Juan de Fuca In a Day
Improving as a runner can be demoralizingly slow. Months of work can sometimes yield minute gains or even present only injury and set back. When runners push through these stagnate periods of progress and into deeper realms of improvement they truly become runners.
We runners can also be hard on ourselves.
When we have earned the privilege of being able to look back over several years of continuous running, it can provide an empowering ‘then and now’ revelation of progress. Runners who now routinely podium at races, survive 48 hour endurance events, and smash local FKT’s all started from that same position of “I don’t know if I can run a 10k”. I’m not smashing FKT’s or winning too many races these days but looking back on where my running was 10, 15, 20 years ago compared to now is an energizing thing.
A few years ago when I meekly admitted to Darren that I’ve never hiked the Juan de Fuca trail before, but that I’ve been thinking of maybe trying to run it in a day, his eyes lit up and within minutes he had me committed to a date. I had been having a solid year of running with personal successes on every distance from 10k to 50k yet the unknowns of a rugged and somewhat remote 47km trail was daunting. Darren had run the JDF a few times and had become a mentor/role model for my distance running this past year. His belief in me helped me believe in myself, and knowing that we could rely on his experience if things got tough allowed me to commit and just go for it.
The 47km long coastal trail is about 1900m in elevation and well-known amongst Vancouver Islanders as a cheaper, more accessible version of the world famous West Coast Trail which needs to be reserved well in advance. While the JDF is shorter, it is far less maintained and presents a wilder and muddier trail which many believe is a harder point to point run. There are a handful of campgrounds along the route, most of which are hike-in only. The trail is more commonly conquered over 2-5 nights of hiking/camping which allows for a deeper appreciation of the many amazing beaches, sunrises and sunsets.
After Darren and my initial chat the faithful JDF weekend came about fast! The Friday night ahead of the run I had everything lain out and ready to roll; my running vest with 1.5 liter bladder, .5 liter water bottle, enough gels and cliff bars to sustain a caloric balance, and a cooler full of beer and hot dogs for the celebration camping trip to follow. I picked up Darren at 6am on Saturday morning and our first stop was to the 24 hour Colwood Thrifty Foods to pick up some burritos for the day. Yes this decision was questionable, but relying solely on sugary gels and grainy cliff bars sounded worse at the time. My vest seemed taylor-made to fit my water bottle on one chest pocket, and a burrito in the other - a great omen for the day!
We arrived at the China Beach day lot around 745am. The sun was up now and presented a pleasantly warm morning with overcast but no signs of rain or wind. Lucky for us we did not have to take two cars and double back after dropping one off at Botanical Beach as we had arranged for a friend to meet us at the finish - thanks Pat! After a few last minute shoe lace adjustments, securing of car keys, and those symbolic little stretches we all do before a big effort that act only to help offset any butterflies, we were off!
Far Left and Left: the log ladders/bridges seemed to hold up much better than typical lumber on the coast Middle Right: Crossing Peter Wolfe Creek
Far Right: Boulder ‘power-hopping’ towards the Bear Beach hills
Darren had suggested running South to North, from China to Botanical Beach, in order to get the most challenging section out of the way early instead of tackling it on tired legs late in the trip. Our journey was soon off to a great start and we felt that familiar relief to be off running with no more prep and planning, no more driving, just one foot in front of the other until we were done. China to Mystic Beach has some great runnable trail and also some gorgeous but slippery log bridges and rotting stair cases/ladders. Once out on our first open beach I was surprised at just how difficult it is to run on the large, smooth and slippery beach boulders. We opted to gingerly ‘power-hop’ along these boulder sections to decrease risk. We were making good progress despite the cautious beach section and were shortly into those Bear Beach hills! The hills aren’t high summits but very steep and sometimes slippery slogs down into creek beds and then up and over ridges and then back down through more creek beds. Rinse. Repeat. Knowing we were getting the ‘hardest’ part out of the way felt good but that cloud cover and lack of any wind was making for a surprisingly warm day on the trail.
Darren had a water pump with charcoal filter that we would be relying on for the day to refill our bladders and bottles. Unfortunately the filter seemed to be rather plugged from the start and we were spending far longer and far more effort than anticipated to squeeze water into our packs drop by precious drop. Later in the day, frustrated by the deteriorating efficiency of the water filter, I relied on iodine tablets to purify creek water and keep us roughly on our predicted finish time. The faulty pump wasn’t a concern during the trip but definitely costed us about an hour in pump time, not to mention sore pumping arms and squatting legs. Then again the forced breaks might have helped us enjoy the day more in the long run (pardon the pun!).
