Cowichan Valley Trail Day 4

The morning was quiet. I slept in, and stayed in my room, dozing and blogging. I saw that Nihan had messaged me just after 4am, saying she liked my blog. I wondered whether she saw the Perseid meteor shower (she did not).

I felt tired and low on sleep: the kind of tired I used to feel when I ran Reiki retreats on Bowen Island. I didn't sleep much on those trips, because I was constantly running energy, supporting the field, and transforming myself. I wondered whether the reason I could go so much deeper on this trip than on my Camino, was because I didn't have the intention of, "I will be healthier and better rested at the end of this trip than at the beginning," as I did on the Camino. Maybe running this much energy would have kept me up late and up early, like a Reiki retreat.

When I ventured out for a shower, Nihan was sitting in the communal kitchen, drinking tea and playing with the little girl like they were old friends.  What a turnaround with that little girl, since our first day here!

We loaded up our oatmeal with the berries we picked the day before. I loved it!

Our host came in, carrying a carved wooden sign that reads "cabin." She asked us, "If you saw this hanging on the cabin, would you know it was the place to go?" We affirmed, and she proceeded to go hang it up on the cabin.

Nihan and the little girl played and giggled all through breakfast, to the pleasure of her parents. I could see that Nihan was integrating her own childhood through this play. Her hair and the little girl's was almost identical. It wasn't lost on Nihan.

Nihan constantly switched between what I saw as the habits she was raised in and the type of "parenting" she wished she had had. She also alternated between wanting to control, and letting the child self-determine. She was really working through her transition from "old story" to "new story" on this subject.

At one point, the girl announced, "I'm One, Two, Three!" counting them off on her fingers. Nihan answered, "I'm One, Two, Three, too!" flashing all ten fingers with each number.

While they played, I made us sandwiches for lunch, and washed up from breakfast. The girl's mother watched me making the sandwiches, noticed that I was searching something to moisten them up, and offered up some ranch dressing for them. I know the saying is, "The Camino provides," I never really felt that on the Camino. Standing there eating our freshly picked blackberries, and making sandwiches with (1) groceries out host graciously offered to buy for us, with (2) kale from our previous host's garden, and (3) this stranger's ranch dressing, I felt like I really was being provided for, here in the Cowichan.

Today's journey was about 20km along the Cowichan Valley Trail back to Duncan, and then the many-legged public transportation route home to Vancouver.  We would start by heading up Mayo Rd a few kilometres, then rejoining the railgrade.

But first, we wanted to located the swimming hole that the little girl spoke of. It was almost directly across Riverbottom Rd from Cobb House. There was a short gravel access road that led to the river.

This portion of the river was much deeper and colder than where we tubed the day before. It took us a while to get in, and not just because of the cold.

Looking down into the murky green depths of the river, the rock of the shore plunged nearly straight down from the sides. I could barely make out the smooth bottom. Yet I was about to jump in. I thought, what a great metaphor for my life right now: jumping into the unknown!

I sat on the edge, saying, "I can do this!  I can do this!" Then I pushed off and swam across to the other side. Nihan took a while longer to get in, but eventually we were both swimming around and feeling quite comfortable. Funny how that happens.  ;)  Another metaphor.  A turkey vulture circled overhead, and I remembered its message from the day before: digest the old "rotten" stuff and convert it to pure fuel.  Overcoming obstacles to soar like an eagle.

After our swim, we hit the road. We stopped to take in the view at the forestry bridge at the foot of Mayo Rd. There was another swimming hole there that looked much shallower. I had hoped there might be washrooms, but I was out of luck.

I tried to walk anyway, but could not "hold it" any longer. We ended up going down an overgrown "closed road" to pee, and surprised a turkey vulture eating his lunch just off the road. He flew away through the trees, giving us a real close up view. Back on the junction with Mayo Rd: a turkey vulture feather.  :D

Ok, I had not planned on sharing this part, but the coincidence was just too much for me. When I looked up turkey vulture earlier, I had also read that turkey vultures (all vultures, really) urinate down their legs, to sterilize them after feeding on carrion. I had been strangely having trouble with overly urgent urination this whole trip, with some very near-misses, if you know what I mean.  >.<   And now, the turkey vulture was literally catching me with my pants down!  This messenger REALLY wanted me to listen. Lol.

