West Coast Trail: Cribs to Camper Bay

August 15, 2026August 12, 2026 / Maria / Leave a comment

By Day 4, I felt that we got into a good routine. This was my first time doing an extended thru-hike with Adriana and I’m pleased to say that we along really well. As much as I love my friends, I wouldn’t attempt a 7-day hike with some of them, but I thought Adriana and I were pretty compatible and made a great team.

We’d were lucky with the weather the first four days, but we got a weather report from my inreach that rain was coming on Day 5. While most of BC is dry in the summer, Vancouver Island often experiences a wetter climate along the coast. It was inevitable that we would have to deal with rain at some point during the trip.

We were heading into the more challenging half of the trail and I learned on the North Coast Trail not to rush the more technical parts. We planned for a relaxed itinerary on the rest of the trip, averaging ~10km a day. With rain in the forecast, we briefly discussed trying to double up Day 4, but ultimately decided not to. It was the right choice. Otherwise the rain would have aligned with our day hiking to Owen Point, which is not recommended during wet weather as the rocks can become slippery and dangerous.

Keeping to our original plan, we had to hike 11km to Walbran (though we tracked 12.5km on my GPS). We started the day with a relaxing beach walk along the hard-packed sand, while observing the sea lions hanging out on the rocks offshore. It was overcast in the morning, which made for a comfortable hiking temperature. There’s a short forest section at the end of the beach, which routes you around Carmanah Lighthouse. It’s worth mentioning that there are two lighthouses on the trail (the other is at Pachena Point, near Sea Lion Rock on the north end of the trail), but they are no longer accessible to hikers.

After routing around the lighthouse, the trail drops down to Carmanah Beach and we spent most of the day hiking along the beach. Carmanah was another of my favourite beaches. It’s a long, sweeping, golden sand beach, with a fabulous view of the lighthouse. There’s an old burger shack located at the start of the beach, but I’m not sure if it’s been operating recently. I didn’t see it mentioned in any recent trail reports online and it was closed when we passed (which was good because we didn’t have any cash left after the crab shack!).

Carmanah Beach is very long and there’s a campsite located on the southern end. It’s really nice and I think it’s a great alternative for those who don’t want to camp at crowded Tsusiat Falls. There’s a river with a cable car separating the campsite from the rest of the beach. The river was very low when we arrived, so we opted to ford it rather than use the cable car (which is very tiring with only two people). This was the right choice and I later learned that the cable car was actually broken. Parks Canada fixed it in late July when was significant flooding that rendered the river impassable.

We decided to have lunch on the other side of the river and enjoyed having such a beautifully remote beach all to ourselves. There is a long tidal section around Bonilla Point with no re-route through the forest, but I believe this section is only impassible during particularly high tides. The tide didn’t conflict with our route during the day, so we were able to take our time hiking along several kilometres of coastline. The scenery was a real mix in this section. We encountered more golden sand beaches, sea stacks, rocky shelfs with tidepools, and more frustratingly, a loose pebble beach.

The pebble beach was the worst because the rock wasn’t fine enough to be compressible. It is tiring walking on sand, but if you walk along the shore where it’s compressed, it’s not too bad. The pebble beach heading towards Vancouver Point was some of the worst walking on the trail. The beach itself is pretty steep, so you’re always walking on an angle. Pair that with your ankles constantly slipping in loose rock makes for a pretty unenjoyable walk. I injured my meniscus back in January and I’ve been having knee problems ever since. I was worried about how my knee would do on the trail, but it ended up holding up really well, except for this section, which was very tiring.

We decided to take a break before reaching Vancouver Point, which was our last milestone for the day before Walbran Campsite. It’s not possible to swim in the ocean along most of the trail because the surf is too aggressive. However, there was a calm section between Bonilla Point and Vancouver Point and I was keen to sneak in a little ocean swim. There was no one around, so I opted to skinny dip while Adriana had a snack break. Unfortunately, I realized AFTER my swim, that there was actually a group of four men eating their lunch along the treeline who were afforded a very nice show. They were hiking in the opposite direction, so I was spared from having to face them at camp later. Oh well!

There is one tricky part between Vancouver Point and Walbran. When the tide and the river flows are low, it is possible to ford the river at Walbran. From what I understand, this is never a sure thing because even if the tide is low, sometimes the river is still too high. If you’re hiking northbound, you don’t need to worry about it because you can assess from the campsite, but if you’re hiking southbound and find the river impassable, you’ll be forced to backtrack several kilometres and take the forest re-route from Vancouver Point.

As a result, southbound hikers always ask northbound hikers for intel on the river when passing one another. We heard that the river was passable and most of the other southbound hikers left early to avoid the forest re-route. It was too late for us by the time we reached Vancouver Point, but neither of us was sorry to leave the pebble beach behind and even though we had to climb a bunch of ladders on the re-route, my knees greatly appreciated the change of pace.

