When I did this trail long ago I got to meet Monique (since passed) who ran a very tasty burger joint at the mid point. She had quite the operation going with a sizable garden and food boated in regularly. Exchange students ran much of the kitchen. I must admit, I had not been prepared to find myself arguing over esoteric details of Python with her. Monique was a very interesting person who was still going to school into her 70s. I fondly recall looking back to see her resting on the beach.
While I wouldn't call it a "death hike", I've had several broken bones and been involved in a number of rescues over the years, and yet I still remember the fright from almost losing multiple fingers crossing a river in a cable car when a group up ahead thought they'd pull the cable to help us... it's a rather unique trail with quite a variety of uncommon points of interest.
Years ago I volunteered at Monique's for 3 weeks with my brother. It was a great and interesting time and I met a lot of cool people in Monique and her family and other hikers and volunteers. We used to sleep in a shack in the back and their red cat named Mess would sleep on my face.
One scene I will always remember is eating porridge for breakfast and watching for whales in the bay.
What a wonderful place!
Chez Monique saved my ass. Despite doing my best to plan and ration my food, I burned through it at an alarming rate. I re-upped hard at Moniques and it got me through the remainder of the hike.
She had been a Pascal programmer (at least for a bit) before moving to BC. I don't remember the details unfortunately but I do remember the surprise. :)
As nice as the route is (and it is spectacular), the characters on the trail were probably the highlight. Each of the 13 campsites are unique and since the trail has steady entry from both ends, you'd meet a new group of fun people each night. There was a diver running a Crab and Baked Potato operation at Nitinat, and the Carmanah Lightstation was handing out XL chocolate bars to anyone knocking on the door.
Here we are on the edge of the world and yet there's humanity throughout.
> You would think sleeping by the beach is relaxing, but really that is far from the case. I didn’t sleep that well as the ocean was thundering in the middle of the night.
I agree sleeping on the beach is nowhere near as pleasant as it sounds. I remember one night I set up camp near the shore, and kept waking up throughout the night to the sound of lapping waves in a panic that the tide was rising and would inundate my tent... except on this occasion I was camped next to a lake!
> You would be surprised but there are so many debates in the hiking community. This debate is to bring hiking poles or not.
I definitely recommend using hiking poles. They are lightweight and easy to stow when not in use (many backpacking packs will have dedicated loops/straps for them). They have saved me from falling on numerous occasions when I have lost my footing on a slippery trail, and they also help to redistribute weight off of your legs which helps tremendously with fatigue on long hikes with heavy packs. I avoided hiking poles for many years because I thought they looked dorky, but eventually gave them a try when I was suffering from knee pain on descents - and have used them on just about every hike since. For me they making hiking so much more enjoyable.
> For the thru-hike there were two options, south to north or north to south. We opted to go south to north as it starts off super difficult, then slowly gets easier.
I can't comment on this trail specifically as I have never done it, but it might make more sense to start with the easy part and end with the difficult part. Reason being your pack will be lighter by the end of the trip, and also after a couple days I tend to settle into a rythm whereas the start of a trip can be a bit of a shock. On other trails where I have the choice I tend to prefer ascending on the steeper route and descending on the gentler route.
> > You would be surprised but there are so many debates in the hiking community. This debate is to bring hiking poles or not.
> I definitely recommend using hiking poles.
This "hiking community" is just the people getting into those debates online. The vast majority of the actual hiking community just enjoys their trips in silence without getting into online arguments.
Source: In my circles of about 40-50 hiking enthusiasts, only about 2-3 engage in online debates. Everybody else enjoys their trips and learns from own experiences and the occasional chat with friends. Debating for weeks whether hiking poles are a must (I never use any, but it's a matter of preference) or whether to break off your toothbrush to save extra weight (IMO ridiculous) are mostly a waste of time.
Debate is a strong term. Most of the online discussion is the same chill banter as you experience IRL. A forum like /r/ultralight might seem a bit odd when you first read it, like any other online forum dedicated to a niche subculture, but it's all in good fun, and people are self-aware and are able to poke fun at themselves for being such nerds and "weight weenies." My weight goals are nowhere near "ultralight" (yes, there's a definition) but the ultralight community is a great source of ideas and information, even for beginners.