For your interest, here are 20 fun facts about vultures. See if you can identify which ones apply to me!  ;)

The walk along Mayo Rd felt slower, harder, and longer than our previous walks. Maybe it was because we had our packs on and it was hotter out than the day before. I suspected it was because it was our last day and were subconsciously trying to drag it out. I knew that the morning's play probably also put Nihan into an emotional process about her childhood, parenting, and family.

We lunched at Mayo Lake, which had a lovely little picnic area, and a dock with benches on it.

By the time we hit the Cowichan Valley Trail, my shirt was dry again.

A message came through from Colin that he would pick us up from the ferry. We wholeheartedly accepted. Just like on the Camino, the ending was not what I expected, and it was easier than planned.

Nihan checked her email, and saw the following daily message from Neale Donald Walsch:

"On this day of your life, Dear Friend,
I believe God wants you to know that you are innocent. You are blameless. You are without foible or fault of any kind. I know you do not believe this about yourself, but do you believe this of the three-year-old beautiful child? And what makes you think that you are anything less in the eyes of God?"

We walked in silence for a stretch, her out ahead of me. Then she stopped. The road was full of tiny brown frogs. There were probably a hundred of them.

My mind went immediately to the story of the exiled youth, told on the totem in Duncan. I mentioned it, and Nihan burst into tears. "Everything just got real for me, that I'm heading home and I'll have to actually make all these changes I've been talking about. I had just asked myself, what part of me is not ok with this? And the frogs appeared." The message was clear to me, and she agreed.

I sympathized with her struggle to bring her intentions to reality. I chuckled, "On a much smaller scale, it's like me with the river this morning: I knew in my heart I was going in, but to actually GET in was another story!"

It struck me how similar this was to the end of the Camino with Cathleen. How interesting and amazing that I was there to witness and perhaps in a fashion steward these women's processes on our trips. They were both great mirrors for my own process, allowing me to compare and contrast our issues, viewpoints, solutions, and actions.

I also noted how I was not processing in a dramatic way, as Nihan was. In fact, I felt really relaxed, like I was swimming through the sunshine, and not thinking about too much. I laughed to myself, remembering how my intention for this trip was completed on the ferry getting here. Maybe I should have set a more challenging intention, I mused. Then I remembered that I was successfully working on my biggest life intention: to live in a relaxed, confident, and happy state. I felt happy about my progress on that during this trip, and proud at how I was currently cultivating that state of being. I was looking forward to implementing my new choices and living my new reality.

The railgrade that day was more monotonous than previous days. It looked the same throughout: a straight and flat gravel path through trees. We suddenly understood the value of the footpath.

We passed one swamp. We were excited to pass the Sikh Temple, because it was something different. It basically just looked like a house. I remembered seeing on the map how all the streets around that area had Sikh names. I presumed they were named after early Sikh families who settled here, to farm or work in logging. These early Sikhs were often overlooked in BC's colonial history.

Across from the Sikh temple, a house was being built. I pointed out the Tyvek wrapping on it, and noted how I had pointed out a similar structure to Colin after I returned home from the Camino. He said, "Oh, that's a great use for Tyvek: to protect houses!" I laughed, "That's the original and primary use of Tyvek."

We only saw a few bicyclists, and no hikers. Most of the day, like the day before, we were the only ones on the trail.

Nihan walked about 50m ahead of me most of the day. At one point, we saw what looked like the mama frog to all those earlier baby frogs, placidly eating ants in the middle of the trail.

At one point I caught up, and we walked together for a stretch. A small snake with a bright stripe slithered away from us. Nihan said she had seen a couple, but this was my first. I figured because she was walking ahead, she probably scared them off before I got there.

Stellar Jays flitted in and out of our path. Then Nihan found a Stellar Jay feather! She said she had just asked for something to take home from this trip, so she could have the integration of this trip, and that's when she found the feather. She looked up Stellar Jay online. It said: "I am fortitude. rebirth, and life after death. No, everything is not okay and you have died, but I will make you pick up your bones and show you how to build a new life." (Source)

She sighed, "I love going on trips with you! Everything is so divine!"

Then we laughed at "No, everything is not OK," because I had recently sent her the following comic, which she totally identified with.

http://m.imgur.com/gallery/31szy
I loved the comment "Instead, reality: http://i.imgur.com/gW05745.gif"

The railgrade followed parallel to the busy highway for about 1.5km. we squinted at the traffic noise, and Nihan commented, "Maybe it's trying to get us used to returning to the city."