Honestly, I think the West Coast Trail was one of the best trails I could have done for my particular injury. Parks Canada advises against doing the trail if you have any pre-existing knee issues, but I found the variety in the terrain much better than traditional alpine hiking. I was constantly going up and down all day, switching from all kinds of trail conditions. Admittedly, the ladders were hard on my knee at first, but I could feel myself getting stronger each day. I think the repetitiveness of going up or down a mountain for hours at a time would have been much more tiring.

The forest re-route was a bit muddy and some of the ladders weren’t in great shape, but neither of us minded the change. However, we could have done without the final cable car. If you ford the river, you get to skip this crossing, which is particularly long. There was no one to help us this time, so we had to pull the car across the river and cross one at a time. It took a long time and we were both sweating by the end.

Once we got across, we were at camp! Walbran is a neat site in that it’s located along a deep river pool with several caves on the opposite shore. We immediately went for a swim, which was cold, but refreshing. The campsite seemed less busy than the previous two nights, but it was also much smaller. There were still several forest sites available, but everyone wants to sleep on the beach. Even though we were some of the last to arrive, I think we got one of the best sites! It was located further down the beach and it had a little pit sunk down between the giant pieces of driftwood. With rain on the way, it was important to us to set up a proper tarp shelter this time. It took a while, but it was one of my best tarp jobs!

We arrived around 4pm, which gave us more time to relax. We figured it might be our last chance for a campfire, so we collected driftwood to burn. I was successful with the single match challenge again, but it was quite windy and I struggled to keep it going. It started to drizzle later in the evening, so the fire was short-lived and we went to bed early. We only had to hike 9km from Walbran to Camper Bay the following day.

It started raining as soon as we got up. It wasn’t heavy rain, so we were able to shelter under our tarp and enjoy breakfast. The guys on the same itinerary joined us and we got to know them a little better. It was a group of two dads and their two teenage sons. The kids liked to sleep in, so they often left shortly after us, but would inevitably pass us later in the day.

We packed up our bags and took down the tent, leaving the tarp for last. We were in full rain gear and ready to leave as soon as we packed the tarp. Unfortunately, it was at that moment that I realized my inreach was missing. I’d been using it at breakfast and misplaced it. It sucked because I had to take everything out of my bag to look for it (this time without the tarp shelter), while Adriana scanned the surrounding area. We couldn’t find it and were about to give up when I found it hanging loose in the bottom of my pack cover. I’m glad I found it, because I’m sure it would have fallen out and been lost otherwise.

With that, we started our hike. Despite the rain, we were in pretty good spirits. The terrain between Walbran and Camper Bay is some of the most technical terrain on the trail and is the most concentrated ladder section, but we would be in the forest all day and we figured that was better on a rainy day. We had our rain clothes and we were still dry and warm. We marveled at how evolved we were to be happy hiking in the rain. A bit of rain never hurt anyone and we wouldn’t let it ruin our day.

Needless to say, that attitude didn’t last long. Turns out, your good spirits only last as long as your waterproofs. It’s easy to feel optimistic when your feet are dry and you’re not soaked through to your underwear. Our gear held out for awhile, but all rain gear fails at some point. The trail didn’t feel too technical when we started, but the further we hiked and the more it rained, the more challenging it became. Mud pits turned to mud pools, the number of downed trees increased, and the once helpful boardwalks deteriorated to become more of a hinderance more than a help.

The increasing obstacles slowed our pace to the point that we averaged only 1.5km an hour, and that was basically without breaks. There was no where to stop where it wasn’t raining and every time we breaked for a pee or snacks, we’d immediately get cold. It wasn’t a particularly cool day, but when you’re soaked, you get cold fast. We ended up taking only two 5-minute breaks and one 10-minute break the entire day.

The trail felt like it went on through the forest with no end in sight. There’s one natural break point at Cullite Creek, which is the only other campsite between Walbran and Camper Bay. There were ~30 ladders along our route and the majority were going in and out of Cullite Creek. We had to descend some seriously steep ladders to get down to the creek, just to ascend more ladders on the other side. There’s a cable car across the creek at the bottom and the last ladder before it was particularly long and scary.

Despite the rain, the river was fairly low. It was a short crossing, so we were able to avoid the cable car and ford the river. From the other side, you can walk a couple hundred metres down to the beach. Our original plan was to have lunch at Cullite, but in order to enjoy it, we would have to set up the tarp and get into dry clothes. It seemed like a lot of effort, not to mention additional distance to the beach, so we opted to power through. Given what came later, I’m not sure if this was a good or bad decision. Instead, we took our single 10 minute break at the top of the ladders for lunch.

Our day got steadily worse from there. After taking the two photos above, I put my phone in my pack to keep it dry, so the rest of the photos in this post are from other days, try and imagine it much wetter. Adriana kept remarking how cold she was every time we stopped and our spirits were quite low. There’s one particularly challenging spot that seemed like a never-ending mud pond. People try to avoid the mud by routing around the obstacles, but overtime, those paths because eroded and muddy as well. This is a classic example of why LNT is important. The result of so many people avoiding the mud over many years leaves a confusing trail filled with mud pits and unlimited options for how to navigate the obstacles. It was easy to get turned around with so many criss-crossing trails and on more than one occasion, we had to stop and re-orient ourselves. We felt like we were going in circles and were legitimately concerned we were going backwards.

