West Coast Trail

West Coast Trail Planning - Notes

Hiking the West Coast Trail is not a spur of the moment decision. It starts with navigating the Canada park reservation system. For 2024, the reservations opened in late January. I was ready and our group secured the dates we wanted within a few minutes, 15 minutes later all of July and August were booked. You need to be ready, with browsers open so you can get in the queue. The bigger your group the more important it is. There will be cancellations later on throughout the season but it may be difficult to grab 6 spots for the same starting date.  

There are 25 spots available from North and South each day. While you must start on that day, you have 14 days to finish the trail and with group campsites you can go at your own pace. You don’t have to pre-book your nights. This allows for the flexibility to alter your plans based on the conditions and difficulty of the trail. 

Living across the country, we would fly to Victoria and booked ourselves on the West Coast Shuttle to take us to the North end. The bus is popular and should be booked in advance. We took the bus to the North end and checked in at the park office, we were able to attend the afternoon briefing at 2:00 and had an evening at the nearby Pachena campground. This campsite is a short walk from the trailhead, we planned to have a chill evening and enjoy the last moments of modern plumbing before starting early the next morning. 

We were planning for a 6 day, 5 night trip. 

Weather

After researching, I was most concerned with surviving rain. Vancouver island gets a lot of rain. I was mentally preparing to endure long periods of sustained rain and in the end we had a wet day 1 but felt fortunate to have such great weather afterwards. We travelled the last week of August and had highs of 20, with lows of 14.

Day 1 - Darling Creek - 14km

Day 2 - Tsusiat Falls - 10.9km

Day 3 - Cribs Creek - 17.6km

Day 4 - Cullite Creek - 16.5km

Day 5 - Thrasher Cove - 11.2km

Day 6 - Gordon River - 6km

Trip Report

We stayed at the trailhead the night before our hike, permits wouldn’t allow us to start until the following morning. Mitch and I set up our tent while Whitey struggled with his tiny tent for a long time. It turns out it was his first time ever setting it up. Think about that. I made the reservations 8 months in advance. We had to travel 2 time zones and one long day on the bus and he waited until this moment to learn if all the pieces of his tent were there! I was dumbfounded but with some cursing and learning he persevered. Shortly after this Mitch realized he had somehow forgotten his air mattress at home. I almost felt bad for him that night as I settled onto my thick comfortable mattress. 

Day 1 - 

Mitch was incentivized to find a mattress. We hung around the park office hoping to score an extra air mattress from someone coming off trail. Whitey and I took the opportunity to take a walk down the trail to see the first of the fabled ladders. It was a few minutes stroll down the trail to the first ladder. We climbed the ladder and admired the ocean view, we then looked up and could see 3 more ladders leading further up into the distance. 

As we soaked in the views I saw movement in the brush off the side of the clearing. To my surprise a huge black bear slowly emerged. We kept calm (kind of) and politely requested the bear turn around and go back to the forest from where he came. It didn’t work. He sauntered slowly towards us without a care in the world.

We made noise. We told him to retreat. We realized we’d left all our gear back at the trail office.

I could feel the ground shake with each step the massive bear took. He had a curious look on his face, licking his lips the whole way. We backed up towards the ladder and I headed down immediately with the bear only 15 feet away.

Whitey was much calmer and kept politely requesting the bear leave us alone. As I approached the bottom, I looked up to see Whitey absolutely flying down the ladder, all pretense of his calm collected demeanor were gone. Looking above him, the bear was poking his snout over the top of the ladder looking at us like the meal that got away. What a start and we still hadn’t began the hike.

We started hiking with a light misting rain. It continued to rain harder every hour we hiked, the trail turned to a light mud and eventually a steady stream was running down the trail. We saw the abandoned motorcycle but kept moving, spirits were quickly sinking. 

We took the detour to see the sea lions but I felt underwhelmed given how muddy and wet I was. We took cover under the deck at the Pacena lighthouse for a little while to have a dry snack. We continued on through rain and mud to the first campsite. We briefly debated an early stop but decided to continue to Darling. This meant our first creek crossing at Michigan. The final 2 km along the beach were thoroughly cold and wet. We arrived at camp, set up a tiny tarp for some shelter and got tents together to warm up for a while. 

We emerged long enough to have dinner and see the end of the rain in the distance. Tomorrow was supposed to be a dry day. Around 11 pm the rain stopped. 

Day 2

We emerged with no rain and some sun touching the edge of the beach. We took our time and moved most of our belongings down to the sun to try and dry out, although it would be a while before I wore dry boots again. 

With spirits improving we started with a nice beach walk. Walking on the beach can be challenging with soft sand but still beat trudging through the forest and the mud puddles that they call the WCT. We stopped to admire some strange tracks in the sand going from the water back to the forest. Mitch determined it was cougar activity. Cougars? Great. Before long we reached the trail guardian cabin and headed up some terrifying, near vertical ladders. Whoa! 

The forest trail was muddy but did had a few lookouts to the coast. We also reached out first cable car crossing. I couldn’t wait to try this. It was a tight fit for two grown men and their bags, we then zoomed down the first third of the crossing letting gravity do its work. Then the fun stopped and we had to hand over hand it back up the tower on the other side. It was surprisingly hard. We continued on the last few km to Tsusiat falls. When we arrived, the beach was in the sun and we claimed a beautiful spot. With a nice breeze we were able to set up a clothesline and get most of our belongings dry again. We did enjoy a quick dip at the falls. The water was ‘refreshing’ but the evening sun continued to warm us. The campsite continued to fill with people setting up along the beach. Everyone was respectful and enjoyed the evening sunset. 