I only know one person who openly declared breaking off his toothbrush to save weight. As well as using aluminium crampons and all manner of tricks. This was 'cos he was 60 at the time and his knees weren't as good as they'd been. I'm extremely grateful to him for sharing his expertise leading a climb, taking a number of us up Mt Baker, WA. So, you know, sometimes, quote from Hamlet, "there's method in his madness". ;) Or to quote Tesco's (true but disingenuous) slogan, "Every little helps" ;)
We do "family" hiking (3 kids, 9 to 15) with up to 110km through the mountains with maximum 20 km and about 1000m up and 1000m down on a "hard" day.
I fully agree with you:
- start slow to get the body to find itself (and keep 2 days at the end of the hike to book a nice hotel with a pool for the kids).
- hiking poles are a must. It also saves the hike if you have ankle/knee pain as you can put the weight on your arms to release the pressure from the bad leg. Our kids prefer walking without.
For sore knees and ankles, do a backwards walking, then a sled pulled backwards with weight for a few weeks, 10 minutes a day 3x/week. Doesn't need to be expensive, can drag anything to get the effect. See kneesovertoesguy for more.
Good write up, and I'm impressed by his preparations for a first-time backpacker - especially his food dehydration. Most people, especially newbies, will just buy prepackaged meals.
Although I had to laugh at his "green sand"[1] — beach glass?
The author is a first-time thru-hiker, not first-time backpacker.
"I have done a lot of hiking, and cool trips, but never thru-hiking." and "upgrading all of my gear" indicate previous experience backpacking.
The line "I remember buying cascade hiking poles from Costco, and it breaking in the middle of hiking of Peru" may been an event which occurred after this hike, but a search of the site finds https://www.dquach.com/2023/04/05/personal-newsletter-2023-q... with "Back in 2015 we were eating at Astrid y Gaston in Lima, Peru ... I was going to hike the W, which was a 5 day hike in Patagonia Chile about 4 days later", further confirming previous backpacking experience.
From both articles, I did get "I'll just use my tech money" and "go to easter island" or "replace literally all of my gear just for this trip" vibes, which is a certain kind of turnoff, but he is at least spending it and doing the trips which is admittedly something I haven't done yet.
My kids had a blast when we were in the Azores last summer digging through the volcanic sand beach for these green, orange, and red stones. They aren't found near the beach where we live, and we took a few larger ones back home.
This green specimen is Olivine, which is indeed quite common, but not ubiquitously everywhere.
Yeah, I’ve done quite a bit of hiking and backpacking. Only got into preparing my own dehydrated meals in the last year or so, before that it was always a combination of wet food and some prepackaged meals. I’m definitely impressed with the author of this article.
While I hiked a lot as a kid, philmont, etc, I did a section of the wonderland back in 2013. My buddy is gluten intolerant. My hobbies is hobbies. While it was slightly annoying and ironic to make my own dehydrated food, where you cook the dried macaroni, then dry it back out only to add it back to hot water), it was fun and easy and the food was way better than the pre-packaged. Especially if you have a food dehydrator already which many people do. makes amazing apple chips when you use a meat slicer to cut the apples.
I had tried gluten free pre-packaged but it was terribad... And even higher in sodium than the already 90% daily value per meal pre-pacakged dehydrated stuff. I made chili mac, chili, spaghetti. And a lot of jerkey, when you make the jerkey the night before the height you can get away with a lot. The turkey jerkey was delicious.
I did this trail a few years ago, was an utterly amazing experience. We did the route backwards, going north to south. I brought some really good cameras with me and the weight was 100% worth it, the shots I got on that trip still hang on my wall to this day.
Example photo:
https://adobe.ly/3LpJ444
We were very lucky weather wise, it did not rain the entire trip, which as others say, is not typical. The ladders, oh man, very terrifying as someone with a fear of heights. Some of them lean fucking backwards, so your pack and body weight try to pull you off the cliffside…
The crab spot near the middle is amazing. Everyone does stop there, how can you say no to crab and beer after hiking 25 miles?
The Juan de Fuca trail that is next door is also one of my top favorite hikes, though I have never been able to finish it as we got rained out both times - once in scouts, once in a group of friends - the trail slid away and we could not physically continue each time.
I don't think its strange (in fact, its probably really opportune, talk about a captured audience from a business perspective), I'm curious about how big it is, the layout etc.
It’s actually fairly decently sized, probably like 10ish tables outside on the deck?
It’s got two smallish buildings If I recall correctly? All built over the water on a pier. And yeah it’s in an estuary so they just bring all the non fished food in by boat every few days.