On one fallen log obstacle, Adriana tripped and fell, bending her hiking pole in the process. All I heard was her curse of frustration. If you’ve ever done a trail like this, you’ll understand how essential hiking poles are for stability. Before I had time to react, Adriana smashed her pole against the tree trunk in an attempt to straighten it, but ended up cracking it completely in half instead. This one moment of aggression appeared to be an adequate outlet for her frustration, because instead of getting more angry, she looked at me sullenly and said, “now I’m making mistakes.”

I reassured her we’d find a substitute stick and took the broken pole to attach it to the back of her pack. It was at this moment that my stomach dropped because I realized that our tarp was no longer attached to her pack. She’d carried it there all week without issue, but of course we would lose it on the only rainy day of the trip. I remembered seeing it during our lunch break, but neither of us had any idea when it might have fallen off.

Adriana was so tired and cold that she didn’t want to go back to look for it, which to be fair, it could have been an hour back. I couldn’t give up so easily when it was such an important piece of gear for the existing conditions. We would be so thankful to have it later and with no one coming behind us that might pick it up, we decided that I would hike back for 10 minutes to see if I could find it, after which, we would have to abandon it.

This was the second decision making point where I’m not sure if this was the right decision or not. I sloshed my way back through the mud in frustration for ~7 minutes and then, as if a light from heaven was shining on it, I saw my yellow tarp lying in the middle of the path, half submerged in mud. I let out a shout of triumph and it gave me the energy boost I needed to get through the rest of the day. I was still soaking wet and miserable, but we had shelter, so I figured it would be okay.

The issue was that during the time I was gone, my body was getting warm from adrenaline while Adriana was standing still and getting cold. She was happy I’d found the tarp, but didn’t seem to share in my elation. We kept hiking and she was quiet for the rest of the trail. I tried to engage her in conversation, but her pace slowed as the day dragged on. By the time we finally reached Camper Bay, 7.5 hours had passed. That is a very long time to be hiking without break in the rain.

This was the only campground where we opted for a forested site. Honestly, I was surprised that it was still available as we were, again, the last people to arrive at camp. It was basically just a small cut out in the forest along the river, not quite big enough for the tent and tarp, but we made it work. My brain was running full circuit at this point, “tarp, tent, dry clothes”. We couldn’t get dry until we had shelter, so I needed to set up the tarp followed by the tent. To be honest, I didn’t even feel the cold because I was so focused on those 3 items.

As had become our routine, I immediately started working on the tarp. Adriana seemed lost and as much as she tried to help me, she kind of just got in the way. I remember thinking, “Adriana is not great in a crisis, but oh well, keep going.” I got the tarp up and started working on the tent. Usually she would set up the tent, but it became evident that she was struggling. I passed her half of the ground sheet as I unfolded it, expecting her to spread it over the ground, but she just stood there staring at it. I had to tell her 3 times before she dropped it. Then I spread out the tent and passed her a pole to thread through the grommet and again, she fumbled with it, seemingly unable to process the task.

It was at that point that I realized she was having her own emergency. After complaining about the cold all day, she had not mentioned it since arriving at camp. She did not look visibly cold, but I realized she was probably hypothermic and needed to get warm quick. But I couldn’t help her without shelter, so I set up the tent as fast as possible and then basically made her strip naked to get inside. She seemed able to follow direct instruction, even if her brain wasn’t quite processing.

She did as I said and I started passing everything from her backpack into the tent, instructing her to put on dry clothes, blow up her sleeping pad, and get in her sleeping bag. Once we accomplished that, I stood under the tarp alone, unsure of what to do. I needed to get out of my wet clothes too and we didn’t want anything wet inside the tent, so I kind of piled up all our rain clothes on the ground and followed Adriana into the tent.

I changed into dry clothes and Adriana became more coherent as she warmed up. I gave her some trail mix, deciding that helping her get energy was more important than worrying about a bear wandering through camp. I set up my stove to boil water under the tarp and made Adriana tea and supper. Once she drank and ate, she properly came back to life and I was able to relax again.

When I hiked Mount Assiniboine in 2021, I had to do first aid for a hiker with heat stroke who ended up being airlifted to Banff hospital by Search and Rescue. It was a relief that Adriana didn’t need medical intervention. I’m so glad she wasn’t so hypothermic that she couldn’t recover on her own. We talked about the experience while eating supper and she said it was very scary because while she could see and hear everything I was doing and saying, but felt unable to act or process. It’s a good reminder that even in the summer, it’s very easy to have a cold-related emergency.

