Mud Pit Inspection Process

The Juan de Fuca Trail and the West Coast Trail have some pretty intense mud puddles. Some of them are more pits than puddles. On you’re first you’re doing everything you can to keep your new gear shiny (a futile endeavor, I know) then you’ll be inspecting all the mud puddles to see if they’re big enough to hide frogs….or elephants.

Hmm … puddle or pit?

The easiest way to see if you’re dealing with a puddle or a pit is to stick your hiking pole in and see how deep it goes. This is one of the many uses for hiking poles. I definitely recommend them on the Juan de Fuca and West Coast Trail for partly this reason. Good luck getting through those pits with no poles. They can get a bit annoying on the ladders but there are ways to deal with that too.

Stick that hiking pole in and see how deep it goes. If it’s a couple inches then it’s ok. If it goes in any more than that, you may want to rethink stepping in that spot. Many of the puddles had logs or wood rounds hiding under the mud so if you can find those to step on, you’re ok.

Check how stable the wood and logs are. A solid piece of wood to step on is great but if it rolls over as you step on it, you’re going head first into that mud pit. I haven’t had the privilege to see any face plants first hand but I’ve seen photos. Not exactly something I want to test out.

Most coastal trails I’ve hiked on so far have involved some sort of mud. Instead of sighing and thinking about how terrible your luck is for having to go through yet another mud put, it’s much better to think of it like a game.

The Mud Pit Game

For every mud put, there’s a good way through, where you stay clean and happy and get to walk on with a swagger after conquering that mud pit. There’s also a not-so-good way through, where you get stuck, or bail into the mud, and your friends laugh and take instagrams and totally ruin your online hiking reputation. We always have a great time seeing who can make the best route through the puddles. There’s so much chance involved that rarely does anyone find the best way through all the time. What might look great at the start, ends up as a dead end in the deepest part of the pit.

The best pit I’ve seen was on the Juan de Fuca Trail. My buddy was all smug because he had got through the last pit the fastest. I took one route and he took the other and ended up in thick grey mud up to his knees. He wasn’t so smug after that.

Another more difficult version adds speed to the challenge. How fast can you get through the mud pits? You have to pick the right route AND be the fastest one getting through. What out for those rolling logs!

How much do you care?

On the other end of the trail, when they’re 7 days in, tired and wet and hungry, most hikers break. They stop caring and just start to go straight through those mud pits.

On a long trail, hiking long days, there will probably be a point where won’t have much energy and will just trudge straight through those mud pits. See how long you can last. When you play the game it’s much easier to endure. See how many mud pits you can win. You might also have to keep track of how many mud pits beat you.

Happy mud skipping!

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