping baby Rose on one of our hikes years before and we had a lunch of instant ramen.

We hopped in the car and managed to just squeak onto the next ferry. I’m pretty proud of my daughter who can climb mountains, overcome exhaustion, and loves the feeling of being in the woods. I’m also very grateful for Karissa who makes sure that I can take her on such outings. Rose is anxiously anticipating her first adventure next year and who knows, maybe someday the annual multi-day hike will include the whole family.