Once it was clear she would recover, we had a good laugh about it from Adriana’s perspective. I didn’t explain anything I was telling her to do, so from her point of view, I was the one acting crazy. Demanding she get into the tent naked and then passing everything from her bag into the tent. I didn’t want to put anything on the wet ground, so I gave her everything, but at the time, she was confused as to why I was giving her random things like her power bank or her toilet paper. She kept saying “thank you”, like everything I gave her was a god-send and we had a good laugh when I told her that I was relieved when I realized that she was having a medical emergency and was not just stupid.

So what could we have done differently? I think that our choice to skip Cullite was probably the right choice. I think if we’d stopped to set up the tarp and change we may have just gotten colder and wetter. All our gear was still dry when we arrived at Camper Bay and it was good that we didn’t expose it unnecessarily to the rain. But Adriana admitted that she didn’t eat or drink a lot that day and that it probably contributed to her low energy. We both drank electrolytes for lunch every other day and we didn’t do that in the rain. I also think it would have been better if she’d gone with me to look for the tarp. Admittedly, I was faster without her, but I think the length of time she was forced to wait was probably the tipping point that sent her into hypothermia.

We had lots of learnings and I think we were both appreciative to have one another. It’s scary to think if she’d been on her own, would she have had the capacity to get warm and dry as quickly, or to make sure she ate and drank? I think she would have gone straight to bed and I was worried about her doing that without food or water. In any case, she was completely fine in the end, but we both left the experience with a better awareness.

Tune back in next week for my final post on our last two days on the trail!

West Coast Trail: Darling River to Cribs

August 8, 2026August 8, 2026 / Maria / Leave a comment

Our strategy with the West Coast Trail was to avoid overwhelming ourselves. We had a few long days in our itinerary, but the goal was to intersperse them with more gentle, rest days. After a busy first day on the trail, involving a 4 hour shuttle ride and 14km of hiking, we planned to hike only 11km on Day 2.

It felt great to wake up on the sandy beach at Darling River. The clouds returned overnight, but it wasn’t raining and it was a cool overcast morning, which is very comfortable for hiking. Even though we only planned to hike 11 kilometres, we had to complete the first 9km before 1pm due to a tidal window.

Managing tides is definitely a big part of the West Coast Trail. As the name suggests, the trail is centered around following the coastline, and where possible, the trail will always follow the beach. There are some sections where there are impassable headlands and you are forced to follow the trail through the forest, and there are other sections where you cannot traverse the beach during high tide. In many cases, these sections have alternative re-routes through the forest, but in some sections, there is no re-route and if you miss the window, you have to wait.

On day 2, we had one section will a high tide cut-off and no re-route. So if we didn’t make it to Klanawa River Campsite by 1pm, we’d have to wait until 3pm. There aren’t a lot of sections like this, most of them have re-routes, and the sections without re-routes are generally only unavailable for a few hours during the very high tide.

We started our day with 3km of beach walking from Darling River, followed by 3kms in the forest. The final 3km before lunch was the tidally dependent section of beach walking. The goal was to start the final section by 11:30am. We were right on schedule, arriving at the beach around 11:15am and taking a short break before starting the beach walk. In general, I found the beach sections to be much easier than the forest. Sometimes beaches can be slow if you have to do a lot of walking across boulders, or cobble, or rocky shelves riddled with surge channels, but as a rule, they are easier to navigate than some of the muddy forest sections (wait until day 5).

The walk to Klanawa River was a little more technical, with some rocky shelves and beaches to navigate, but overall not too challenging and it only took us as hour to complete. Klanawa is a nice campsite on the beach, with a large river flowing through, but I don’t think it gets a lot of campers because it’s only 2km away from the much more popular Tsusiat Falls, which was also our final destination for the day. We weren’t in a rush and took a break for an hour at the river to eat lunch and go for a swim.

The first of five cable cars is located at Klanawa River. I believe later in the summer, you can sometimes cross a large sandbar across the river, but we opted to take the cable car. Fortunately there was a group of 4 guys at the cable car at the same time as us and they offered to assist us across so that we could go in the same car. The cable cars have varying levels of length and difficulty. This one was particularly long and it would be challenging for us to pull ourselves across if we both went in the car at the same time, so we were planning to go one at a time. Since they offered to assist, we went together, resulting in a lot less work.

Once across the river, we enjoyed 2km of forest walking to the beach at Tsusiat Falls. Along the way we passed several viewpoints along the bluffs and were very lucky to spot several whales playing in the shallows! Adriana spotted the first one and then we noticed several more, including a mama and baby. I’m not sure what kind of whales they were, but my guess is humpback or grey. We watched them for a long time because they were quite close to shore.

Arriving at Tsusiat Falls, it’s a long downhill and several ladders to get to the beach. You cross the top of the waterfall about 10 minutes before you arrive at the beach and I advise filling up your water bladder at the river. There is no flowing water at the beach and the waterfall isn’t accessible, so your only option is the pool at the base of the waterfall where everyone swims. We didn’t know this at the time and we didn’t fill up our water. I didn’t want to hike all the way back up to the river later, so I ended up filling from the pool anyways, but I used two methods of water purification, filtering and chemical treatment. It wasn’t my favourite water source, that’s for sure.

