So slowly but surely we rattled along until the air tasted salty and Tofino welcomed us with open arms. Hugs from worldwide friends and ocean views got me all excited. Adventure time! Four of us took off on a well prepared hike through the woods, to find an old plane wreck. Coffee, speakers, joints, shoes off and pants rolled up. Two minutes later we were knee deep in mud, swinging from one rope to another, following bright orange ribbons some nice hiker placed in the trees.
We found the plane wreck and did the tourist thing: taking pictures while climbing the plane. Overlooking the tree tops and our deliciously muddy feet, I smiled with delight. So happy to be back in Tofino! We stayed there for a while and slowly got back down, deep into the mud. We made our way through the dirt slush and were laughing and tagging along until one crazy fast Canadian couple passed us. With no mud on their feet, legs or face! They smiled at us and walked like they knew something we didn't... A short cut! Without mud! Let's follow these guys! And so we did. They were almost racing through that forest so it was hard to keep up, but we found them deep in the woods.
The girl asked us if we knew where we were going. We laughed. "Of course not, we were following you!" Anyway, we would just follow this mossy path and find our way out. Until the path hit a dead end of many many branches and bushes and I don't know why but we just kept going. Was this perhaps an animal path more than a human path? The wolf tracks told us yes. We lightly panicked. Okay, we freaked out.
We tried to walk back but wherever we looked was dense forest. We were really trapped. In a gigantic forest filled to the brim with wolves, bears and cougars. Fun fun fun! The first thing on my mind was: "we'll have to spend the night in this forest!" And then: "We're never going to make it out alive!" I screamed to keep the wildlife away, but mostly just to scream. We marched through that forest like we knew where we were going, but clearly, we had no clue.
Ryan's phone was the hero of the day, with a gps showing us the way to the road. We had to walk through bushes and climb ditches and more than once did we hear cars passing like a mirage. Reality was: we were still in the middle of that wild forest. We yelled and howled and ran and accidentally hit each other with brances in the face. And then: the relieving sound of the highway!
Never have I been so happy to hear cars flying past us. We made it! We survived! Hugs all around! Followed by ocean swims to wash that mad adrenaline off our bodies. To celebrate life, we feasted on seafood and wine. That night, we watched the sunset from a couch in the sky. Someone placed a couch on a platform in the forest (just a 5 minute walk this time), overlooking the ocean. A magical end of a wild day.