Running through Chin Beach and then up and over the point into Sombrio felt great. This was our planned Burrito lunch feast and over halfway to Botanical. The sun was now poking through the clouds and as we navigated the small wooden stair cases up and around the waterfalls South of Sombrio and onto the beach we were greeted with the usual crowds of campers, surfers, and picnickers. We tried not to linger but another slow water pump at least allowed the chicken and bean burrito to digest a little before bouncing down the next section of trail.
We did have one small navigational error on the day at the North-end of Sombrio. Trail heads on/off the beach sections of the trail are marked with orange floats/buoys hang prominently from trees. We caught site of an off-white sun stained buoy hanging below a steep and overgrown trail but decided it must have been recently washed-out and proceeded to clamber up using tree-roots and struggling through thorns. After bushwhacking up the steep slope and then sliding back down over the ridge we confirmed our mistake. If we had simply kept to the beach and walked around the point just past the yellow-ish buoy, we would have seen the prominent orange buoy and well worn trail we were supposed to have taken. Ah well! FYI the yellow-ish buoys mark paths to take if you are caught in a high tide and need to get off the beach and are rarely needed.
Far Left: Scenic welcome to Sombrio and a Burrito picnic! Middle: (Slowly) pumping water at Little Kuitshe Creek Far Right: Beautiful rock beach past Providence Cove South of Botanical.
The trail North of Sombrio presented more runnable sections but also felt more neglected and wild compared to the more densely travelled South sections around China and Sombrio. Despite the flattish yet root-lined trail there were still obstacles to stay mindful of that evey JDF’r knows well. Mud and rotted out boardwalks. To this day I do not understand how Darren could ‘walk on water/mud’ by gingerly leading the way across boggy sections like a skeeter bug floating across a river. Meanwhile I faithfully followed only to be stopped dead by shin deep mud and having to carefully retract each foot without losing a shoe to the murky depths. Rotting wood obstacles are also featured along the length of the JDF, perhaps a testament to how much more revenue/funding the West Coast Trail must receive. There is a unique decision making process when ascending or descending these JDF greyish-green moss covered stair cases, many with missing or half missing stairs, as to whether to trust the dubious looking next step, or apply more force by skipping a few steps with a leap of faith. Darren and I survived - I guess I should have had more faith in the JDF engineers but those all to commonly broken-through steps and gaps can really plant a seed of doubt.
The final leg through Payzant Creek and on to Botanical was my favourite section. The contrast of murky forest and muddy boardwalks with exposed and desolate-grey rock beaches kept my mind engaged and looking forward to every blind corner. Admittedly I was also running on tired legs and struggling more each hour to truly embrace this incredible and challenging experience. Those final 10km of an ultra distance can really mess with your head in their patient unravel. Once Darren and I started crossing paths with day-trippers walking along the boardwalk from Botanical we knew we were very close. A combination of an atypically warm and muggy day and the inefficient water pump had us almost an hour off of our goal pace of running under 8 hours but all in all a very good day! Knowing that we (still hopefully) had a ride waiting for us up the hill in the day-use parking lot, we skipped the Botanical Beach selfie and against all fatigue we increased our efforts and tore up the endless gravel access road from the beach on up to the parking lot with a good pace. I kept up with Darren throughout the day very well and had settled on a new level of confidence until he hit that deeper 8+ hour ultra gear that comes only with experience. I had to dig deep to keep up with him. In hindsight, even the Mighty Darren was in a hurry to get off of his feet and wrap this thing up! Our ride was waiting with open car doors, 70’s rock and cold beers - what a relief and a sight to see. Within minutes of the final high-fives and self deprecating jokes we were on our way to the Renfrew Pub for a celebration feast and those ever appreciative bathroom sink post trail clean-ups.
We had the foresight to book a campsite at French Beach for that evening which I also highly recommend. Rather than drive the windy West Coast road home in a catatonic state, setting up camp, cracking a few beers and roasting hot dogs was a much more fitting way to wind up a day on the JDF.
I had no difficulty falling into a dead sleep that night. Fully satisfied with my effort, the day, the accomplishment. I had no desire to do challenge the JDF again. I write this recap two years later and I can’t wait to give it another go.
That was an amazing day and it went about as good as I could have expected. We moved well. Weather and conditions were good. It was still very hard. I highly recommend challenging yourself with this and I also highly caution you to not take it lightly.