Aside from the drinking water issue, Tsusiat Falls is one of the highlights of the trail for a reason! It’s incredibly beautiful and you get to camp right next to the waterfall along the beach. It already felt quite busy with campers when we arrived, but we got there at 3pm and a lot more groups continued to arrive after us, making it even more crowded. There’s a lot of space to set up tents, but it was definitely more people than I like to camp with and what Brandon always refers to as “tent city”. We did find a nice place on the beach to set up and it was really beautiful. Adriana claims it was her favourite spot, but I personally favoured some of the less busy sites more.

We started to observe a familiar pattern with the weather on the trail. For the first 4 days, we would awake to overcast mornings that would change to sun by mid-afternoon and stay that way into the evening. It made for really nice days because we had the cloud cover while hiking in the morning, but we got to enjoy the sun while relaxing at camp in the afternoon. The only issue was that it could get quite hot and there is limited shade on the beach.

We brought a tarp with us, which proved very handy, and we got into the habit of Adriana setting up the tent while I would set up the tarp. In my opinion, tarping is a real skill. If you have the right support structures nearby (i.e., trees), it can be really fun, but if you don’t have anything solid in which to attach the tarp, it can be very challenging. Tsusiat Beach was difficult, but I was able to build a reasonably functional shelter. By the time we got it set up, we were feeling overheated and took a break underneath to eat some snacks, but ultimately decided the waterfall was the best way to cool down.

I changed into my swimsuit and walked to the end of the beach to see the waterfall. I’d swam at Darling River the previous day and it had been quite cold, as was the swim at Klanawa River. But I was delighted to discover that the pool at the base of Tsusiat Falls was the warmest freshwater on the trail! It was really refreshing and we were able to linger in the pool for a while. There’s a large rock near the edge of the waterfall and we hung out there, taking turns to swim out under the spray. We met 3 women on the bus that were on a similar itinerary as us and we spent some time with them at the pool (credit to them for the photo above of us on the rock). It was one of the most enjoyable moments on the trail.

It was really nice to arrive at Tsusiat Beach at 3pm, because unlike the first evening, it gave us lots of recovery time before the next day. We had to do a longer distance on Day 3, due to a lack of campsites, so it was nice to have lots of time to take it easy. We enjoyed our dinner and then collected some firewood. Since it was late June, the province wasn’t yet under a fire ban. We weren’t sure how long that would last or how long we would continue to get nice weather, so we took the opportunity to enjoy a campfire. Carolyn introduced me to the one match challenge a few years ago, where you try to light your campfire using only one match. I’ve really taken it to heart and I was successful in getting our fire started with just a single match, of which I’m pretty proud!

Day 3 was our longest day, distance wise. We got into a habit of waking up at 7am and starting our hike by 9am, which I thought was pretty reasonable, but seemed to be late for everyone else. People were often leaving by the time we got up and it wasn’t uncommon for us to be some of the last people to leave. There were two other groups that were of the same mindset as us, the 3 women from the bus, and the group of guys that helped us across the cable car. As a result, we got to know both groups over the course of the week. Although the women ended up increasing their pace at some point at we didn’t see them anymore after day 4.

We had to hike 17km, which was the minimum distance for the day. There’s not a lot of campsites in this section of the trail, so a lot of people stay at both Tsusiat Falls and Cribs Beach because the only other option is to stay in the cabins at Nitinat Narrows, which are more expensive and have limited capacity. Nitinat Narrows is located around the midpoint of the trail and requires taking a very short water taxi across the water. The crossing is managed by the first nations in the area, the Nitinat, who also manage the crab shack and cabins located on the other side of the crossing.

We had to hike ~8km to get to the crab shack, but it’s a quintessential part of the trail and hikers are usually thrilled at the opportunity to have a fresh cooked meal in the middle of the trail. The day started with a long beach walk, during which we got to pass through a sea tunnel at Tsusiat Point since the tide was low. It was really cool, but we did cut it pretty close to the tidal cut-off and the water was nipping at our heels as we went through. The beach was followed by a larger forest section, though you could pop in and out of the forest to hike along the beach in a couple sections. We opted to stick mostly to the forest in this area, which had lots of nice beach viewpoints.

We were very excited when we finally arrived at Nitinat Narrows, which has some of the bluest waters. It’s probably less than 100 metres to cross the channel, but we got to ride with a very nice man named Sam and his very calm dog. But mostly we were excited about the crab shack! In the end, I didn’t actually end up ordering crab because they also had halibut and ling cod, so we opted to get the ling cod with a fully baked potato instead. It was really yummy and not as messy as the crab, but if I ever go back (unlikely), I think I’ll opt for the crab next time.

