After wanting to do it for years, Cragun Foulger finally committed to completing the multi-day hike along the 45-mile West Coast Trail on Vancouver Island. But the Utah man’s dreams seemed to evaporate before his eyes when his airline lost all of his hiking gear during his flight into Vancouver. "I kind of went through all the cycles of grief in about 15 minutes," Foulger recalls.
He shared the bad news with his fellow hikers on the "West Coast Trail, Beautiful British Columbia" Facebook group that had been a valuable resource as he was planning his excursion. He was going to tell them he was canceling his trip and thank them for all the help planning it, but instead the outdoor community rallied behind him.
To Foulger’s astonishment, 19 members helped supply him with all the necessary hiking gear: a backpack, tent, sleeping bag … everything he would need to continue his planned hike. With his gear woes behind him, Foulger was able to complete the trek and also gained a lot of new friends along the way. Reflecting on the experience, Foulger says it was beyond anything he could have imagined. And now he has an even better story to tell about his bucket-list hike.
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