SUNSHINE COAST TRAIL ADVENTURES

By: Helene Steiner

HIKING THE SUNSHINE COAST TRAIL

Last summer I hiked the whole epic 180 km Sunshine Coast Trail (https://sunshinecoast-trail.com/) from Sarah Point to Saltery Bay. Why? Because “Explore” listed it among the 33 best long-distance hikes in Canada. Since it’s in my backyard, why haven’t I done it yet? So off I go.

My cell phone broke on day 2. That left me with 9 full days to contemplate life while hiking through a wide variety of landscapes, like coastal shorelines, many creeks and waterfalls and lakes, old-growth forests, and amazing mountain tops.  Even though it was mid-August  I rarely ever saw people. Perfect!

I feasted on 6 different kinds of berries along the way (salal, huckleberries, blueberries, salmonberries, Oregon grapes, and of course, blackberries, the signature berry of the Sunshine Coast!). In fact, I ate so many berries, that my poop started looking like bear poop after a few days. Lol.

The only thing I wished I had at the time was some of Christie’s amazing “Wild Edge Keto” (http//wildedgeketo.com)  dehydrated meals instead of the rather uninspiring stuff I was able to buy.  Much of the selection sold out in the stores, as many people were roaming nature this year, stuck in BC, not being able to lay on a beach in Hawaii or go gambling in Las Vegas or wherever. Hence options for backpacking meals were limited. Then again “Wild Edge Keto” (http//wildedgeketo.com) didn’t exist when I did that hike last summer. They do now and I’m so happy to have tasty, locally sourced, and locally made products available.