It was really nice to take a break, but we still had 10km to go after lunch, so after massaging our feet and stretching our legs, we returned to the trail. There’s another large forest section after the crab shack, but it had a lot of boardwalk that was still in reasonably good shape, so it made for a quick walk. The West Coast Trail has a reputation for being very muddy and challenging in the forest. We definitely encountered this in a few sections, but overall, the forest walking isn’t too bad on the north side of the trail. It’s much worse on the south side because a lot of the old trail infrastructure and boardwalks are deteriorated to the point that they’re now a hazard rather than a help, but up to this point the forests were still quite manageable.

We stopped at a bluff viewpoint and ended up spotting some more whales! These ones were further out, but we could see them spouting and we were really excited when we got to see one of the whales dive, meaning we got to see its tail. Eventually you arrive at a bridge where you can cross the Cheewhat River, then it’s a nice straight path through the forest to return to the coast. We arrived at Clo-oose Bay, which is a giant golden sand beach that ended up being one of my favourite beaches of the entire trail. It was hot and sunny when we arrived, so we decided to stop for a snack break. The water looked so inviting in the sun, so I convinced Adriana to take our shoes off and we ran into the water to soak our feet before continuing on.

If you time it right with the tide, you can walk along the beach pretty much the entire way to Cribs Beach, but we did not, so we had to go in and out of the forest. We were able to walk most of the way to Dare Point, after which we opted to take the re-route through the forest for a couple of kilometres. The trail returns to the beach at Dare Beach, where we took another break and I ate my second lunch, which was taco salad for taco Tuesday. At this point in the trail, I felt like we were constantly ravenous. Usually it takes me a few days on trail before I get hiker hunger, but both Adriana and I had it from the very beginning. We were honestly worried we were going to run out of snacks and were cognizant of rationing them, but fortunately our hunger did even out later in the trail and I had enough food for the whole trip.

By the time I finished second lunch, the tide had receded enough that we could follow the beach to our final destination at Cribs Creek. There were several rocky shelves and some boulders along the way, which made for a more interesting hike. The only challenge is that at the end of the trail, when you arrive at Cribs Beach, you have to walk out on the rocks partway into the ocean before you can find a place to climb down to the beach. It’s a rock shelf that acts like a natural breakwater for the beach. This was problematic because, while the tide was low enough, the waves were crashing against the rocks on the other side of the breakwater. It was too close for comfort for me, so we stuck to the shallow edge of the rocks in case a big wave came up that could knock us over, and we got out of there as quickly as possible. It ended up being fine, but it wasn’t our favourite.

We were some of the last people to arrive at Cribs Beach for the night and similar to Tsusiat Falls, there was lots of space for tents, but it was very busy. We ended up setting up camp on the far end of the beach, which meant it was quite a walk to the outhouse and bear cache, but there was only one other tent nearby. It was much later in the day when we arrived at Cribs, but it was still hot, so I tried to get another tarp shelter up and failed miserably. It was probably one of my worst tarping jobs. I was able to hide under it for sun shelter, but if tested, it would not have stood up to rain.

I like Cribs Beach, but it felt like we didn’t spend a lot of time there. By the time we set up camp, filtered water, and cooked supper, the sun was already setting. We chatted with our neighbours for awhile, a couple from Saskatchewan. They were nice, but we decided the man lacked some serious judgement. He’d convinced his partner to hike the trail with him and it was both her first backpacking trip and her first time camping ever! To make matters worse, they had a very aggressive itinerary and she was not having a good time. I know the West Coast Trail is a world renowned trail, but most of the people we met were local to BC. Even though it’s popular, it’s a very challenging trail and it’s not a good idea to under-estimate it. It’s definitely not a trail I would recommend for first time backpackers or campers.

At this point, we were more than halfway through the trail, but not halfway through the itinerary. The trail was about to get a lot more technically challenging, and we encountered some pretty adverse weather conditions on day 5. Tune back in next week to read about it!

West Coast Trail: Pachena Bay to Darling River

August 1, 2026July 14, 2026 / Maria / 1 Comment

When I first moved to Vancouver in 2014, I was asked what I was most looking forward to doing and I said the West Coast Trail. I didn’t know anything about the trail at the time. Newfoundland has the East Coast Trail, which is over 300km of coastal hiking that runs along the edge of the avalon peninsula. The trail runs from community to community and the entire thing can be completed as day hikes, with the longest section being ~23km. I thought the West Coast Trail was like the East Coast Trail and I was keen to explore a few sections.

I quickly learned how wrong I was. The West Coast Trail is a 75km coastal hike on Vancouver Island, but unlike the East Coast Trail, it is mostly done in one shot. There is one exit near the mid-point of the trail, but it is a multi-day hiking objective that draws visitors from all over the world. It’s one of the most well known trails in British Columbia and often recognized on world class hiking lists. I hadn’t backpacked at all in 2014 and so I quickly removed the West Coast Trail from my bucket list in favour of some more achievable day hikes. However, when I started backpacking in 2016, I still wasn’t keen on re-adding it to my list.