Then the trail pulled away from the highway, and a few kilometres later, we passed a Chinese cemetery.

Most of the gravestones were worn flat from weather and age. Most of birthdates on the gravestones I could read were 1890. They must have been the generation who came to Canada to work on the railroad. I knew that many of the Chinese railroad workers did not get formal cemeteries, but were simply buried alongside the railroad where they died.

Some of the headstones in this cemetery had obviously been replaced by new ones, probably indicating that the person's descendants still lived in this area. Fresh flowers indicated that some graves had been visited recently. I was surprised to see one dated 1890-1990.

We sat on our Tyvek mats in the shade and reapplied our sunscreen, eating the wild apples we had picked along the trail. Now if only the Cowichan would provide a fresh water source, we'd be set.  ;)

The sun was hot and much of the trail was open to the sky. While I loved the feel of the sun on my skin, we worried about dehydration. Fortunately, we did have some water left, and it was only 7km to Duncan.

Not too long after the cemetery, we were relieved to find ourselves under light tree cover.

We passed a very welcome Parks Board porta potty at the intersection of Sahtlam Rd and Cowichan Lake Rd.

Then Nihan fell back and I pulled ahead. A crow was sitting in the middle of the trail. It watched me approach, then flew directly down the trail. It perched on a tree, and waited for me. When I got close enough to take a photo, it took off again. As I turned the corner, it was sitting in the tree above Holmes Creek Bridge 2. Again it, flew a short distance away as I approached. Almost as if it were leading me onward. We sat on the bridge and ate our second sandwiches. The crow cawed loudly from the trees.

A few kilometres later, an overpass with "Jay, I love you!" spray painted on it caught my attention. Nihan said, "Yes, thank you Stellar Jay!"  Something twigged that we needed to be on top of the overpass. A quick check on HERE maps confirmed it, and we thanked Jay once again.

The last stretch was 2.5km along the main road in Duncan (Cowichan Lake Rd, which became Government St). Fortunately there were sidewalks, because there was a lot of traffic. Even more fortunately, the sidewalks were lined with blackberry bushes, which made the walk in the noisy city much more enjoyable.  ;)

We stopped at the 7-11, and I joked "How can you tell that the gas station is in Duncan? There's a totem pole in front of it!" This one was of a fisherman.

On our trip, I had discovered that Nihan had never eaten beef jerky, so I bought two different types to do a taste test. "I like this!" She pronounced about the first kind. "This one isn't as good," she decided about the second one. But by the time I turned my head, she had downed the whole stick. Lol.

In downtown Duncan, Nihan visited the wild woman totem said a thank you. I tried to find the dress I liked when we first arrived four days ago. I couldn't find it. I suspect it was in the store that was closed up with shutters. Maybe that was no longer the appropriate "habit" for me now?  ;)  Nihan wanted to buy ice cream, but the two ice cream stores we found were also closed.

Tired after our long walk, we sat on the perfect lawn of the museum and waited for the Island Link bus. And waited. And waited. 5 minutes late. 10 minutes late. 15 minutes late... we started to worry. If the bus took an hour to get to the ferry, and the ferry was scheduled to leave in 70 minutes, we were not going to make it.

This owl totem echoed my feelings...

Furthermore, we couldn't see another option for getting to the ferry. The Greyhound bus station was closed, and the Island Link Bus only stopped in Duncan if someone reserved a fare in advance. We were the only ones at the stop. Nihan started doing clearings. Just then, the bus rounded the corner.

I asked the driver whether we could still make the ferry, and he assured us we would. The ride was fast and furious, as the bus driver sped through traffic. We were so tired, we dozed in our seats. There was only one other passenger, whose destination was also the ferry, so we fortunately made no stops, and got to the ferry in time. We bought our tickets and walked right on to the ferry. There really was no time to spare! I messaged Colin that we would be on the 7:30pm ferry after all.

Nihan and I laughed in relief, then again at how closely our experience trying to get home matched my Camino experience. The last minute panic over missing the scheduled connection, followed by the two last legs being condensed into a single, faster, more convenient ride.

We were on a "new" ferry, and got a seat next to the window in the fancy forward passenger lounge.

