Backpacking the West Coast Trail, Pacific Rim National Park Reserve, Vancouver Island, British Columbia, Canada
The West Coast Trail is unlike any other trail I have ever backpacked. Every day we saw bald eagles and whales, walked on both a beach and in a rainforest, and fell asleep to the sound of waves crashing on the beach. We had to time when we would walk on the beach vs rainforest based upon the tide schedule. We had ferries to catch at certain times. We did this trail from June 20-25. It was a wonderful 6 days. Parks Canada claims the trail is 75 kms, but our GPS tracker said it was easily 5-10 kms longer than that.
Living in Colorado, this was a trail I figured I would likely never do considering the difficulty of getting reservations, the logistics of getting to the trail, and being able to take enough time off work. The stars aligned after Mike and I left our corporate jobs, we decided to do a trip up to Squamish/Whistler in our newly purchased van, and there just so happened to be last minute reservations available during the dates we would be in the area.
The night before starting the trail, we slept in an RV park by the Port Renfrew Marina. The owners of the RV park were telling us that it rains 130” per year in Port Renfrew, which made us glad we had purchased new rain jackets right before the trip. One of our biggest concerns about doing the trip was the potential for it to rain every day, but we somehow got lucky with that factor as well because we didn’t see one drop over the 6 days we were on the trail.
We woke up on June 20th and drove over to the Pacheedat Campground where we paid for 5 nights of parking. We then hopped on the West Coast Trail Bus in front of the campground to take the bus to Pachena Bay near Bamfield. The ride took 3-4 hours in an old school bus on mostly gravel logging roads and was probably the most uncomfortable part of the entire trip. We arrived in Pachena Bay around 1pm, which left us an hour to kill before the mandatory orientation we attended at 2pm. After the orientation that took about 45 minutes, we received our permits and ferry tickets. We then set off down the trail around 3pm. Michigan Creek Camp was our goal for the day considering the late start. Stopping at Sea Lion Rock was the highlight of the day for me. It was really neat to see sea lions and seals in their natural habitat, although I can confirm they are not the most pleasant animals to listen to. We also checked out the lighthouse on the way which we found to be a cool pit stop. We got to Michigan Creek Camp a little before 6pm and set up camp at the end of the beach. Sunset that night was beautiful. Even though we didn’t hike much that day, it was an exhausting day with all of the travel, and we headed to bed shortly after dinner.
The next morning we slept in a little bit and were one of the last groups to leave camp. We weren’t in any big hurry as we only needed to hike 8-9 miles to Tsusiat Falls that day. It was a beautiful, sunny day which we took full advantage of. The highlight of the day (especially according to Mike) was taking the cable car over the Klawana River, which was an amazing shade of blue. Somehow we were the first group to make it to Tsusiat Falls and picked a campsite at the far northwest end of the beach. We were the only people that set up camp on that side of the beach, and it felt like we had a private beach all to ourselves. We lounged and read in the afternoon before having an early dinner. When we woke up the next morning, we realized that the high tide came within 2 feet of our tent, and we sure were happy that we hadn’t placed it any closer to the water!
We set out the third morning along the beach in a fog. We couldn’t see more than 50 feet in front of or behind us. By some miracle we didn’t accidentally pass the spot where we had to transition from walking on the beach to walking in the forest. We made it to the Nitinat River around 10:30 and called the ferry to come pick us up. After waiting 10 minutes, the boat arrived and took us across the river to a crab shack. What a welcome sight on day 3 of a backpacking trip. Mike and I split salmon and halibut filets while also ordering our own baked potatoes. While the salmon and halibut were extremely fresh and delicious, it was the loaded baked potato that was my favorite part of the meal. After this long lunch where we made some new friends, we continued on the trail, which was mostly boardwalks for over a mile from the crab shack. After crossing a river on a bridge, we popped out onto the beach, which was one of my favorite beaches of the trip. Picture soft, white sand on a large beach with a perfect wave break. It was hard not to have a smile on my face for that section of the trail. We found ourselves having quite a bit of energy that afternoon so we continued all the way to Bonilla Creek Camp, with the hope of picking one of the quieter campsites. When we showed up there were only 2 other tents at that camp so our hopes came true. Ironically, we got some of the worst sleep of the trip that night because of how loud the frogs were! Even my ear plugs couldn’t tune them out. What a beautiful spot it was though.