Because of it’s popularity, it’s a very regulated trail. Everyone on the trail must have a valid permit and the permits sell out very quickly. I started hearing about some other alternatives to the West Coast Trail, and I decided to tackle those instead. The Juan de Fuca Marine Trail is 47km of coastal hiking immediately south of the West Coast Trail. It’s often known as the West Coast Trail Lite and because it doesn’t require permits, a lot of people hike this trail first. I did the Juan de Fuca Trail with Emily in 2017 and I found it so challenging that I was further deterred from completing the West Coast Trail.

Coastal hikes on Vancouver Island are particularly challenging. The coast is often rainy and foggy, which results in a lot of muddy sections through the forest. While there is a lot of beach walking, it’s not possible to stick to the coast all the time, and the trails usually feature challenging muddy detours up and down through the forest. Even when beach walking is possible, it provides its own set of obstacles as walking for hours on cobble, dry sand, or rocky boulders can be very tiring.

As I became a more confident hiker, I decided to hike the Cape Scott and North Coast Trails in 2020. Together, they are similar in length to the West Coast Trail and the North Coast Trail has a reputation for being particularly challenging. Even though I felt more equipped than when I had hiked the Juan de Fuca Trail, the North Coast Trail still proved to be extremely challenging. We completed the trail over 6 days, which was pretty ambitious and we were all exhausted by the end. At times, it can be hard to hike faster than 1km every 45 minutes, which makes for very long days.

After that experience, I turned my attention from the West Coast Trail entirely. I guess because it was so regulated, I figured it was better to do the less popular trails first. The trail wasn’t going anywhere and I didn’t feel in a rush to complete it. Until 2026, when the urge finally struck. I’m not sure why this year over any other year, but as I was making my plans for the summer in early 2026, I suddenly became very aware of the fact that I’ve lived in BC for more than 12 years and still hadn’t completed this iconic trail. I take great pride in this blog and it’s been doing well over the past 2 years. It started to feel like a real gap that I haven’t covered this trail on the blog, and so I decided that this was the year, I was finally going to hike the trail.

I initially debated solo hiking and seeing if I could fast-pack it, but I quickly abandoned the idea. Why rush through one of BC’s most famous hikes? Instead, I decided I wanted to enjoy the experience, and if I was to enjoy it, it would be a lot more fun with a friend. So I invited Adriana to join me, who was also very enthusiastic about hiking the trail. Amazingly, when permits released, she found herself #59 in the queue, which I’ve never heard of, so we got all our preferred dates and direction for permits with no issues. We decided to take advantage of the Canada Day stat holiday and complete the trail in late June / early July.

Now that I’ve covered that fun piece of story telling, let’s actually talk about the West Coast Trail. In short, it’s a logistical nightmare. Actually, that may be unfair, Parks Canada does take care of a lot of the trail logistics for you. There are two boat rides required on the trail, both of which have fees, but they are both included in your permit, so you don’t have to deal with it directly. What’s not included is transportation between trailheads and any additional camping fees on either end of the trail. The hike runs from Pachena Bay to Gordon River, with a Parks Canada office on either end where you can check in and out and complete the mandatory orientation. The main decision you have to make before getting your permit is which direction you’d like to hike the trail.

Here’s a few things to consider:
– Parking is free at Pachena Bay, but not at Gordon River (a whopping $20 per day)
– The trail is easier on the north end (Pachena Bay) and gets more challenging towards Gordon River
– The first campsite on the Pachena Bay side is 12km from the trailhead. The first campsite on the Gordon River side is 6km from the trailhead
– Owen Point is one of the longest and most impressive tidal sections. It starts 6km from Gordon River and is 5km long. I really recommend building your trip around ensuring you’ll have a tidal window in which to hike to Owen Point

The final point was really the only one that I considered when choosing my direction. If I started in Gordon River, it would have added a full day to my trip in order to accommodate the trail orientation, boat schedule, and tidal window for Owen Point. For that reason alone, we decided to start in Pachena Bay. But I don’t regret this decision. I liked that we started with the easier half of the trail, allowing us to gain mileage early and get comfortable with the trail as it got harder. It also meant that while we had heavier bags for the longer distance days, we had eaten through a lot of our food by the time we hit the more challenging sections of trail (which honestly took just as long even though our distance was shorter). There are a lot more ladders on the south end of the trail, so I appreciated having a lighter pack for those as well.

I was not happy about the $20 per day parking fee. I wasn’t aware of this when we made the booking. We took the ferry from Tsawassen to Sidney on Saturday morning. The WCT shuttle between the two trailheads only runs once per day in each direction, leaving Gordon River at 9am and Pachena Bay at 1pm. We didn’t have enough time to catch either shuttle on Saturday, so we planned to stay in Gordon River overnight on Saturday, catch the shuttle on Sunday morning, at start from Pachena Bay in the afternoon. This meant we had no option but to pay for parking.

There’s a campground located on either end of the trail as well, so you can plan to stay overnight at either Gordon River or Pachena Bay. I can’t speak to the campground at Pachena Bay, but I didn’t have the best experience at Pacheedaht, which is located in Gordon River. There’s nothing wrong with the sites, but when we encountered some issues, it became evident the campground was not well managed.