We ate our sushi (me) and salmon quinoa (her), while gazing out at the ocean and mountains. We both started feeling a lot better. The tiredness from the bus evaporated. (How do you know you're on a ferry to Vancouver Canada? You're eating sushi or salmon quinoa. Lol.)

We talked about doing another similar trip together in the future, and how grateful we were that Colin was coming to pick us up. We agreed it was also very nice to do a trip with someone who also enjoyed the same things we did. Nihan had not had a lot of that before. She brought up the life changes she was about to make, and sounded much more confident and happy about them. "I can have the life I want. I can do the things I want. This is possible for me now. I refuse to live how I was living -- it wasn't Living," she affirmed.

Exiting the ferry, we easily located Colin's truck, and we all exchanged hugs. I was happy to see him.

My dog Rory was happy to see me, and had an eerily similar injury to mine... He had stepped on a rock and cut his foot.

Because they didn't hurt, I realized only after I got home that I sported dark bruises on both soles, probably from climbing on the rocks in the riverbed, when I went to help the elderly lady.

The next morning, I took "Limpy" out for his walk, stopped at Trees Coffee, and ran into a young Professor from my department at UBC. He was talking to one of our neighborhood "dog walking friends" (an ex-prof) about the difficulties of teaching, and the latest round of students, and she was saying that's why she left teaching.

After she left, I talked to the Prof about my issues with teaching, my decision to leave teaching, and for the first time, I did not feel any panic!!  I could tell he was, though.  lol.  So I thanked him that this very conversation with him told me I was finally (at least mostly) over it!  I knew that making the decision to totally retire from teaching allowed this change in me. I was very grateful, and excited at the speed of the change in myself.

On my seawall walk, I emailed my boss at UBC, and told him I wouldn't be coming back. It was hard. I imagined myself at the swimming hole... the nerves I felt sitting at the edge of the river... and then "jumped."  Then "swam" in my tears  ;) knowing that it would only get easier from there.  It felt like every emotion related to teaching at UBC was flowing through me all at once. I guessed that was closure. Integration.

I thought of how well my experiences of rivers on this trip represented what I was going through in my life. Bringing to mind the ease and fun of my river tubing experience, I wondered whether this career change meant I would finally be able to stop swimming furiously upstream, and instead, start floating down the river of life, letting the soft-flowing current support me and carry me anywhere I wanted to go.

When I came home from the Camino, I felt like I lost some of the self-confidence that I gained there. This time, I did not. It stayed with me.

Nihan messaged me that she had wanted to continue the lifestyle of our trip in her daily life, and so she had walked about 17km out to the endowment lands at UBC and back. At Jericho beach, she had noticed these "wild women" murals for the first time, despite them being dated 1992.

It struck me as marvelous, how much we could "see," once we shifted our vibration. It was like an entire level of reality could become known, once we were in tune with it. And now the portal was open. A whole new world awaited both of us.

Dog tax:

Cowichan Valley Trail Day 3

Cobb House's shower was outdoors. I bathed listening to the roosters crow. Watching the steam rise into the trees, I thought, "I like this a lot!"

Nihan danced for an hour in her room, then bounced on the outdoor trampoline to start her day. She considered it an upgrade from her little rebounder at home.

The skies were grey and it looked like rain, despite the forecast stubbornly insisting it would be 24°C. We peered at the sky and allowed for the possibility that we would not be able to go tubing on the Cowichan River today. I messaged Colin about it, and he answered, "Don't worry-- we'll get a house in the Cowichan and you can go tubing all the time!" I couldn't tell how serious he was, but I liked the idea.

We had breakfast in the communal kitchen, beside the man who helped us the previous night, and his young daughter. I laughed when I realized my instant coffee packet was one I had accidentally carried home from the Camino, because it has been hiding in my purse. I laughed even harder when I saw that the other packet I had brought was left over from a trip to China.  A truly international decaf collection.

The man asked where we were walking today, and when I said to Cowichan Lake, he was startled. "All the way around the lake?!" He asked with surprise. "No, no," I laughed, "just TO the lake (about 10km). We want to go tubing down to Little Beach, then come back via Skutz Falls Road (about 10km from the beach). I max out at about 28km per day!"

To give you some perspective, here is a map showing the trail both "to" the lake and "around" the lake. You can understand why he was surprised. (Our route for the day was #3 to #6 to #18 and back to #3.)

