Saturday, April 3, 2010

Juan de hike with me?

Having found a passion for running I never thought I would, I find that most of my posts seem to center on that. It's great and I'm happy to talk about it, but it's not the reason for my blog. My reason is the Chilkoot and leading up to that, the Juan de Fuca and the West Coast. This year, 2010, I'm supposed to do the Juan de Fuca Marine Trail. Out of the three that I'm doing, it is the newest, most accessible and easiest of the trails which is pretty much why I put it first on the list. (Don't mistake 'easiest' for 'easy'.)

Created in 1994, Juan de Fuca Marine Park Trail connects a series of beaches along Vancouver Island's South-West coastline. The majority of the beaches are accessible for day use so for my first real hike, there's the added security that if it all goes tits up, getting out won't involve a helicopter (a la the West Coast Trail). When I made the plan last June/July, it seemed like a do-able option for the one year mark. Now, it looms ahead of me and I found myself in a slight denial that it was actually going to happen this year. Surely, I meant next year? Let me double check the calendar, nope, I said this year. D'oh.

This past week, I took the first tentative steps towards planning the hike. My mom and stepdad (who you may or may not remember is joining me on the JdF and the Chilkoot) had returned home from a winter trip to Vietnam/Laos and discussions have commenced on possible dates. This is it. I'm doing this! 2010 is the year I will look back on and say "I did the Juan de Fuca Trail". Terrifying, exhilarating, nerveracking and exciting... and all we've done is talk about dates!

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