West Coast Trail: Camper Bay to Gordon River

August 22, 2026August 18, 2026 / Maria / Leave a comment

After a very eventful day hiking in the rain to Camper Bay, we really needed a win on Day 6. We only had to hike 7km from Camper Bay to Thrasher, but we had a pretty important tidal window. Out of Camper Bay there’s a cable car and some ladders, followed by 2km of muddy forest walking before you return to the coast. Then there’s 5km of beach walking to Thrasher Cove through the infamous Owen Point section.

This section of the trail is well known by hikers because it offers stunning coastline views and the opportunity to explore the sea caves at Owen Point. The challenge is that it has a very sensitive tidal window. In other parts of the trail, there are a few pinch points that you can’t cross during high tides, but if you got stuck there, you could likely crawl up into the trees and wait it out. The section of trail along Owen Point is very long and lacking in safe places to wait out a high tide. This meant that we had the challenge of getting to Thrasher Cove by 1pm.

After our long day hiking to Camper Bay, I’d come to terms with the fact that Adriana likely wasn’t going to have the energy to get up early and hike to Owen Point. She’d expressed trepidation earlier in the trip about the potential slip hazards in this section of trail and I kind of got the impression she didn’t want to do it. I was disappointed about it, but could understand her concerns. To my surprise, when we talked about it the night before, she was keen to hike to Owen Point.

If you skip Owen Point, you have to do a 5km re-route through the forest. I can’t say for sure, but I believe this section of trail is very similar to what we did between Walbran and Camper Bay. We’d need to get up very early (at 5am) to give ourselves lots of time to make the tidal cut-off at Owen Point, but Adriana figured that since we were going to bed so early (8pm), it would be okay to wake up early. I think both of us were super keen to avoid another 5km forest slog, so we agreed to get up and do it in the morning. We wanted to leave camp by 7am and get to the beach by 9am, giving ourselves 4 hours to complete the 5km section.

We were still a bit sluggish when we awoke. It continued to rain all night and it was drizzling in the morning, although less wet than the previous day. In contrast to when we’d left Walbran, everything already felt damp. All our hiking and rain clothes from the previous day were still soaking wet, as were our shoes. Plus, I was disappointed to discover that a lot of things inside the tent, including my sleeping bag, were a little damp. I wasn’t cold overnight, but I don’t like to pack up a damp bag.

But the only way out was through. We packed everything and left pretty close to our planned time. We started with another cable crossing, which was fortunately very short and much easier than the crossing at Walbran. The rain stopped and we layered down after the ladders, taking off all our rain gear. The 2kms we had to hike through the forest was still very painful. The trail was muddy and in poor shape and we couldn’t quite maintain the pace we wanted, arriving at the beach access slightly after 9am.

We decided to go for it anyways. Generally, we move faster on the beach, but we were warned by the park ranger that this section was filled with dangerous surge channels and giant boulders that would make navigation slow. Our friends (the guys and their sons) arrived at the beach access at the same time as us and we ended up hiking most of the way to Owen Point with them. It wasn’t intentional, they were ahead of us, but as they navigated the obstacles, they were very kind to point them out to us when we followed behind, including helping us cross a particularly challenging surge channel.

Owen Point is located at the midpoint of this section and I would say that the terrain on either side of Owen Point is wildly different. On the north side, where we started, you’re mostly hiking across a large rock shelf. I’ve never hiked anything like it before, so it was a very cool experience. Overall, I thought the shelf was fairly easy to navigate, but there were a few tricky sections where we had to return to the treeline to get around a surge channel. Adriana was nervous, but we both agreed it was easier than navigating the muddy forest route.

We arrived at Owen Point with lots of time to spare! It was here that we were most satisfied with our decision to hike along the beach. Owen Point is very beautiful and I can see why it’s a staple of the trail. It’s a breathtaking stretch of coastline and there are a series of caves and tunnels located at the point. It was a bit busy because the hikers coming the other direction were arriving at the caves at the same time as us, but it didn’t detract from the experience.