The WCT shuttle company is great and I appreciate that they run the shuttle daily, but oh my goodness, the experience was miserable. Nothing personal against the company, it’s just that the road is mostly gravel and I felt sick the entire time. It’s a 4 hour drive between trailheads and the driver is supposed to provide a direct service, but I really appreciated that he gave us a pee break in Lake Cowichan. Definitely bring gravol or something for motion sickness with you on the bus. I felt terrible the entire ride and it was also freezing. But we did see three elk, so that was cool.

We arrived in Pachena Bay at 1pm. It’s an extremely limited site, it has two outhouses and a garbage bin, but nothing else. The trail orientation is scheduled for 2pm, but the park ranger gave it to us at 1:30pm since we were all there. Even so, it was 2:30pm by the time we departed. It was a real mauzy day, not raining, but overcast and a bit cold. The trail starts with a short tidal section across the beach, but we were outside of the tidal window, so we had to start the trail in the forest. This means we were immediately introduced to the ladders.

For those not familiar with the West Coast Trail, it is very well known for its ladders. There are over 100 ladders on the trail and many of them are quite long. I’m not sure why the West Coast Trail developed this way, there are no ladders on either the Juan de Fuca or North Coast Trails, but when they developed the WCT, the decision was made to go up and down over all of the obstacles rather than find routes around them. This means that most of the elevation gain on the trail is done via ladders. We started with 6 or 7 ladders up and over the headland. The ladders were much taller than I was expecting and so I was a little bit nervous on the first few. Going up wasn’t too bad, but going down really freaked me out. Some ladders are missing rungs and when you go down, your feet are exploring the ladder first rather than your hands, which made me feel like I needed to look down to watch my feet. I got more confident on the ladders as time went on, but the first few are definitely a little scary.

It’s 12km from Pachena Bay to the first campsite, which is Michigan Creek. We hadn’t planned out exactly where we wanted to camp every night, but we were keen to see if we could go 14km on Day 1 to get to Darling River Camp. This is because we had a tidal limitation the following morning and it would be easier to time it right if we were a little bit closer to it. But we didn’t want to overdo it, so we decided to make a decision once we got to Michigan Creek.

It was a bit of a slow start to the trail. It took us some time to adjust to the ladders and figure out what to do with our poles. We didn’t want to secure them to our packs at every ladder, but we didn’t want them loose either, for safety reasons. I ended up collapsing mine every time we did a ladder and tucking them into my waist belt so that I could be hands-free and not have them acting as a hazard. Adriana wasn’t feeling great after the bus ride, so we started off with a pretty slow pace, which wasn’t ideal given our late start. The main thing on our side was that it was very close to solstice, so we had a lot of daylight.

Fortunately, our pace picked up a lot after the first few kilometres. It was originally overcast, but it was quite humid and the sun did make an appearance later in the day, so we ended up changing into shorts and t-shirt and we were able to knock out some distance after that. We ended up doing the first 9km in ~3 hours, arriving at Sea Lion Rock around 5:30pm. It’s the first real view on the trail, looking out at the ocean and all the sea lions basking on the large rock shelf. We were both quite hungry and we still had 3-5km to go, so we decided to stop and have our supper. It resulted in an hour-long break, but it was definitely worth it and we left the viewpoint feeling much more energetic.

We finally exited the forest at Michigan Creek Camp, which is the start of the beach walking. There were several people already camping at Michigan Creek and we were still feeling good from supper and happy to arrive at the beach, so we decided to tackle the last two kilometres to Darling River. It was a good choice and we really enjoyed walking along the beach during golden hour. There were a lot of stragglers heading to Michigan Creek from the opposite direction and Darling River ended up being the least busy campsite we stayed at all week, so it was a good choice.

We arrived at Darling River around 8:30pm and I spotted the waterfall that cascades out of the forest and into Darling River before flowing to the ocean. It’s set back from the beach and no one was there, so like I was possessed, I immediately became fixated on the idea of swimming in the waterfall. Adriana was more concerned with getting to camp, so she kept going to find a site across the river, but I put on my sandals and trekked up through the creek to get to the falls. I ended up having a little skinny dip bath in the pool and arrived at camp 30 minutes later feeling incredibly refreshed!

We’d already eaten, so all we had to do was set up camp on the beach. Adriana found a really nice sandy spot and we took care of our nightly chores and then went straight to bed. It was our first of many nights camping on the beach and it felt really restful to hang out in the sand and watch the sunset before heading to bed. It was a much later arrival at camp than I prefer, but considering our late start, I thought it was a pretty successful first day! Tune in next week for Part 2!

The Road Goes Ever On

Canadian Outdoor Adventure and Travel Blog

West Coast Trail: Cribs to Camper Bay

West Coast Trail: Darling River to Cribs

West Coast Trail: Pachena Bay to Darling River