The little girl played with her "jewels" (a bag of green marbles), and eyed us warily. We could see little bits of sun poking through clouds, and decided to take our stuff for tubing, assume it would clear up by the time we got to the tubing area, but decide on it once we arrived in Cowichan Lake. Either way, we were excited to be walking without our big packs. One benefit of staying at Cobb House for two nights was that we could leave our packs there while walking this portion of the loop.

We did a sage smudge and headed out at 10am. The Cowichan Valley Trail resumed just a couple hundred metres from Cobb House, at Cowichan River Provincial Park. The Skutz Falls trailhead had pit toilets and a fish ladder running next to the falls. This river was full of steelhead trout. (The river remained one of the best fishing streams in the province. Besides the steelhead, it had two species of native trout, the rainbow and the cutthroat, and a non-native species introduced in the 1930s, the brown trout, which was now living wild, plus three species of Pacific salmon: Coho, Chinookand, and Chum.)

While I walked, I drafted my blog about the feeling from yesterday. Nihan worked on the sacred feminine and the mother wound. Although she was too far ahead for me to see, she later told me how she spent the time crying through her grief and doing energy work. I caught up with her as she was building an altar. I passed her, giving her space to do whatever ceremony she needed.

There were farm properties along the edge of the trail, just beyond a row a trees that gave the trail a little privacy. We stopped to admire a trio of horses.

Without her backpack, Nihan was happy to be "traveling lightly on the earth."

We passed a marsh and the 70 Mile Trestle.

Arriving into the town of Lake Cowichan on Pine Street at noon, I was surprised by how rural it still felt.  Both of us somehow expected the town to be more like Duncan.

At the end of Pine Street, we turned left onto the railgrade trail again, which took us through town to the lake. The map gave the impression the town had "started" at Pine Street, and we were walking through the "middle" of the town geographically, but it didn't feel like "town" until we reached South Shore Road, at the West end of town, by the lake.

Closer to the lake, we encountered a sign saying "Western Terminus of TCT." We realized that we were almost at the end of the longest trail in the world!  It seemed very metaphoric.

Nihan said, "But we didn't start from the beginning!"  I replied  "Maybe, like the Camino, there's no one single beginning; you start from your home and go to the end?"  I almost teared up at that. Then had a massive coughing fit that felt like vomiting. We both recognized that my system was clearing whatever resistance I had to the "endings" I was about to have in life. It was a powerful experience.

Here we are at "the end"!  Unlike my experience on the Camino, we arrived at the end of this trail together.

At South Shore Road, we started looking around a place to eat lunch. I had done street view on Google maps and had seen several restaurants along this road. Almost immediately we saw Jake's on the Lake pub, literally overlooking the lake. "How did I not see this on google maps?!" I marvelled. There was no question: it was where we would eat.

We sat on the patio, overlooking the lake. It happened to be $10 beer and burger day, so I got a veggie burger and a Red Arrow Kolsch. Nihan ordered a portobello mushroom burger, stuffed with goat cheese.

We watched people tubing from the dock beneath us, and "Sail Into the Mystic" was playing in the pub. We grinned at each other. We were going tubing!!

Eating her goat cheese stuffed portobello burger, Nihan said she never realized a hiking trip could be like this. The way she saw her friends doing it was all about hardship and suffering. This was really like a relaxing vacation. I said it helped that we were both strong, naturally fast walkers, because it meant that the "walking" portion was only a small part of our day, not "our day" unto itself.

An Amy Winehouse song came on. I didn't know the song but I recognized her distinctive voice. I said that I identified with her in a way: she was good at something, and so people pushed her into doing it more than she wanted to, and in ways she didn't like, because it was easier for them and benefited them.  It felt like the story of my teaching life.  Nihan started crying. She identified too, as being a child of a Narcissistic parent.

A large group of male and female bikers parked their motorbikes in the parking lot and came into the pub. "Wild women!!"  Nihan exclaimed with delight and admiration.

By the time we left, Red Solo Cup was playing ("I fill you up. Let's have a party! Proceed to party!") We knew it was time to hit the water.  ;)  Nihan was delighting in the lyrics, so I asked her if she knew what a red solo cup was, and proceeded to identify it for her. Nihan said she was getting a crash course on Canadian culture. Then Bare Naked Ladies came on. Lol.