After Owen Point, the terrain turns to giant boulders, by which I mean rocks the size of cars. There’s no obvious trail to follow, pick any route and scramble across the rocks as best you can, creating your own route parallel to shore. The largest boulders were closest to Owen Point, but I found they got smaller and easier to navigate the closer we got to Thrasher Cove.

We crossed a small beach where we decided to take a break for lunch. We learned the previous day that it is important to take time to eat, but we took a shorter break than normal because we weren’t sure how long it would take to navigate the rest of the boulders. It was around this time that the sun came out, further improving our spirits. Neither of us had been enthusiastic about putting on wet clothes in the morning, so we’d both started hiking in our rain gear, with nothing underneath. Once we hit the beach, I changed back into my wet underlayers in hopes of drying them out. It was a bit cold at first, but it dried a lot faster on my body and by the time we reached Thrasher, I was pretty much dry.

It ended up being a faster walk to Thrasher than we thought and we arrived with time to spare. All the other hikers that had started with us had decided to get up even earlier to hike all the way to Gordon River. It’s only another 6km from Thrasher to Gordon River, which is certainly achievable, but made more challenging by the fact that the last water taxi to Gordon River is at 3pm. Adriana and I were skeptical that we could make the water taxi (we wouldn’t have), so we committed to staying the final night at Thrasher.

It ended up being a great decision! The guys and their sons were the only others from our original group to spend the night there, so they arrived first, followed by us. We weren’t used to being early to camp, so we had our pick of campsites. We chose a lovely beach site and proceeded to spend the rest of the afternoon building the most epic camp! All our things were still wet, but it was quite windy and the sun was out, so we figured it was the perfect opportunity to dry out our gear. We constructed a large clothes line and hung up pretty much everything in our packs. It all dried over the next hour with the exception of our hiking boots. It was so nice to relax in the sun on the sandy beach, I honestly felt like a completely new person!

I understand why people wanted to rush to the end after the long day of rain, but I don’t regret taking our time. I never hear people talk about Thrasher Cove, I think it’s just one of the necessary campsites where people stay, but it ended up being one of my favourite! The guys got a campfire going (we didn’t bother because we didn’t want to deal with wet wood) and invited us to share theirs, so we lay our boots next to the fire and managed to get those almost dry by morning too. I think the opportunity to stay an extra night at Thrasher gave us the chance to recoup and unwind before finishing the trail. I feel like it gave us time to process the previous day and it was really nice to end the trip on a high note. We had lots of time to enjoy each other’s company and it was a lovely way to end the trip.

The following morning we only had to do 6km through the forest to Gordon River. We knew there wouldn’t be any scenery and we expected there to be a lot more mud. After talking to the northbound hikers, we were thrilled to learn that this section of trail wasn’t overly muddy, it just had a lot of elevation gain and loss. At this point, we’d take anything over the mud, so we weren’t intimidated by a little bit of a climb.

There were several ladders going up from the beach and we wound our way through the forest for several hours. It was different terrain than the other sections of trail, but we were honestly thrilled not to have to slog through the mud. We were excited to finish the trail, but enjoyed the last couple of hours hiking. We hiked mostly alone for the first couple of hours, before we started crossing paths with hikers starting the trail. The trail felt easy to us after everything that had come before and it was fun to compare our experience against the new group coming in.

I could definitely have done without the day of rain, but honestly, I wouldn’t change it. I feel like rain is a quintessential part of the West Coast Trail and almost no one is lucky enough to do a trip without it. We only had to deal with it for one day, so it was still possible to recover. I can’t imagine how people function who get caught in a full week of rain. I feel like the risks would have been a lot higher hiking every day in the rain because everything gets damp and it gets harder to start a campfire (if they’re even permitted).

