West Coast Trail 2018 - The Toughest Hike You'll Ever Love

So I just returned from a 10 day odyssey to the west coast of Vancouver Island in British Columbia, Canada where we hiked the West Coast trail.  I did it with my old friends Sam and Sharon and my new friends Eve and David.  Just in case you weren't aware (I certainly wasn't until I very much was) the stretch of water that leads up to and into the Juan de Fuca straight is a very dangerous section of heavily traveled water, especially in the late 19th and early 20th century.  So many ships were lost in this area that it became known as the Graveyard of the Pacific.  In order to address this very real threat to ships and their crews the Canadian government built lighthouses, a trail, and improved the telegraph route along this coastline.  With improvements to technology the frequency of shipwrecks decreased and in 1973 the trail became part of the newly established Pacific Rim National Park Reserve.

The trail covers 75 kilometers and runs from Pachena Bay at the North terminus to Port Renfrew at the Southern end.  You can hike in either direction but the Park Service only allows a limited number of permits per day and the trail is only open from May-Sept.  Online registration for permits opens in late January and is very competitive.  Our trip organizer, Sam, was online as soon as the site opened and they were disappearing as fast as he could reload the page.  He was persistent though and scored us a North-South permit starting on July 11. 

On July 9th I flew out to Seattle and the next day we drove to an AirBnB in Vancouver.  From there we dropped our car at the airport and took a chartered Seaplane out to the trailhead in Bamfield, BC.  In case you're thinking of vacationing in Bamfield BC, don't.  It was beautiful but there was one hotel, one general store, and a bunch of hikers either hyped up to start their trek or exhausted from their journey.

Our pilot Randy gets us ready to hit the friendly...water.

At the trailhead we endured a mandatory hour long orientation by Andrea that turned out to be necessary in at least 4 dangerous situations.  Andrea, if you're reading this, thank you and I apologize for mentally willing you to hurry it the hell up.

In the interests of not cursing ourselves not one thing was said about the weather forecast that we had at the outset of our trip.  The day before we arrived someone was evacuated for hypothermia and they medically evacuate about 100 people every season, which is only 4 months long.  But I'm home now so I can't screw it up.  OUR WEATHER WAS AMAZING.  Every day started at 5:30am with a fog bank that you could cut with a knife, got sunny and beautiful with a crisp pacific ocean breeze and ended with a cool evening that stretched out luxuriously till about 10:30pm over a driftwood fire and tales of our daily adventures. 

This was us at the outset on July 11.  We were so clean and naive.

Our first day on trail started at 3pm after our lengthy orientation (again, sorry Andrea) and we put a quick 8 miles under our belt to get to the first campsite.  One of the incredible things about this trail is that all the designated campsites (and they prefer you to stay at official campsites) are on the beach where creeks/rivers empty into the ocean.  This means that you really don't need to carry that much water and as any experienced hiker will tell you, that's huge.  The downside to it though is that every hiker stays at the same campsites.  The next few images are of our first campsite, Michigan Creek.

  







This was my pack all ready to go at the beginning of each day.  I took a pic each morning but they all look exactly like this (except when I had socks on it to dry in the sun while I hiked).  I'll be putting up a separate post with the technical info on my gear for anyone who is interested but the short version is that its an Osprey Atmos AG 50L.  We had to weigh them to get on the plane so I know for a fact that it weighed 27lbs when I put it on my back to head out on the trail.  Thats with 1L of water and 6 days of food.  I've spent a lot of time and effort (and money) getting my pack weight under 30 lbs because I'm old and don't want to carry a heavy pack anymore.

As we continued on this crazy-ass trail we discovered that what everyone had told us was true.  We had started at the easy end and things were only going to get harder.  Each day the trail got rougher, the boardwalks got fewer and farther between, the mud holes got larger, and the ladders got more frequent.  That's right, ladders.  So. Many. Ladders.  There are around 70 ladders on this trail and they range from a nice easy 10ft up a slope to 50 or 60 feet vertical up a rock face immediately followed by another 50 or 60 feet vertical up the same rock face.  They were insane.  At one point we descended 200 feet straight down, crossed a suspension bridge that almost forces you to close your eyes and make peace with your maker, and then straight back up 200 feet of ladders to where the trail continues. 

Little muddy...

In case of Tsunami climb like your life depends on it.  Which it does.

A few examples of the variety offered by this neurotic but stunning trail.

As you may have guessed there was a great deal of hiking on the beach.  Some of it was optional, some was not.  We took every opportunity to hike the beach trails because of the views, the varied terrain, the photo ops, and the sheer exhilaration of timing your hikes so that you don't get swept away by the tides.  True story.

The picture above is a great example of the terrain that you might encounter on this trail and why it's rated as "Experienced Hikers Only".  This boulder field went on for about 2 Kilometers and led directly to a 500 foot ladder ascent that was the only way to get back on trail.  This part of the trail was not passable unless the tide was below 6 feet so it was crucial to plan your hikes the night before with a tide chart at hand.

Altho I'm a dedicated hammock enthusiast I would not recommend bringing a hammock on this trail.  There just weren't enough hangs.  Especially if you're with a group and want to socialize and eat meals with them without a 30 minute hike back and forth.  All the tenting was on the beach which was pretty comfy they said.  That being said, I didn't put out my tarp once the entire time and spent my nights with a cool ocean sleeping breeze and the stars above my head.  My ideal sleeping scenario.

That last one was sketchy.  There were absolutely no trees available so I had to wrap my sling in some marine line to protect it from the rocks.  Again, I wouldn't recommend it but I wouldn't do anything differently if I did this trail again.  Which I won't. 

As always, you get to know the people you hike with pretty darn well.  I've known Sam and Sharon (the two on the left) since our time in Seattle and they're two of my favorite hiking partners.  The two in the middle are Eve and David, new hiking partners to me, but they were such solid people that I wouldn't hesitate to attempt any endeavor with them.  The group got stretched out a bit over some of the rougher terrain but we always caught back up with each other for the next phase of our adventure.  

After 5 days and 75 kilometers of brutal trail conditions we finally made it to Port Renfrew where we got a taxi to a local breakfast joint and ate till we were full.  No mean task.

Bacon, eggs, hashbrowns, toast, grapefruit juice, a margarita, and a water.

There are so many stories from this hike that didn't make it into this post.  Overall this was one of the most grueling hikes I've ever done but I spent the entire time with a stupid grin plastered all over my face because I was having so much fun.  My legs ached at the end of each day but I hit the trail each morning with a spring in my step because I couldn't wait to see what the trail held.  The remote nature of the location can not be overemphasized and as such you really are hiking through a mostly unspoiled temperate rain forest that the First Nation People have called home for centuries.

The true props for this hike must go my Wyfey tho.  I was gone for 10 days having fun with our friends on a hike that she couldn't do (back surgery) while she hosted birthday parties, worked, juggled camp for the kids, and kept our home running smoothly.  I couldn't have done it without her support and appreciate her more than she can know.

The full (edited) album of my photos is here for anyone who wants to peruse them all.