With clothes drying Mitch even had time to patch the hole he found in his borrowed air mattress and managed to some sleep that night.  

Day 3

We planned our day around having a delicious lunch at the crab shack. It is a long day from Tsusiat to Cribs creek 18km. Many hikers were up and gone by the time we woke up. We preferred to have a couple of coffees before facing the day and timed our trek around a lunch stop at the Crab Shack. We started with some nice beach walking and were at the ferry a little after 11.

The Crab Shack was wonderful, we quickly got a ferry ride over and put in our orders. The sun was out and we sat with other hikers both NOBO (north bound) and SOBO (south bound). We dined on Crab, fish and loaded baked potatoes. It was a great mental and physical recharge. 

A rant about my fellow hikers -  While I enjoyed meeting other hikers, the NOBO hikers were difficult to take. It started at the Crab Shack with them going on about how difficult the trail ahead would be for us. Comments like “I don’t envy what you have waiting for you” and “It only gets harder for you from here”. Well the first 2 days weren’t exactly a stroll in the park. How about some positivity? This continued throughout the trip from the NOBO's. Maybe they thought I needed a warning because I am old and fat? Maybe they should worry about themselves? Or maybe you have to be a negative c#$t to hike NOBO?

Just like in all areas of life, do you thing and hike YOUR hike. 

Following lunch we felt fired up. There is a long boardwalk in good shape exiting the crab shack and we made some good time here. That was good because the trail quickly degraded into broken down boardwalks and mud fields. 

We did get low on water this afternoon, we stopped to try and refresh ourselves at a creek but it seemed slightly salty so we passed on. We eventually arrived at this glorious water hole. It wasn’t great. We filtered it and it came out looking like iced tea. With no choice we added a chlorine tablet for good measure and some flavoring to help disguise the taste.   

On the approach to Cribs we stuck to the beach route. We kept an eye on our time because the tidal window would be closing and push us inland if we had been any later. In the end it was a non-issue. We made it no problem and several other groups followed in our footsteps after the tidal charts predicted we should stay in the forest.

We arrived a Cribs by 4:30 and made camp on a soft patch of sand surrounded by driftwood logs. It was a beautiful night at Cribs. The campfire ban had been lifted so we had a chance to sit around with some fellow hikers for a while before bed.  

Day 4 Cullite

Day 4 was another glorious weather day. Perfect for hiking. We had our morning coffee and hit the trail. We started with some amazing beach walking, some of my favorite on the whole trail. Then into the forest for a detour at the Carmanah lighthouse.

After the lighthouse we were back on the beach for most of the day. I loved the beach trail, there was a distinct lack of mud! We made good time in the sun all the way down to Walbran where we crossed another creek and had a great spot for a break. We sat there against some logs watching the ocean and were rewarded with several whale sightings 100 yard off the beach. Then we had to return to the dreaded forest with its mud pits.

Now imagine walking though 56k of forest, mud, roots, slippery rocks, questionable ladders, broken down boardwalks and then you arrive at a modern suspension bridge. This suspension bridge at Logan Creek was glorious and unexpected. If you are worried about heights just look straight across. I can barely imagine how many ladders there could have been without this bridge.

The bridge was a highlight in what was a tough afternoon. There were a lot of ladders descending into Cullite. Others reported the park rangers actively dissuading them from staying at Cullite because it was a small site that had some areas washed out. We arrived and shoehorned ourselves in between some driftwood, thinking we had scored one of the last spots. For the next 2 hours people arrived from north and south and soon there were tents set up everywhere. 

Day 5 - Thrasher

We had adjusted our plans around the tide tables. Owen point wasn't going to be passable until late afternoon. The trail from Cullite was steep with a series of ladders firs thing that woke up us. The next few km through the woods were unremarkable and muddy.

The approach to Owen point was fantastic. The tidal surge channels were calm today. We arrived to find a group forming waiting on the tides. The water was mid calf by the time they could convince me to go go through the sea caves. Then a mere boulder field stood between us and camp. Since this is the last site before the trailhead it is popular. It was packed! There were tents jammed in between driftwood.

Day 6 - Gordon Bay

Final day, my muscles were stiff but my bag was feeling light. The departure from Thrasher is up ladders. We left the beach behind and started the climb, it wasn't long before we ran into the dreaded NOBO's all smelling clean. I gave these hikers positive encouragement and false hopes with comments like:  You’re almost there. The escalator is just around the corner.

On the plus side we felt trail hardened by this point. Eventually we made it to the final ladder. Sitting on the beach, waiting for the water taxi, we had made it safely. We were soon showering in the campground and hitching a ride into Port Renfrew for burgers on the patio. We had a wonderful time, the scenery and the beach camping was a unique experience. The difficulties of rain, mud and bears only added to the enjoyment. 

Final thoughts 6 months later - 

I still had a great time, everything I've said stands. The trail had sections in rough shape with many areas of decaying and unsafe boardwalks. However, other areas of the trail show signs of fresh ladders and new construction. It was a unique experience and if you are at all interested you should definitely hike the West Coast Trail. I was happy with my preparations and itinerary.