There is nothing quite as satisfying as a good test of moxy. On the Juan de Fuca Marine Trail, I sustained multiple bruises, consumed my weight (well almost) in trail mix, belted out more song lyrics than were probably necessary to keep the bears away, and had a ton of laughs on the first annual Girls Gone (into) the Wild adventure with my hiking cohort, J-dubs.
We set off from the Port Renfrew trailhead (km 47) to begin our reverse hike to the China Beach trailhead (km 0).
We hiked, and climbed and pulled ourselves UP, UP, UP, seemingly just to go back DOWN, DOWN, DOWN…sometimes by accident (stupid mudslides).
We went OVER, and ACROSS, and through! And sometimes, we just sat still. We are forever scarred from an encounter with naked-sunbathing-dude in the wilderness, my ego is forever bruised after a tumble down a muddy slope, and I am forever awed by witnessing humpback whales frolic (yes, frolic) just off the coast.
We cooked and camped. We snapped scenery at every turn. 
And selfies (some far less flattering than others) at every trail marker.
One by one, we counted down the kilometers until The End. And then we celebrated our success! Backpack free at last!
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