We changed into our bathing suits in the pub washroom, and went downstairs to The Tube Shack to rent tubes to float down Cowichan River. At the rental office, we hit one snag: they would not return our damage deposit if we didn't return on the shuttle. We had planned to just keep walking after we finished tubing, so we had to forfeit our deposit. I thought that was pretty crappy, since we were still meeting the shuttle to give them our tubes when we were done. How hard would it be for the driver to give us a $20 bill? Also seemed like a bit of a scam, because they charged non-renters $5 to ride the shuttle back (furthermore meaning the driver would have cash on hand anyway), but they didn't give a discount to renters who *didn't* ride the shuttle back. Anyway, we took the hit and let it go.

We loaded our running shoes and skirt/shorts into ziploc bags, put them into my fold-up backpack, and used a carabiner to attach it to the tube. Because our tubes had bottoms on them, the bag stayed inside and relatively dry.

I felt right at home in the water. My body knew exactly what to do to manoeuvre the tube, which was really more like a little boat. Nihan struggled to paddle. As I floated towards the river mouth, she turned in circles in the lake. I could see her trying not to panic, and smiled as a turkey vulture circled her. She was certainly integrating some bigger life issue with this struggle.

Eventually, she got close enough to the river mouth that the current caught her, and she was on her way.  I waited for her to catch up, then pushed, pulled, and "bumped" her down the river.

The river was clear, shallow and lazy. Canada Geese swam beside us and then sunned themselves on rocks. I dipped myself into the water and it was surprisingly warm!

After pushing and pulling Nihan down the river a ways, she was getting comfortable the water. She was ready try paddling again. She said it brought up childhood issues around being slow to learn at school, watching others get the knack of things before she did. I watched her try to paddle and gave pointers on what needed adjustment. The biggest one was patience. She was digging deep with the paddle, trying to move a lot on every paddle stroke, and steer at the same time.  It kept her turning in circles.  I told her to forget about steering; just paddle lightly and evenly.  It would take 5-6 strokes before she would feel any movement.  She needed to relax and let the easy light strokes gather momentum.  Not long after that, she was paddling like a pro and feeling very empowered.

Now that Nihan was comfortable and in control of her own tube, I was free to paddle around at my leisure. I zoomed ahead, circled back, floated aimlessly... and occasionally gave her little friendly bumps.  I popped in and out of the water.

Houses lined the river. I passed a dock with a sign advertising that house for sale. I sent a photo to Colin.

Just then, Nihan pulled up near me and said, "Wouldn't it be neat if you lived here?"  I laughed, "Look, I just found this house for sale!"  She laughed, "You're in 'your house!'  On the water!  Just like in the dance!"

Here is a photo of me beside "my" dock. The house itself was not really visible from the water, due to  a row of large trees.

We spoke of me maybe actually moving here, and four turkey vultures circled low above us for ages. I googled turkey vulture totem.

"The vulture represents birth and death as well as new beginnings" (source)

"Their task in life is to clean up the mess, but an even more interesting aspect of the turkey vulture is that it is the only bird (or presumably only animal) whose feces is disease free. So the turkey vulture kindly cleans up dead carcasses or rotting flesh, then purifies them from any bacteria - making them perhaps nature's most perfect cleansing animal... The turkey vulture is symbolic of soulful cleansing, reaching a higher spiritual place...overcoming obstacles that we may encounter when trying to fly, but then soaring like an eagle when we get off the ground..." (source)

As if on cue, we passed floating garbage cans and saw one sign for a washroom, next to steps leading out of the water.

Nihan helped a 10 year old boy who was struggling to get into his tube. He had the blue tube, which had an open bottom and no oars. She "bumped" him back to his parents, who then formed a chain with him. They called, "Thanks girls," and I laughed that I was probably the same age as the parents.

The last section the river before our pullout at Little Beach was very light rapids. Nihan had done a complete turnaround about her comfort level, and was now eager for the rapids. Lol. I taught her the trick of lifting her bum, to avoid banging it on rocks in the shallow rapids.

On the third set of rapids, I passed an elderly lady hung up on rocks at the river's edge. Her husband had gone through already. I looked back from the end the rapids saw she was still hung up, and tipping in a precarious manner. So I beached my tube and walked back to help her. I taught her the "bums up" position, and her tube came free with a tiny push.  On the next set of rapids, I looked back to see her using the technique with much success.