The next day was the worst day of the trip from a trail standpoint. Once we passed Walbran Creek Camp, we headed into the forest for the remainder of the day. The trail between here and Camper Bay was filled with bogs, mud, overall wetness, and a lot of ladders. Our pace slowed significantly. The trail hadn’t seen significant rainfall in weeks, but it was still in extremely muddy condition. I couldn’t imagine what the trail would be like in a downpour, and I’m ok I didn’t find out. When we got to Camper Bay, we arrived to a camp with 20-30 tents on a small beach next to each other. That was a drastic change from what we experienced at Bonilla the night before. We went to sleep listening to a guy yelling on the phone about how his experience has been to all of his friends. It reminded me why all cell phones should be in airplane mode when you’re on a backpacking trip. It was also a reminder that tents are not sound proof :) . Camper was the least pretty campsite of the trip in my opinion, and in hindsight I wish we would have stayed at Cullite instead.
The next morning we set out for Thrasher Cove on the beach route through Owen Point. We really enjoyed this day. The whole day was really beautiful, and we spent some time exploring some caves on the beach. We also saw more sea lions on rocks out on the ocean. After the caves, we came to the infamous boulder section of trail. Since it hadn’t rained in a while, the boulders weren’t wet, and they were “less bad” than everyone had said they would be in my opinion. We were the first to arrive at Thrasher Cove and picked a campsite at the end of the beach. We spent the afternoon reading and enjoying our last afternoon on the trail. We headed to bed around 8 pm, but got woken up by people setting up a tent within arms distance from our tent around 9 pm. I couldn’t believe someone would set up a tent so close to ours, but they claimed there was nowhere else to camp because the beach was so busy. Looking at the beach, there were other places to camp, but I was looking to go back to sleep, not get into an argument. Thrasher Cove was a very busy campsite too, and we were ready to get out of there the next morning.
We set out early as we had been told 10x by Parks Canada staff that it would take us 4-5 hours to get from Thrasher to the ferry at Gordon River. It took us 2.5 hours so we ended up waiting over an hour for the 10:30 am ferry. We were joined by probably 30 other people - I’m guessing it took most people less time than they had been told it would to hike that section. With no recent rain, the trail was quite dry, and it was easy to make good time. Once the ferry picked us up, we headed to the Parks Canada office to check out. We were very happy to have our car waiting for us instead of having to stay the night in the campground and take the bus the next morning. We were in Sooke eating lunch a little after noon.
Overall, we had a great experience. As I had mentioned, it was a trip unlike any other. If you looked out at the ocean while sitting on the beach, you’d frequently see whales swimming. Overhead, bald eagles were common sights, and it was extremely neat to see them dive into the water and come out with a fish. Small crabs would scurry away from you when you were walking on the beach. Sea lions were seen some of the days on far out rocks. I really enjoyed all of the ladders. It made it feel like a true adventure - I’d never climbed a ladder with a backpacking pack on before. I’ve also never backpacked on the beach. It was really nice to fall asleep to the sounds of the ocean…I think it was the best my husband has ever slept in a tent. The forest was beautiful in its own way and had some of the biggest trees I’ve ever seen. I also saw some of the biggest slugs I have ever seen. I’d also like to thank the First Nations people for all of their hard work on the trails, and their generosity in allowing us to experience their lands. The experience wouldn’t have been the same without them.
The biggest and really only negative about the whole experience was the number of people on the trail. I believe Parks Canada should lower the number of reservations they give out. Camper Bay and Thasher Cove camps were much too busy in my opinion. It was difficult to get away from people and that detracted from the experience to some degree - it didn’t feel like a true wilderness experience.
All of this said, if you’re looking for a truly unique backpacking experience, the West Coast Trail should be on your list.