The trail wouldn’t let us go without one final challenge. The last ladder from the trail to the beach is very long and pretty much completely vertical. Most of the ladders were inclined and my stomach jumped into my throat when I looked over the edge of the last ladder. Adriana knew I was nervous going down, so she went first and instructed me not to look. I talked myself down like I did on all the other ladders, but I was relieved to place both feet on the beach. Even looking at the photo of the ladder, it’s pretty intimidating. I’m not sure what I’d have done if I’d had to start with that ladder, which is arguably the scariest one on the trail!

Unfortunately we missed the water taxi by mere minutes. It runs every half hour and it was pulling away from the beach as we climbed down. We took the opportunity to eat our lunch and have one last drink of electrolytes before the boat returned at 1pm to bring us to Gordon River. We checked out with Parks Canada and bought a few souvenirs. I did my best to take a sink shower at the Pacheedaht bathroom – there are actual showers, but they’re coin operated, so I had to be content with the sink shower.

We didn’t have a ferry booking, so we stopped into Port Renfrew for a second lunch before hauling ass to the ferry terminal. I thought we might get stuck waiting a few sailings, but it was a Saturday evening and we got on almost right away. I enjoyed a big burger on the ferry and Seth picked me up on the other side.

So overall, I’m thrilled that I’ve finally completed this trail. I can see why the West Coast Trail is the most popular of Vancouver Island’s coastal hikes. It’s hard to rank them against each other when they’re all so different, but I think I did like this experience better than hiking the Juan de Fuca Trail and the North Coast Trail. It might be related to the fact that I was more prepared for this trail and had a more realistic idea of what to expect. I was wise to approach the trail with a slow itinerary and despite spending more time on the trail, my pack was significantly lighter than when I did the other two.

I would absolutely recommend this trail to experienced hikers, but I’d recommend newbies to try other trails first. If you’re a local, definitely do the Juan de Fuca Trail. If you’re not from BC, try and do other multi-day trails in varied terrain before attempting this one. It helps to be dialed into the gear you’re carrying in your pack, to know that it’s been tried and tested. I don’t think I will ever do the trail again. We really had great conditions and I feel like it was a once in a lifetime experience, but it is challenging and I wouldn’t be in a rush to repeat it.

But if you’re up to the challenge, definitely go for it! This is a world-renown trail for good reason. I loved it!

Ski Resort Series: Sasquatch

January 29, 2025January 27, 2025 / Maria / 1 Comment

If you’ve been reading my blog for awhile, you might be aware that I’ve been going on a ski trip with friends every winter since 2016, we missed two years because of the pandemic, so this year was our 8th Annual Ski Trip. We always go to a different resort every year, with the goal being to ski as many resorts as possible!

Last year we went to Manning Ski Resort, but it didn’t result in a blog post because the skiing was so terrible last year that only one run was open! This year, we’d planned to go down to Mount Baker. Unfortunately, our AirB&B fell through at the last minute and we ended up going to Sasquatch Ski Resort instead because it was easier to find accommodations there at the last minute.

Sasquatch is located northwest of Harrison. It’s quite close to Vancouver, with the driving distance similar to Whistler, but it’s not very popular considering the proximity. I think the main reason for this is that it’s a relatively small resort and it’s not super easy to get to. In addition to winter tires, you are also required to carry chains when driving up the mountain to the small ski town. The road is only paved halfway, which is why tire chains are needed. That said, I’d heard it’s a fun little mountain with low crowds and good snow, so I’d been wanting to visit for a while. We were able to scrounge up enough sets of chains on facebook marketplace and decided to go for it!

There were 8 of us, plus 2 dogs. We left after work on Friday, with most people arriving early evening. We had a really nice townhouse near the lifts. It wasn’t completely ski out access, but only a short walk to the lodge. As is our custom, the trip was as much about eating as it was about skiing! I made pisco sours (which I learned how to make in Chile last year) as a welcome drink, and Brandon provided a delicious raclette, while we took turns lounging in the hot tub.

