West Coast Trail - Third Time
So there I am in Europe feeling left out at seeing the beautiful hikes my friends are doing. June to September are the best months for hiking in BC when the snow has mostly gone, the weather is sunny and the mountains and coast are just beckoning. I noticed that there’s a spot on the West Coast Trail, so I snap it up and off I go. I first did the trail solo in 2022 then with a friend in 2023. This would be a solo trip and I booked it for 4 nights.
Again getting there was by public transport to Victoria then hop on the trail bus up to the start at Gordon River. Except this time, there were very few places to stay overnight in Victoria and it was expensive. I would also be using my 30L backpack, 15L smaller than last time. The food filled out the side pockets and I strapped a dry bag or tent on the bottom. So it didn’t quite all fit in.
Day One: Gordon River to Camper Bay
Every time I’ve done the West Coast Trail I’ve gone this route. Every time I’ve gotten to the junction and Thrashers and found that the tides won’t work for going around Owen Point and every time continued onto Camper Bay. So same old, same old.
The weather forecast was rain and lots of it, so I was glad to get here while it was dry and thought I’d relax. I could have possibly gone one campsite more, but the Park staff were not recommending to stay at the next campsite because it requires a creek crossing. They were predicting that the creeks would get very high with the incoming rain.
Spent some time chatting to and helping a couple who were on their first backpacking trip and rather than a nice simple overnight one somewhere to test out their gear chose this trail. I didn’t see them again, I hope they did ok.
Day Two: Camper Bay to Cribbs south side
This is the hardest day I’ve done on the West Coast Trail. I started raining the evening before and did not stop. Over 75mm of rain was coming down over 24 hours. So my options were sit in a tent and wait it out (something a lot of people did) or just go for it. I just went for it and kept going. Once you are wet, may as well stay wet right?
This is the hardest and most technical part of the trail and I just kept going. The forest was bad, with wet slippy muddy everything. I slipped down multiple times, sometimes in deep puddles of muddy water.
Then I got to the beach and the creeks which were raging, to say the least. Creeks and waterfalls were appearing where they aren’t normally. It was all muddy and brown and the rain and wind was relentless.
The cable car at Carmanah Creek was broken but hikers coming the other way told me it was very tough, but doable. I made a bad choice and forded in the wrong spot at Carmanah Creek and in a few steps the water went over my knees and then suddenly it was over my waist. My backpack became slightly bouyant and lifted me up a bit, I almost lost footing. Fortunately my next steps got footing and I came out the other side, really shaken. I’d almost been swept away.
I kept going to Cribbs campsite, because what else is there to do. Cribbs was the point were everyone north and south bound stopped, at this point in the afternoon it was so flooded that traversing was impossible. Multiple groups at Camper Bay said they’d go to Cribbs the next day - only seven people made it.
I got my tent up in the wind in rain and took a nap. Apart from my sleeping gear, everything was wet. Later on it stopped raining and the sun came out for a little but before sunset. I was mentally and physically wiped.
Day Three: Cribbs south side to Tsocowis Creek
The sun never really came out and everything was wet and damp, what is there to do but walk. So walk I did. Cribbs creek had gone down so that crossing twice here just meant water splashing up to the knees. On the beaches there were regularly creeks to cross so my boots never dried out until I got home. Everyone camps at Tsusiat, so I went further and decided to stop somewhere different at Tsocowis. It was raining a little bit for 10 minutes here and there throughout the day, nothing too bad.
This part has some of the most beautiful parts of the trail on it as you alternate between headlands, the forest and cliffs. Was just an absolute joy to do again.
The sun came out again when I camped and for a couple of hours I tried to dry things out, but it was late in the day and the sun was to feeble to make much difference.
Day Four: Tsocowis Creek to Pachena Bay
I was a day ahead of schedule and didn’t have a problem with that. The walk from here to Pachena is very nice and straightforward - apart from a recent mudslide near Michigan which has made it a muddy mess to access.
The sun came out in Pachena Bay as I encountered bears on the trail. I had a few hours to lie in the sun and dry my gear out (well almost) while I waited for the trail bus.
Summary
I did the trail in 4 days, just 3 nights, and that felt good for my pace. I hike faster and pack lighter than many and it worked for me. This experience in the rain did validate a few things for me:
- If you can’t see the bottom of a creek, think twice. I should have slowed down and not just followed footsteps.
- Always ensure your sleeping gear stays dry. A backpack cover is not enough. My sleeping gear is always in a dry bag inside my backpack. If you are getting rain like I had, up to your waist in puddles or almost being washed away in a river, everything will be wet. When I camped at Cribbs, I was the only one who had a dry sleeping bag and clothes. Everyone else was sleeping in wet gear and that’s a common cause of hypothermia.
- If it’s on the outside of your backpack, clip it on. Just assume it will wiggle free of a strap, so attach it to your backpack by a strap and a clip.
- Dry bags seperate the wet from the dry. Stopping dry stuff in your backback getting wet is important. Want to keep something dry? Stick it in the bag. Got something wet and you want to keep everything else dry? Stick it in a dry bag. This was very, very useful on subsequent days.