Thats so cool. Its like a goal in of itself to look forward to when you are hiking around like this. Can people stay nearby? I'd kill for a regular breakfast on a hike like this
My step mom did this in the 70s or 80s. She said it was the first time she heard primal screams and that you could just pick up high end outdoor gear along the trail as people would discard it to save weight.
I did this hike with some friends years ago. It can be wet, but it's a beautiful hike. You can camp on the beach and make fires every night. I highly recommend it if you're looking for a through hike with lots of terrain you can't access except by foot.
I did Carmanah before they closed it and yeah it rained the entire time, we camped on the beach and it was foggy and rainy and the foghorn went all night long... good times!
I did Carmanah after it was closed, this was after I first paddled the Yukon from Whitehorse to the Bering Strait [1], camping in the forest, avoiding the bears. The track was partially overgrown but doable, the weather was mostly fine with even some sunshine now and then - it is a temperate rainforest so rain is to be expected. Standing there with my tent between those enormous trees after having first hitch-hiked up from Vancouver to Whitehorse, then paddled the Yukon to Alakanuk, then made our way to Haines to take the Alaska Marine Highway to Prince Rupert, from there on the Queen of the North [2] to Port Hardy where we staid with some friends before hitchhiking to somewhere close to Carmanah where we spent a week, then to Vancouver to take our flight back to the Netherlands - or so we thought. We got some breakfast and noticed a television screen in the back showing images of the World Trade Centre in New York with smoke billowing out of it. It was the 11th of September, 2011 and we were not flying out that day... nor that week.
[1] Alakanuk - we met a teacher who invited us to give a presentation at Alakanuk School, if anyone here was there and remembers a Dutchman coming by in 2001: that was me.
This blog post exaggerates the danger. I did this hike in 2011 and while very strenuous, is not as extreme as the author makes it out to be.
That said, underestimate it at your peril. There was a posse of "fancy Moms" from Toronto along the trail when I did it. Several of them tapped out on day 2.
The West Coast Trail is the definition of type 2 fun. While certainly a memorable experience, I wouldn't do it twice.
There's a survival show called Alone that recorded several seasons on Vancouver Island. One thing I learned from that show is not to underestimate this island: The rain, the wildlife, the wild!
> For some odd reason, people pretty often have asked me pretty weird questions about my occupation. One time I was in Dallas Lovefield Airport flying on Southwest airlines waiting for my gate. Somebody asked me if I was a pilot.
> I was kind of just puzzled like, what makes me look like a pilot? Just kind of weird what people assume of you.
I enjoyed this conversational style through the thing. Nice one. Cool pictures!
I was just about to comment about my dear of bumping into a grizzly bear while hiking there, but apparently “only” black bears live on Vancouver Island. That would still keep me away and I always wonder if I’m just way too cautious or if the likelihood of running into a bear is so low that it’s worth it?
They're pretty docile. Think of them as very big raccoons, not small grizzlies. The primary thing that brings the bravest black bears into close contact with humans is their love of untended food, but they're skittish and will scamper the moment someone hollers at them.
Personally, I worry more about cougars and wolves.
Cougars and wolves will generally leave people alone, but will be very interested in your pets. Wolves may try to lure dogs out of the yard, but kill them as competition, while cougars may take an unleashed dog on a bush walk.
We have both where I live, but I don't usually worry too much about off-leash trail walks during the day. Night time though, I just do leashed up road walks.
Yes, the risk is very, very low. Probably in the same ballpark as being struck by lightning. (Though I do know someone who was stalked by a cougar while they were hiking alone. So there's at least something to feel nervous about.)
FYI, Vancouver Island has the highest population density of cougars in the world. This includes mountain lions, pumas, panthers, etc, all the same big cat by other names. They are so elusive though. I lived on the Island for nearly six years, during which time I mountaineered and hiked all over the place, and never saw one. Saw lots of black bears though.
Black bears have killed 67 people in North America since 1900, so I think statistically the risk is very low [1].
I have come across black bears on several occasions while hiking in Yosemite and Sequoia national park. They have never expressed the slightest bit of interest in me. Give them plenty of space, make plenty of noise, and eventually they will wander away.
I have hiked a popular ridgeline hike in the Jasper National Park area every year for the last 3 years, and I am 3/3 for grizzly sightings while on trail. The first was the scariest, we came around a bend and startled a cub with momma bear a ways off behind. Thankfully cub scurried off, so mom followed. Had we been more diligent with making noise, I’m sure the encounter wouldn’t have even happened.
The other 2 times, the bears were feeding on berries in fields near the trail. We made lots of noise, had spray on hand, but the bear just looked at us then kept eating; we made a wide arc around and carried on.
