Starting Solo West Coast Trail Trip on May 16th

Well, everything is ready to go for my solo early season trip on the West Coast Trail using a hammock. I've chosen to go in mid May because you don't have to reserve a start date if you go between May 1st and June 14th. I've got my pack down to the lightweight class with a base weight of 6.4 Kg (14lbs 4oz) and a total pack weight of 10.3 Kg (22 lbs 11oz). Its definitely not the lightest load I've heard of for this length of a trip but it should make for a much more comfortable time than last year's aborted Juan de Fuca Marine Trail attempt with a pack weight of 27.2 Kg (60lbs)!

Even though I'm going lightweight I'm not going for any speed record. I'm planning on taking 6 days to do the entire 75 KM (46.6 miles) starting in Bamfield and ending in Port Renfrew. I'm going north to south because that was the direction I went when I was 14 and did the north half of the trail with a youth group and also by the time I get to the last couple of days, which are supposed to be the hardest, my pack will be at its lightest.

If I can get a cell phone signal, I'm going to attempt to blog from the trail. I doubt if I'll have a signal once I leave Bamfield but by the time I reach Bonilla beach at the end of day 3 I'm hoping I will have a signal from Neah Bay, across the Juan de Fuca Straight. I'll attach photos from the cell phone to start with and will replace them with real photos when I'm back and recovered.

Here is my itinerary:

May 16th - catch the West Coast Trail Express from Victoria to Bamfield
May 16th - sign on to the trail and hike to Darling campsite (14 KM)
May 17th - Darling to Hole in the Wall (14 KM)
May 18th - Hole in the Wall to Bonilla (20 KM)
May 19th - Bonilla to Logan (8 KM)
May 20th - Logan to Camper via beach at Sandstone Creek (6 KM)
May 21st - Camper to Gordon River via beach and Owen Point (13 KM)
May 21st - catch the West Coast Trail Express from Gordon River to Victoria at 4:30pm

UPDATE: I just found out that the West Coast Express only runs on odd numbered days in the shoulder season, so I'm going to move the leave day up by one day and finish on the 20th. My wife will pick me up at Gordon River.

Here are some useful links:

WCT @ i-needtoknown.com
West Coast Trail Express
The Gear I'm taking - If my current gear list changes much from this list I'll graft on a new link showing what I actually took