47 miles of hiking • 500' elevation gain • 5 nights
This was a 5 night/6 day backpack trip, starting at Bamfield/Pachena Bay in the north and heading south to Gordon River/Port Renfrew.
Day 1: Pachena Bay to Darling River, 14km We arrived to the Pachena Bay Trailhead around Noon via the West Coast Trail Bus. We checked in with the ranger, having done our orientation the night before in Port Renfrew. This section of the trail runs through the woods, so we set off at a nice pace, before encountering our first sets of ladders. These are wooden ladders ranging in length from a meter or two, all the way to several stories high. We made a stop at the Pachena Lighthouse about 10km in, which is one of the last WOODEN lighthouses still standing in the world. It also has it's original Fresnel lens in it. While we were looking around, Norby, the lightkeeper came out and chatted with us. He answered a bunch of our questions about some of the many things we saw. It was fascinating to see how self-sufficient they are, including a small garden for fresh produce, as well as how they get their supplies via boat. Even with our stop at the lighthouse, we still made good time to Darling River and set up our camp. There were quite a few northbound hikers too. It was fun chatting with people and getting information on the trail up ahead.
Day 2: Darling River to Tsusiat Falls, 11km We continued along the trail in the woods, thinking this was the best way to go, avoiding the sand on the beach until we absolutely had to. Later, we had no choice but to take the beach route and we realized that it actually was much easier, especially when we could walk on the shelf with the tidal pools. This was also our first cable car experience! Lots of fun and I was so thankful to have two other people with me, I can't imagine doing this alone. We had to take some insane ladders to the campsite, but it was sooooo worth it! Tsusiat Falls was amazing. I can see why so many people like to camp there. The only downside was the compost toilets are on the other side of the creek, and it was nearly impossible to get over there during higher tides. This was not fun. I had to get a little creative with a tarp, my trowel, and some bushes, considering the campsites were all around us. Probably TMI, but when you're out in the woods, it really doesn't matter does it?! Basic needs must get met. :)
Day 3: Tsusiat Falls to Cribbs Creek, 16km This was our longest day so far. But it also was one of our best ones because we had our first ferry crossing at the Nitinat Narrows. The guy who runs the "ferry" (really, it's a boat that transports hikers from one side to the other) will make you fresh crab or salmon and a potato if you ask. He also sells beer, soda, candy bars and other snacks...for a price. I had the salmon/potato for $25 and it was delicious! We did a bunch of beach walking, which we realized is sooooo much easier on our legs, not to mention, we don't have to battle tree limbs, mud bogs, and boardwalks with missing boards. We saw a bald eagle, and at the 30km mark, we found some bear scat. Cribbs Creek was an awesome camp spot. There was plenty of room to spread out and we also saw whales off the coast in the late evening.
Day 4: Cribbs Creek to Cullite Creek, 17km I think this was the longest day for us. So many things went wrong...and so many things went right too! We started early to get to Chez Monique's for breakfast. We walked along the beach and were heading up our first set of ladders to get off the beach and up to the Carmanah Lighthouse when I saw something in the bushes. It was a Columbian Black-Tailed Deer!!! It was a buck with small little antlers starting to sprout. He was pretty friendly, but obviously trying to figure out "what" we were.
We continued up the ladders, and wandered around the lighthouse a bit, then continued with Chez Monique's in our sights. On arrival, we put our orders in...I went with the eggs, bacon, hashbrowns and toast for $15 plus some coffee, another $2.50. Chez Monique's is run by WWOOFers and she had just gotten a new batch in the day before. They didn't know the kitchen very well and it took almost 2 hours for our food to arrive! It was okay because we were enjoying ourselves, the view and chatting with other hikers. Once we got back on the trail, we walked the rest of the day on the beach until we hit Walbran Creek, which had the option of using the cable car or just crossing the creek. We chose to cross the creek, heading to the most shallow part and crossing with no problems. It was my first creek crossing!
This is where the fun began. The trail went back into the woods...aka PURE HELL. The trail was loaded with mud bogs, tree roots and all kinds of fun terrain. We had a few more obstacles to overcome, including a suspension bridge at Logan Creek, ladders that went DOWN and then back UP, and then back DOWN and then back UP again! Even the cable car at Cullite Creek involved ladders that made me question my own sanity. I ran out of water about 2km before we found the campsite, which was not fun. We finally made it to the campsite at Cullite Creek and found ourselves to be the only ones, since most of our fellow hikers had stayed at Walbran Creek for the night. Eventually, four German guys showed up, but we still enjoyed camping next to a nice creek with good water.
Day 5: Cullite Creek to Thrasher Cove, 13km This was another challenging day for us. Our first 4km took FOUR HOURS to walk! The section between Cullite Creek and Camper Creek were brutal. Because it took us so long to get to Camper, we weren't able to take advantage of the beach walking due to the tide. We entertained the idea of camping somewhere along the trail, but my energy was pretty good, as was everyone else, so we trudged along and made it to Thrasher Cove late in the evening. The trail was difficult in some spots, but as we got closer to Thrasher, it actually got better. It was a long day, but we knew the end was in sight.
Day 6: Thrasher Cove to Gordon River, 6km I left at 8:30a because I heard the last (or first) 5km is the worst part of the trail. This could not have been further from the truth for us. I walked the 1km from Thrasher Cove to the trail junction for Gordon River in less than 40 minutes, which is not bad considering it was straight up and there were some really challenging parts of the trail. I continued along and kept a pretty decent pace of about 3km/hr until I got to another area where there were lots of ladders going up and down again. We reached the trailhead at Gordon River at 12:15p, with our last hiking partner finishing at 12:45p. We had been told it would take 1km/hr to walk the 6km, but I think that's for the people just starting out with 60lb packs!
We signaled for the ferry boat to come get us, checked in with the ranger and waited for our ride back to our truck, where a hot shower and clean clothes were waiting for us!
This was my first big backpacking trip and it was a smashing success. The sun shined for six days, no one was hurt or injured seriously, and we saw some of the most amazing views of the west coast of Vancouver Island. I saw bald eagles, mice, osprey, whales, seals, deer and many other signs of wildlife. I actually want to go back and do it again, only I want to add a day/night to split up some of the longer days so I can enjoy myself a little bit more.