Sasquatch has a relatively small village. There is a lodge and rentals and a cafeteria, but there’s not a lot else in the town besides accommodations. The stargazing is surprisingly phenomenal at night though! We had a bit of a slower start to the day. We all bought our passes online because it’s $20 cheaper to buy in advance. Once you have an RFID card, it’s easy to load up, but the line to pick up your card for the first time is pretty long in the morning. If we had our time back, we would have gone down to get our passes the previous evening since there is night skiing available until 8pm.

We ended up not needing chains to get up the mountain. It has been at least a week since the last snowfall, so the roads were clear the entire way up. There was a good base of snow on the mountain, but given the lack of fresh snow, it was pretty crusty. There are two main lifts going the whole way up the mountain, and a half lift in the middle.

The groomed runs were in really nice condition, but all the other runs were in rough shape. There’s lots of spaced out glade runs all over the mountain that I think would have been really fun on a powder day, but after giving one a try, we steered clear for most of the day because they were so crunchy and hard to navigate. There are several key groomed runs that cut back and forth across the mountain, and a lot of more rugged terrain, but we mostly stuck to the groomers on this trip.

The lifts are really slow. One seems to have been upgraded and is not too bad, but the other one (Sasquatch chair I think), is REALLY slow and pretty uncomfortable because there’s no cushions on any of the seats. We played a lot of Harry Potter 20 questions on the way up to pass the time. While the snow wasn’t the best, the runs were all open and we had the real benefit of a beautiful view! Sometimes you get cloudy powder days and those are great, other times you get sunny, crunchy days, and I’ve learned to appreciate those for the views! It was warm and sunny and we could see all of the Harrison backcountry, which was very beautiful!

Carolyn and I had a good time making reels on the slopes and skied until around 3pm in the afternoon. I cut out early to cook up a Jiggs Dinner for everyone! Jiggs Dinner is a traditional Newfoundland feast – I used to do it every year on the ski trip, but it is a lot of work, so I haven’t done it since pre-pandemic. I didn’t end up having Jiggs for Christmas this year, so I decided to bring it back for the ski trip! While it was cooking, we sang karaoke on a machine Adriana found in the games closet and did a boxed escape room that Carolyn had brought. After a delicious meal and far too much dessert, we all relaxed in the hot tub!

My original plan had been to snowshoe on Sunday, but I was feeling pretty wiped out, so me and Seth slept in (as much as Sadie would let us), and then drove back to Vancouver after check-out. A few friends stuck around to do some more skiing and snowshoeing on the local trails. While I had a better experience than at Manning, I’m still keen to re-visit both mountains again. I still need to ski most of the terrain at Manning and I would really love to come back to Harrison on a powder weekend. Both resorts are close enough that you could get up early and drive there just for the day. Especially since Sasquatch has night skiing! it was a fun little mountain and I would like to explore it more.

Rockwall Trail Backpacking Trip Part I

October 4, 2023July 11, 2024 / Maria / 7 Comments

Backpacking the Rockwall Trail was undoubtedly one of the highlights of my time in the Rockies this summer. There are a lot of iconic multi-day trips in the Rockies that I’ve been wanting to do and this year we landed on the Rockwall Trail. It’s a 56km backpacking trail in Kootenay National Park that is extremely popular and requires permits for camping. There are several entrances to the trail, so it’s not a bad option for beginners because you can exit out if needed, or you can just do a portion of the trail.

The full trail goes from the Paint Pots trailhead to the Floe Lake trailhead. There’s a total of 5 campsites on the trail to choose from and most people do it in 3-4 nights. You only need a park pass to visit as a day hiker, but if you’d like to visit overnight, prepare early. The campsites are released for the entire summer in March from Parks Canada and they disappear within minutes of being released. Me and Carolyn were both online trying to get permits in March and it was still a challenge to get what we wanted.

