Hiking the Juan de Fuca Trail - 15 Facts Uncovered

Getting outside and connecting with nature can mean many things ..... enjoying a walk in your local park, exploring a nature reserve or a bug hunt in a back yard perhaps. And then there's the extreme - hiking the Juan de Fuca trail on the west coast of Vancouver Island - 47 km of lush rain forest marine trail.

Every mud hole, banana slug, board walk and damp fern brushing our legs as we racked up the kilometre markers was experienced up close and personal.And the boys were fantastic. It is so true that nature will challenge you and provide opportunities to discover things about yourself that otherwise may have remained undiscovered.

Here are some of our revelations....

1. You can still raise a camp fire after a day of rain as long as you have the dry index pages of an accompanying book.

2. Making enough noise as you walk through the forest will pretty much guarantee that any cougar or bear will keep well out of your way!

3. Drying socks too close to the campfire renders them crusty and then they disintegrate when you try to put them on.

4. Huge rocks sitting on the beach are to be climbed and conquered.

5. Racing sticks down the creek to meet the incoming waves is very competitive.

6. Counting centipedes along the trail is a good way of keeping track of distance.

7. Cold filtered water straight from a creek tastes sooo good.

8. Mud can suck your shoe right off if you step in too deep.

9. After 6km of hard climbing, a flat 1km stretch of logging road is a welcome break.

10.You can tell what a bear had for his last meal by examining his poo - lots of grass in this case!

11. Green rocks are slippery when wet and when dry.

12. Orcas don't visibly lift their tales out of the water but Grey whales do.

13. Tree roots come in all sorts shapes and sizes - trip roots, slip roots and grab-your-boot-lace roots.

14. Black bears can indeed climb trees.

15. A 6 and an 8 year old can hike 47 km, up and down through muddy, forested terrain, camp on beaches, cook over a campfire and have loads of fun whilst doing so!

Not that surprising in the end really!