I saw a small mink and a large fish. The mink ran straight at me from the shore into the water. It freaked me out a little, but when it just swam along to a spot a little farther down the shore and hopped out again, I relaxed and got a good look at it.  I tried to photograph them with my phone camera, but got nothing usable.

Here are some photos of a mink I got off the internet.

(source https://gfp.sd.gov/wildlife/management/diversity/river-otter.aspx)

(source http://www.jamesriverpark.org/science-in-the-park/american-mink.php)

Nihan looked up mink totem:

"Mink shows how to walk in the spiritual and physical world with joy and playfulness along with a balance of fighting for just cause. He teaches attention to intuition and timing, keen senses, awareness and how to move in the emotional waters balanced with the mental world. ...  He will teach how to remain within, a quiet solitude of personal space for contemplation. Are you completing a life cycle, something that you started long ago? Mink will aid in this returning with understanding and compassion. Perhaps you are ready for a move? Mink will also guide in this direction and will last approximately 2-3 weeks. Allow Mink's wisdom to show you the power of adaptability and balance."  (source)

I looked up a little more, and found one description that was rich in keys for me:

"If you have American mink as a guide or animal energy in your life, you'll often find that you require and prefer rich environments in which to live. ... You prefer protected safe places that you can control wherever possible... In addition, you will regularly seek out seclusion in order to find nourishment, wisdom or energy. Conditions are optimum when your safe place is also a space where you are guaranteed seclusion." 

and:

"American mink - being one of the world's most desirable and most-farmed animals for its fur - draws one's attention to the pros and cons of being desirable for what you produce and not who you are...."

and:

"Any animal that burrows into the darkness for its food, not knowing exactly what awaits it there, is one that teaches us how to go into the deep and sometimes painful places for wisdom. American mink people tend to be quite self-aware, and as a guide, American mink is unafraid to drag one hunting for nourishment and wisdom in the dark recesses of the unconscious. These journeys are often painful, unfathomable and unknowable. American mink's additional connection to water wisdom means these journeys are often extraordinarily life-changing..."

At Little Beach, the fish were jumping. The beach was clearly marked with signage as the pullout point for tubing and the pickup point for the Tube Shack Shuttle.  We considered a last swim there, but then decided against it and got dressed. I realized I had somehow lost my underwear. I figured it must have been when I changed at the pub. We laughed at the image of someone finding them there. It was too bad that they were a brand new pair, worn for the first time that day.

As I walked without a bra or skivvies, I laughed to myself, "There's another thing I didn't necessarily need on the Camino!" Fortunately for this trip, I had packed enough underwear for each day, because it was only four days and I didn't feel like doing laundry. So I had spares waiting for me back at Cobb Cabin.

We walked back in sunshine. About 450m down Greendale Rd was the junction with the railgrade.

The trail was very similar to the trail we took that morning. At one point, I saw a pair of boxer briefs on the side of the trail. "See, you never really lose anything!" Nihan said pragmatically.  I declined to pick them up and put them on.  ;)

We picked blackberries and filled a ziploc for the next morning 's breakfast. I saw a big frog. The sun came out in full force, and the railgrade alternated between shady woods and open sky.

Along Skutz Falls Road, we talked some more about the mother wound, and about the necessity of cycles of destruction and creation in life.  Again, the walk felt sooooo fast.

Arriving back at Cobb House, the little girl had decided she was now our friend, and called hello.

Now that we had the onion and second can of tuna purchased for us by our host, we made Pho soup. We added the kale we picked from the gardens at Akasha Meadows. It turned out delicious!  We even found two pairs of chopsticks in the communal kitchen.  :D

We had planned to play the Camino board game that I brought, but after the soup, decided on bed instead.  I blogged for a while, then, because the skies had finally cleared and we were in rural territory away from city lights, tried to watch the Perseid meteor shower. I didn't see any.  Perhaps because it wasn't peak time yet, perhaps becuase my eyes were so tired. I thought about how great it would be to lay out on the trampoline with Nihan and watch the meteor shower, but I was too tired and she was already asleep.

Falling asleep, it came to me: I *did* literally walk "from my home to the end" of the Trans-Canada Trail...  because my life began in Duncan!  I had walked a metaphor for my own life's journey!!  No doubt this journey would bring some incredible transformation for me.  Amazed by the realization, I fell to sleep.