The time I got lost in Vancouver Island

Well. As the title would suggest, this story is based on my adventures getting lost on the beautiful Vancouver Island in British Columbia, Canada and the lessons I learned and still follow. In the summer, I had worked a nice office job that offered me good work experience and solid pay. The only downside was that I was crammed in an office for the nicest months of Calgary’s short summer. Now the summer was almost over and I had a weekend before class started up again so I decided to visit a friend who was living in Victoria, which is the main town of Vancouver Island. It was the first time I had traveled alone and was full of excitement about how grown up and mature I felt. So when I packed to go I packed as if the only time I would be outdoors would be walking around town and stumbling to and from bars. As much as the trip was centered on visiting an old friend, what I didn’t realize (or plan for) was getting out on my own and spending some time to slow down after a busy summer and before a busy semester of school.

While I was visiting, my hosts had mentioned how great the parks are just outside of town. I had no idea that they had nice easy trails so close so I asked which ones they’d recommend. Most of the suggestions they made were a little too far out of town for the modest amount of time I had to visit them but after a quick search on Google, I discovered two locations that seemed to be winners: Thetis Lake, and Mt Finlayson.

Thetis Lake was a 20ish minute drive from where I was staying. It’s a great, smaller sized lake that seemed like it would be a busy place for swimmers and other beachgoers. On this day (In early September) it was only a few degrees above 0 Celsius so I had the place mostly to myself. The walk was quite easy which was very welcome considering I only had Birkenstock sandals on. A path led all around the lake and back to the car park. It was short but quite lovely. The rain had only just started but I figured it would be gone by lunchtime so everything would be good for the more intense was up Mt Finlayson. And I was right! For the most part…

After my quaint walk around Thetis Lake I sat in my car eating cold leftover Pad Thai noodles contemplating if the weather would hold up for Mt Finlayson. I decided that it would (it didn’t) and started my rental car and made my way north. Another 20 or so minutes of driving found me in the right place: the parking lot to the mount. I eagerly started on my way up the trail. I stopped (only briefly) at the trail guide and got a lay of the land (not really). Here I will point out my first lesson. Always gain an adequate lay of the land. Knowing how to get somewhere, and how to get out is an absolute must. Most trails are on the Internet now so it isn’t hard to get the information you need. Anyway, the way to the top offers two ways. One is longer and on smoother ground. The second is shorter but steeper. Now, the way I saw this was “be here for longer than you need or deal with a little incline” full of piss and vinegar as I was, I chose the “harder” route. What I didn’t know (until it was too late) was that the “slight incline” actually meant a scramble up waist-high boulders with no cover from the elements. By this time it was raining a little harder than it was before but I was under relatively thick canopy so I didn’t worry too much. That, and I was wearing a rain jacket. It wasn’t until too late that I realized this rain jacket couldn’t hold off the rain as well as I had hoped. Oh, and that Birkenstocks aren’t great for scrambling up mountains. My second lesson is this: wear appropriate footwear. Sure you can walk in those sandals, but your blistered feet will be telling you that you shouldn’t have after about 45 minutes. About halfway up the climb, my feet were doing their best to scream at me in anger so I stopped for a second to think about the situation and when I looked back I realized that a fall could be damn near fatal. My friends knew I was out, but they didn’t know where I was. Third lesson, make sure someone knows where you are just in case, especially if you are travelling alone. I had a cell phone with me but that wouldn’t do much good if I wasn’t awake to use it. And the trail wasn’t very busy due to the weather so if something went wrong I would be in bad shape. Instead of turning back I decided that I would be safer to go up, as I felt safer doing so. And I did. Made it all the way to the top. And it was pretty worth it. The sense of accomplishment and the view were enough to make myself pretty content with the situation. As bad as the climb up was physically, the way down would turn out to be a little worse. As I mentioned the hike had two trails. One longer, lighter one. And the one I took. I figured I had been through enough so I took what I thought was the easier way down. It had a sign with an arrow that said “Parking Lot” pointing in the direction of the only path I could see. I was sure I was on the right track . It turned out I was certainly not. The parking lot it mentioned was not the parking lot I had parked in, but rather a small area to fit maybe two cars this was located about 7kms up the road from where I had parked my car. So in the (now) pouring rain I had to traverse down the mountain to my dry waiting car only to find that I had gone the wrong way and got horribly lost. Now my cozy hour walk down the mountain had been extended to over 3 because of my foolish errors. Learn from my mistakes so you don’t have to make your own.