The trick to the Parks Canada site is to log in on a lot of devices (I had mine and Seth’s computers and both our phones). Before the sites release, it puts everyone in a random queue, so you’ll be in different places in line on every devices. Whatever device is the lowest in the queue, focus on that device and abandon the rest. I was actually #700 on my computer, which is really low, but I had a brain fart when booking the sites (it’s a lot of pressure!) and accidentally booked the wrong campsite for one night. But we watched for cancellations for months and were eventually able to switch to our preferred site about a week before the trip. So even if you don’t get what you want, don’t lose hope. A lot of people do cancel because you have to make the bookings so early and plans do change.

That said, I do feel very lucky to have scored 2 campsites for our 3 night trip. Me and Brandon tented together and Carolyn had her own site. We started hiking the day after attending my friend’s wedding outside Calgary, so we didn’t get an early start and it wasn’t the most well rested I’ve ever been, but fortunately it was an easy-ish day.

We dropped Carolyn’s car at the Floe Lake trailhead (which was easier said than done because it’s a small lot, so we had to wait for a spot to open up), and then all drove in Brandon’s car to Paint Pots to start the hike. It was around 1:30pm when we finally hit the trail and we had 15km to do to our first campsite at Helmet Falls.

Fortunately it was an easier day terrain-wise. It’s pretty easy forest walking and there’s limited elevation gain, only 400m over 15km. The trail starts at Paint Pots, which is characterized by the red ochre in the ground that has tons of traditional uses, particularly as a dye. We did the first 6km to the Helmet-Ochre Junction Campground relatively quickly and ate our lunch there. It’s a nice little campground next to a beautiful river, but it was completely empty when we arrived. We did pass a small group later in the day that were hiking there, but they were the only other people we saw all day and I suspect there were multiple empty sites.

We had 9km left after lunch and most of the uphill is after the campground. The entire trail is a gentle incline, but I only noticed in it for the first half an hour after our lunch break, after which it levels out. The trail continues along the river through the valley and it is very beautiful. I was a bit worried for the hike because I still have plantar fasciitis in my right foot, but I did lots of preventive care and it managed really well. Mostly that just meant that we stopped every ~4km for me to stretch and roll my foot with one of my dog’s tennis balls. So halfway to Helmet Falls we took another break along the river. It was hot out, but not too hot, and I put a lot of effort into starting this hike hydrated (which wasn’t the case with the HBC Trail), so overall I was feeling really good!

We got to the campsite after 5 hours of hiking and immediately set up camp. There were a lot more people at Helmet Falls than the ochre junction campsite, but there were still several empty sites around. The campground is located in the forest, but it’s surrounded by mountains and you can see Helmet Falls thundering down from the cooking area. Despite the hot afternoon, it cooled down really fast in the shade and we immediately had to add some layers. It ended up being our coldest night on the trail, but me and Carolyn kept warm filming some dancing reels for instagram!

On Day 2 we had the option of going to either Tumbling Creek or Numa Creek and we chose Numa Creek to get us closer to Floe Lake for our last night. It’s 20km from Helmet Falls to Numa Creek, so it was our biggest day on the trail and I was a little nervous about my foot. But Day 2 ended up being my favourite day on the trail! I’ve come to the conclusion that 15-20km of hiking is really my preferred distance for backpacking. After 20km, the day starts to feel long and your feet get sore. You have less time to actually enjoy the trail and the tiredness compounds day after day when you don’t give yourself enough time to rest.

We tried to get up early, but it was ~9:30am when we finally made our departure. The day started with a big climb, but I found the Rockwall Trail has a lot of switchbacks on the climbing sections, so overall, not too bad. Plus it was still cool. We took a break at the top of the pass before starting the highlight of the trail, the aptly named, “Rockwall”.

Floe Lake has a big reputation as being the most gorgeous place on the trip, but personally I think the actual Rockwall was my favourite. It’s easy to understand the trail name when you do it because you are essentially hiking along a giant wall of rock all the way from Helmet Falls to Floe Lake. You get to the top of the pass after 4km and then you’re hiking along the Rockwall for at least the next 10kms. It’s incredibly beautiful and I had the best time hiking it with Carolyn and Brandon.