Definitely hair-raising, but not so terrifying that I’m scared away from hiking the area. They’re less skittish than black bears but don’t like people any less.
There must be tens of thousands of black bear encounters (where human and bear are mutually aware of each other) in the U.S. every year, and I think less than one attack per year on average. It's not uncommon to see videos of bears wandering around in suburban back yards.
I run into black bears a couple of times a year mountain biking in the PNW, I usually just see their back as they run away. I think it is extremely unlikely to be attacked by one. Grizzlies are a bit different certainly.
Yeah, I've only come face to face with a grizzly once, black bear a few times a year over decades in the bush. Grizzly with cubs or on its kill is a serious thing, bear spray is a must.
I did this hike in grade 11. Right when it opened in a class trip.
I can pinpoint the timing pretty precisely - I heard about the Chernobyl disaster after getting back. Also I bought rubber gumboots for the trail. Highly recommended.
It is truly beautiful. If you've never visited the Pacific Northwest, you should.
I grew up a short drive to the south. The West coast Trail is not for the faint of heart but the Juan De Fuca trail is much more accessible if you happen to be in the area!
I did this years ago solo. I told my neighbor about it, and old-school type fellow, and I was describing all the ladders and cable cars and established campsites. He laughed at me. He told me he did it in the 70s where basically no amenities of any sort existed and it was like bushwacking through literal wilderness.
Definitely a life bucket list type item, a true world-class hike.
>Another huge issue is peeing in the middle of the night. When you are warm in the tent, you have to change, walk to the bathroom, then walk back. Imagine being at home, and instead of walking to your bathroom, you have to walk to the building next to you.
Piss bottles my friends. Take an empty gatorade bottle (MARK IT SO YOU DON'T USE IT FOR DRINKING) and keep it in the tent at night. Easy qol hack.
I also dehydrate meals for preparation and have a few suggestions: in the months prior cook extra vegetarian meals like dahls and curries to dehydrate, portion, and freeze until the hike; dehydrate canned chicken for protein; dehydrate banana slices (you don't need to soak them in lemon juice/citrate prior); and try the Kirkland brand shredded dehydrated potatoes.
It's a very difficult hike. I did it in 2008 and between the ladders, knee-deep mud, timing your hikes with the tides, and general swampiness, 6-8 days is average. There are sections in the South end of the trail where it's not unusual to only get 8 km in.
i know plenty of people who go on 20-25km day-hikes as a casual outing that requires no planning or forethought beyond waking up in the morning and deciding to go for a hike, and they'd all say 6 days for the west coast trail is a reasonable pace.
That's quite a pace, wowie! Usually I'd be tuckered afterwards with a 0 planning 20-25 kilometer...er hike.
To be honest, the most enduro sport for me that I can do right now is kayaking, and I can do ~10 miles or so on flat water with my sorta tubby 10 footer in about 4 hours or so (with breaks)...and that's it, with a week's recovery afterwards.
Crazy distance for them, I'm impressed and a little jealous to be honest. Maybe I'll be there someday. :)))) <3
As somebody who’s hiked the length of the Pacific Crest Trail, I can say the West Coast Trail is very different from a walking trail. Basically a km feels like a mile on that trail. Everything is slippery, and steep. It wasn’t designed as a hiking trail it was an escape route for shipwrecks.
The 75km is a rough estimate. There are so many twists and turns, and logs to hop over, giant boulders to climb on top, plus there’s ~100 ladders over the whole train, some in better shape than others. Your actual traveled distance is closer to 90km.
5-6 days is a reasonable amount if you are not insane.
The second time I did it, there was a couple that ran it in two days. Only saw them at the start, but presumably they made. The reason they did 2 days is because you can pay to rent a tent + food about half way through. So they were running with just a two litter bottle of water and presumably some snacks.
But if you want to actually enjoy the views … even 7 days is not too slow
A lot of people have attempted this trail with your attitude and got absolutely wrecked by the physical demands and environment. It’s much harder than scenic photos of the island would lead you to expect. It’s also hard to understand how serious and unrelenting the mud and rain can be if you haven’t experienced west coast downpours before.
While I wouldn't call it a "death hike", I've had several broken bones and been involved in a number of rescues over the years, and yet I still remember the fright from almost losing multiple fingers crossing a river in a cable car when a group up ahead thought they'd pull the cable to help us... it's a rather unique trail with quite a variety of uncommon points of interest.