The West Coast Trail is an iconic backcountry adventure with over 100 ladders, thigh-high mud, hip-deep crossings in fast-flowing mountain-fed rivers, and spectacularly intense weather. It’s definitely a slog but it’s also incredibly worthwhile to photograph as the scenery is absolutely stunning! Here is my day-by-day West Coast Trail photo guide for 8 glorious days of survival hiking this bucket-list backcountry adventure.
Following 75 km (47 miles) along the west coast shore of Vancouver Island from Port Renfrew in the south to Bamfield in the north, the trail usually takes experienced backpackers well-equipped with appropriate gear 6-8 days to complete. I strongly believe, however, that if you are going to trek in some of the most beautiful temperate rainforest and rugged coastline in the world, it would be a shame to do this in any less than 8 days to fully enjoy the experience.
To protect the environment, the experience, and the hikers, the trail is open by reservation only from May to September with numbers limited to 70 people per day (25 starting from each end and 20 joining or leaving at the mid-way point). In fact, there are only 3 access points on the entire trail: Gordon River at Port Renfrew to the south, Pachena Bay at Bamfield to the north, and Nitinaht Narrows mid-way. Exit at any other point would result only from serious medical evacuation, of which there are approximately 80 to 100 each year!
Despite the grueling challenges, or more likely because of them, I truly believe that the West Coast Trail with its rugged beauty, sensory overload, and demand for endurance is one of the most amazing experiences in the world. After a 20 year absence, I was delighted to be back on The Trail in the summer of 2019. It was as intensely beautiful as I had remembered, and I was still up for the challenge.
1 Gordon River to Thrasher Cove
Following an evening camping at the Pacheedaht Campground in Port Renfrew, brimming with enthusiasm, anticipation and a suitable amount of fear, there is nothing quite as intimidating as being dropped off at the Gordon River trailhead with a pack laden down with gear to immediately face your first of over 100 ladders. The game is most definitely on and there is no turning back now.
The entire trail is 75 km (47 miles), but not every kilometer is the same. The trail is strikingly more difficult in the south with the southern 7 km (4 miles) of trail taking approximately the same amount of time as the northern 14 km (9 miles). In fact, the southern 22 km (14 miles) normally take 3 days to complete. It’s an exceptional trail from either direction, but I highly prefer starting in the south and tackling the hardest sections first – well rested, injury-free and full of energy. It’s also comforting to know that the trail gets a little bit easier with every step you take.
If you do start from the south, don’t be disheartened after your first few hours of endless steep slogging. It won’t be 8 straight days of this and you’ll be all the more satisfied when you arrive at Thrasher Cove.
Thrasher Cove is a gorgeous campsite on the water where half of the campers (those starting from the north) are noticeably grateful and deeply mindful that they are hours away from completing a life-changing journey, and the other half (those starting from the south) have a justified sense of accomplishment for following through on their plans, completing their demanding first day, and proving their resilience. As soon as your first day is complete, you are no longer considered a newbie and your advice and updates become invaluable to those travelling in the opposite direction.
2 Thrasher Cove to Camper Bay
Boulder fields, surge channels, Kellet Rock and Owen Point. These and a menagerie of ocean life are the attractions that await you if you choose to forgo the inland route and walk along the water’s edge. This section is so dangerously tide dependent that many will miss some of the most spectacular features on the West Coast Trail. Take your time and plan around the ocean. It’s worth it! For more information, read my journal entry Avoiding the Waves: How to Read a Tide Table to Plan Your Coastal Hike in Southwestern BC.
3 Camper Bay to Walbran Creek
Camper to Walbran is most definitely boot camp on the West Coast Trail. Roots, mud, and ladders with over 200 rungs that climb the equivalent of a 30-storey building! And yet somehow we made it in to camp earlier than expected on one serious endorphin high.
4 Walbran Creek to Carmanah Creek
After many days of slogging on the forest trail, it’s great to hike the beach and enjoy the iconic sea stacks of the West Coast Trail’s Bonilla Point. Even more amazing when the day ends with a free afternoon in the sunshine and a magnificent sunset at the spectacular Carmanah Lighthouse.
To read about how that sunset nearly ended in disaster, check out my journal entry Nearly Swept to Sea on the West Coast Trail: Why It’s so Important to Think About Safety in the Backcountry.
5 Carmanah Creek to Cribbs Creek
As I said, if you’re going to trek in some of the most beautiful temperate rainforest and rugged coastline in the world, wouldn’t you want to take a day off to enjoy it? We took a luxury day on the West Coast Trail where we hiked a mere 4 km from Carmanah Creek to Cribbs Creek and thoroughly enjoyed our day in the sunshine relaxing and watching the grey and humpback whales feed off shore. So worth it!
To learn why it’s so important to enjoy moments in nature, read my journal entry Why We All Need to Get Outside and Reconnect with Nature for a Meaningful Escape.
6 Cribbs Creek to Tsusiat Falls
And then the rains came. We woke up to torrential rain, a flooded creek, and a full moon-induced high tide that left seaweed at the door of our tent. Everything was soaked and getting wetter by the moment as we furiously broke camp and packed. Rain adds substantial weight to one’s gear and we felt every single ounce of it. What would normally have been an enjoyable day on the West Coast Trail turned in to 9 hours of hell slogging through a river of flash-flooded trail with my camera stowed deep in my pack.