Unlike the HBC Trail, where I was super worn out, we had a great energy on this trip. I was honestly giddy for most of it and the more we hiked the sillier the 3 of us got. I was genuinely thrilled to be hiking with my friends and the mountains brought me a lot of joy that translated into a lot of laughter while on the trail. There’s always things that characterize a trip and they’re usually challenges. When I think of my time on the North Coast Trail, I think about the tiring and muddy terrain; when I think about Assiniboine, I think about how draining the heat wave was; when I think about HBC, I think about overdoing it and injuring my foot. But the characterizing feature of the Rockwall Trail for me was how much joy it brought me, and I think that’s really special.

We spent a lot of time goofing around, singing, and filming tiktoks. Say what you want about Reels and Tiktoks, but I always have so much fun filming silly things to put on the internet and embracing that only makes me happier. I don’t actually have Tiktok anymore, but check out my Instagram for lots of fun content from this trail!

That said, I did encounter some difficulties on Day 2, they’re just not as memorable as the joy. I was on my period for this entire trip, so we had to make an emergency stop along the ridge for a period poo (just being honest) and after that I popped some advil and pepto and then I felt a lot better. It was a Tuesday, so we all celebrated Taco Tuesday for lunch, which is my favourite cold soak that I make (dehydrated ground beef and veggies). I just crunch up doritos into mine for a taco salad, but Carolyn goes the whole 9 yards and brings taco shells into the wilderness!

We had first lunch on the ridge along the Rockwall, where we met Jason, who was doing the final section of his 30 day hike along a portion of the Great Divide Trail! The GDT is a bucket list hike for both me and Carolyn (it’s 1200km of hiking through the Rockies), so we were both keen to hear about his experience and ended up making a new friend along the rest of the trail since we were all on the same track.

Then we had our second lunch at Tumbling Creek Campsite, which meant we had done 12km of trail and had 8km left. Tumbling Creek was also pretty empty, but it was earlier in the day, so I know it got busier later. We ate by the river, which is really beautiful, but very silty. We decided to cross the river in order to shave off ~1km of walking down to the bridge. It wasn’t that deep and was totally safe to cross, but it was very wide and very cold, so it was an appropriate post-lunch wake up!

Unfortunately we had a really big climb after lunch. It’s not the biggest climb on the trail by any means, but I remember it as the most draining because it was mid-afternoon and quite hot when we climbed it. But once you get to the top, there are incredible glacier views before you start your descent down to Numa Creek.

It’s a really big downhill to Numa Creek and it’s totally exposed along the side of the mountain, so I was really glad I didn’t have to climb up it. It was around 5pm by the time we got to it, so it was starting to cool down. It was hard on my feet to end the day on a huge downhill, but we made it to Numa Creek after ~9 hours of hiking. In total we tracked 21km and over 1000m in elevation gain.

Unlike Helmet Falls, Numa Creek was extremely busy. We were the last people to arrive, so it took us awhile to find a campsite. We thought they were all full at first, but then we found 2 tucked away next to each other at the back by the river and somehow I think we actually may have scored some of the nicest sites there! We all had river baths and then Jason joined us for dinner and Carolyn treated us all to ‘worms and dirt’ for dessert.

Growing up in Girl Guides, I am very familiar with ‘worms and dirt’, but it took us awhile before me and Carolyn realized that Brandon and Jason had no idea what ‘worms and dirt’ was and were reluctantly pretending to be excited about this mythical dessert. Once we explained that it’s actually chocolate pudding with crushed oreos and gummy worms, they quickly got on board! But we all agree that the worms are best eaten on the side rather than mixed in – but both me and Carolyn are purists and insisted on eating it all together. So overall, an excellent first 2 days! Stay tuned for Part II.