In June of this year, my friend Michael and I spent seven fantastic days hiking the West Coast Trail, southbound from Pachena Bay. We went for the remote beauty, the sheer challenge and the feeling of accomplishment and left with a desire to get back on the trail as soon as we possibly could.
We arrived in Victoria on June 12th in the evening and headed straight to the Ocean’s Island Inn Hostel to get some sleep before catching the trail bus the next morning. We caught the 6:15am bus (which got us to the trailhead in plenty of time for the 2pm orientation) and enjoyed a bumpy ride through the logging roads of Vancouver Island. I conked out with some gravel about halfway through the drive, but not before I had the chance to see two soccer-ball-sized bear cubs run across the road in front of us.
At the trail head, a brief orientation got us up to date on wildlife sightings, damaged structures and maintenance crews on the trail. They also taught us how to ID animal prints and how to read the tide tables. We weren’t due to start hiking until the next day, so we set up camp at the Pachena Bay campground for the night, so we could get an early start the next morning.
| Trail Journal |
Time Hiking |
Distance Travelled |
| Day 1: Pachena Bay to Darling River |
5 hrs |
14km |
| Day 2: Darling River to Tsusiat Falls |
6 hrs |
11km |
| Day 3: Tsutiat Falls to Cribs Creek | 9 hrs |
17km |
| Day 4: Cribs Creek to Walbran Creek |
6 hrs |
12km |
| Day 5: Walbran Creek to Campers Bay |
6.5 hrs |
9km |
| Day 6: Campers Bay to Thrasher Cove | 5 hrs |
8km |
| Day 7: Thrasher Cove to Gordon River |
3.5hrs |
5km |
Day 1: Pachena Bay to Darling River
When I woke up on Day 1, I was hit with a wall of excitement mingled with nerves. We had 14km of hiking today with a backpack weighing almost a third of my body weight! While making breakfast, I got chatting with our neighbours Bill, Lauren and SpeakUp. SpeakUp got his trail name while hiking the Appalachian trail last summer. They told us that they were also starting the trail that day, but were planning on camping at Orange Juice Creek, about 2km farther along the beach than us. After a final shower and some last-minute charging of cameras, we hit the trail via the beach access.
This brief introduction to beach walking only lasted about 1km, where we rejoined the forest trail. Along the way we ran into a few people coming the other direction—some were more positive than others. The first gentleman we met saw us and immediately said “You look clean!”. I initially thought this part of the trail was pretty muddy, until a passing hiker told us a tale of mud puddles up to our waists that we would apparently see later in the hike.
Around km 9, we took a brief detour to Sea Lion Haul Out to watch the sea lions. We left our backpacks at the main trail and hiked down to get a look; I was super surprised by how off-balance I felt without my bag on my back.
We made it to Darling River around 4pm and set up camp in a cute little spot where someone had built up the driftwood.
That night we hung out with an American trio hiking the other direction. One of the three had fallen early on in the hike and had a very ugly sprained/broken wrist and blisters on every inch of her feet. They again told us that the mud was going to get much worse as we continued hiking. Despite their warnings, I was feeling a lot better about my hiking abilities. I was exhausted and sore, but I felt elated to be there and excited to see what the next day would bring.
Day 2: Darling River to Tsusiat Falls
On Day 2, we started off with some easy beach hiking in the morning for about the first 3km. I really enjoy beach hiking; there are animal tracks and waves and best of all: no mud! After about 3km we cut back up into the woods and enjoyed some fairly easy forest walking until we made it back to the beach again and decided to stop for lunch. It was a pretty peaceful spot and I really enjoyed watching the tiny, ferocious crabs scuttle by in their little tidal pools.
The trail got harder after lunch: tough beach walks on loose sand and then tons of mud in the forest. We did get to experience some huge ladders though, including the one down into Tsusiat Falls! We also went through our first cable car! Exciting stuff.
When we got to camp at Tsusiat Falls we set up in a little niche between two rocks and headed straight for the falls. The water was freezing, but it was so refreshing to swim; I even washed my hair!
That night we met Jasmine and Mark, a lovely English couple and decided to share a campfire with them. We drank some canned wine that we had hauled into the woods and chatted about our favourite travel destinations. We had largely the same trail plan and I was glad to make some friends that we would be seeing again on the trail.
Day 3: Tsutiat Falls to Cribs Creek
Day 3 was definitely our most challenging day. Over the course of the day, I had developed some pretty nasty blisters and Michael was having trouble with his knees after hours of walking on soft sand. Luckily, we were still having beautiful, sunny, weather and the prospect of getting to the Nitinhat Narrows, the trail’s midway point, was enough to motivate us. At the beginning of the day we were hiking through the territory of the Ditidaht First Nations, and the boardwalks were in fantastic repair. Walking on sturdy, not-slippery boardwalk was a real treat for both of us. We made it to Nitinaht Narrows just a few minutes too late to catch the ferry across, so we took a break to watch the sea lions and jellyfish swim by until we could catch the next one.
Before long Carl Edgars came and picked us up to bring us across to his little restaurant on the trail. Michael and I both ordered fresh caught halibut and a baked potato and got chatting with Carl and his family as we ate. He told us that the First Nations people of the area owned the land all around the West Coast Trail, but Park’s Canada owned the trees, as they wanted to prevent the locals from cutting down too many.
After Nitinaht Narrows, we still had about 10km of hiking to go before we would make it to camp. We started hiking via the beach, but eventually came to an impassible headland that wasn’t shown on the maps. We decided to backtrack back to the woods instead of waiting for the tide to go down because we wanted to make sure we got to camp before dark.
In the end we rolled into camp around 6pm and were ready to fall over. Luckily Jaz and Mark already had the fire going so we joined them again. That night we fell asleep to the cacophony of waves and of hundreds of frogs singing in the creek.
Day 4: Cribs Creek to Walbran Creek
On Day 4 Michael and I skipped breakfast and headed straight for Chez Moniques, the mid-trail burger joint, which was about 1-hour down the trail. Sadly, both Monique and her husband passed away this year, but their daughter was holding up the fort to keep the restaurant open. The place is iconic, and I am so glad that I was able to enjoy it.
The rest of the day mostly consisted of beach walking, and after a couple hours we made it to a stream. There was a cable car up in the woods, but I preferred to cross on the beach; so, I picked a spot, kicked off my shoes, and waded in. It was a little deeper than I expected…. Michael decided to go with the cable car, but I quite enjoyed by swim.
We made it to Walbran Creek without really realizing how far we had come. It was a pleasant surprise to arrive with lots of afternoon left. I enjoyed the extra time by going for a swim in the creek and finally getting a bit of reading in. I also finally had the chance to start the campfire! Yay Pyromania! Jaz and Mark still had some bannock mix that they were eager to get rid of, so we decided to mix in some hot chocolate powder and dig in. Soon everyone joined us—all the folks we had been hiking with over the past few days. Someone handed out some Fireball whiskey and then an older couple who had hiked the trail every year for a decade started to tell some stories of the trail. They told us a story about a time when they had been camping at Thrasher Cover. A helicopter had gone by with a radio telling everyone to evacuate to high ground as there had been an earthquake across the ocean and a Tsunami warning was in effect.
We also got chatting about a mysterious phenomenon that we had noticed along the trail… The leaf faces. These faces covered the whole length of the trail and apparently no one – including the rangers – know where they come from.
This blog post tells us that they have been occurring since at least 2014… If anyone can solve this mystery, please contact me ASAP.
Day 5: Walbran Creek to Campers Bay
Day 5 started at 3:30am when Michael tapped me on the shoulder and said that there was water in the tent. I tried to ignore him, but apparently the tide cannot be ignored. We got up and moved our tent and also woke up some of the other folks within range of the waves. After the tide scare, I had a hard time getting back to sleep, so I stayed up and watched the stars for a bit. It was the most beautiful night sky that I have ever seen.
The stretch between Walbran Creek and Campers Bay sadly involves zero beach. Everyone had warned us about the ladders around Cullite Cove, but Michael and I didn’t find them to be that bad. Though, as a compulsive counter, it is my duty to tell you that some of those suckers had over 100 rungs.
When we arrived at camp, we heard about a fearless deer just down the creek, so I went on an adventure to see it. The doe was totally unafraid of us and barely moved, even when I jumped up and down and waved my arms at it. Later we saw it crossing the creek with two tiny babies and we wondered if it might have just given birth.
Day 6: Campers Bay to Thrasher Cove
Day 6 was probably my favourite section of the trail. Almost the entire day was spent beach walking.
Around lunchtime we made it to Owen’s Point which was a gigantic cave that was only accessible at low tide. Michael and I ran into SpeakUp and his crew there and enjoyed climbing around and exploring for a little while. We even came across some otherworldly creatures in the tidal pools.
After Owen’s Point, the beach changed from sand to enormous boulders. I really enjoyed jumping from boulder to boulder and figuring out a path through the maze. Climbing those boulders with my backpack on was something I couldn’t have imagined even a week before.
We made awesome time and got to Thrasher Cove by 2:30pm—plenty of time for a swim in the ocean. At the campfire that night we got talking about weird talents and I decided to show everyone my one strange and mysterious talent—I can whistle while smiling. One of the northbound hikers, a teenager hiking with his mom, commented “We’ve got a regular R2D2 over here”. And so was born the trail name R2… I guess I just need to get on a thru hike to see if it sticks!
Day 7: Thrasher Cove to Gordon River
Everyone, including Parks Canada, had told us that the stretch between Thrasher Cove and Gordon River would be the most challenging of the entire hike. They told us not to expect to go faster than about 1km/hour. We made the hike in about 3.5 hours– though that may have had something to do with the stellar weather we had. Only one day of rain all week! The entire stretch was super beautiful, despite the hellish ladder climb after Thrasher Cove. We spent the last few hours walking through a foggy rainforest, dodging banana slugs with every step. When we reached Gordon River, we celebrated with one last gigantic ladder to climb down to the beach where we would meet the ferry.
Once we got to Gordon River and cleaned up we headed straight to the Port Renfrew Pub to meet up with our hiking crew for a couple of celebratory beers.
It was quite a week. The blisters and achy muscles and mud could not compete with the amazing sense of achievement and the wonderful people we met along the way. I truly can’t wait to get back on the trail.