And then the heavens broke and the beauty returned. And soon, the memory of the violent rainfall we awoke to was replaced by the glory of Tsusiat Falls, which had turned from a trickle in previous days to a majestic roaring wonder.
7 Tsusiat Falls to Michigan Creek
Let’s not forget that the West Coast Trail was created for a reason. The area is known as the “Graveyard of the Pacific” for the nearly 70 ships that have wrecked upon it’s shores.
The worst of these maritime disasters was the sinking of the Valencia in 1906. On January 22, the passenger ship Valencia lost her way in heavy fog and rain and struck a reef near Pachena Point. Over a period of 36 hours, the ship was slowly broken apart by huge waves. Few made it the short distance to shore and fewer still were able to reach safety once on land. In all, 133 persons perished in unspeakable conditions, including all women and children aboard.
In response to the disaster, the Canadian government improved an overgrown telegraph route along the coast and turned it into a lifesaving trail for shipwrecked mariners. Over time, technology improved, the frequency of shipwrecks declined, and in 1973, the West Coast Trail became part of the Pacific Rim National Park.
Though another spectacular day for us on the trail, it was important to consider its dark history when pausing at Valencia Bluffs, overlooking the site of the disaster, which is now marked by two beautiful red Adirondack chairs.
8 Michigan Creek to Pachena Bay
After a lovely 12 km hike on well-maintained trail, we reached the Pachena Bay trailhead and another expedition on the West Coast Trail was complete.
Hiking the West Coast Trail is painful and beautiful all at the same time. When it’s done, you swear you’ll never do it again and then the edges of your memory quickly fade and you can’t wait to go back. Such a powerful and memorable adventure!
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13 Responses
Wonderful photos and dialogue helps to bring back good memories of this hike. I hiked it in 2007 or 2008, and would love to hike it again!
Thanks for your kind words, Gerry. Glad it brought back such good memories. I too look forward to hiking the Trail again soon.
What a beautiful blog and most beautiful photos of your hike. Incredibly inspiring! I aspire to be an adventurer like you. What kind of camera did u take? Shannon from Ladner BC
Hi Shannon, thanks for your kind words.
On the West Coast Trail, I shoot with my Canon 5D Mk III body and my Sigma 12-24mm 4.5-5.6 II DG HSM, Canon 24mm f/1.4L II USM prime, and Canon 70-200mm f/2.8L IS USM lenses. I really enjoy taking long exposure shots so I also bring my Fotopro M5 Mini backpacking tripod, some neutral density filters, and a remote cable release. I also bring a polarizing filter (for the tide pools), memory cards, batteries, battery charger, an Anker power bank, the liner from my LowePro Flipside Sport 10L camera bag (which I pop in my backpack), and a Cotton Carrier harness (to securely strap my camera to my chest while I’m hiking). It’s a lot of gear, but I make sure to pare everything else down as best as I can and use ultralight equipment whenever possible.
If you’re interested in my West Coast Trail packing list, you can view and download it here https://alyswilliams.com/wp-content/uploads/Ultimate-WCT-Backpacking-Checklist.pdf and if you’re interested in my packing list for non-WCT backpacking trips (with full camera gear included), you can view and download it here: https://alyswilliams.com/wp-content/uploads/Photo-Backpacking-Checklist.pdf.
It’s so great to hear your enthusiasm for getting outdoors and I look forward to seeing you out there one day!
Hello! Thanks for the great descriptions and pictures. Any advice regarding safety on the ladders? That’s my biggest fear! Thanks!
Hi Kerri! I actually didn’t find the ladders bad at all. If you have a fear of heights then I imagine they could be a significant challenge, but otherwise, they’re not so bad. The nice thing about ladders is that they are predictable. The distance between rungs is consistent and you can get a good grip with your hands. This means that you can use your arms to take some of the load off your legs.
Sometimes a ladder is past its prime and in poor condition, but these days Parks maintains the trail so well that this is unlikely. I remember one ladder in 1999 that had spongy wood rungs (when present at all) and felt slightly overhanging, but that is likely a Trail memory that my mind has embellished over the years 😉.
Regarding safety, make sure to follow the ladder rules (eg, 1 person on a ladder at a time) and of course take all of them (even the short ones) facing towards the ladder not towards the view. Most importantly, take your time. If you’re nervous, let some people go ahead of you and then proceed at a slower pace that is comfortable for you. The West Coast Trail is not a race. There’s no bad campsite so no reason to rush into camp. The journey is the destination.
In all, the ladders enable you to get through sections of the trail much faster, more easily and less muddy than if you had to scale or descend the river banks without them. When it rained, I was very grateful for my hiking gloves on the ladders, but when it was sunny I only used them on the cable cars. Don’t fear the ladders. They make for impressive photos for our friends back home but aren’t so bad in real life. Enjoy!!
Hi Alys! Thank you very much for sharing your amazing photography and perspective on “the trail” I have had the privilege to hike it 3 times in the past 30 years. Your beautiful pictures and eloquent words bring back a flood of memories, better than any I have experienced before. I shared your web page with my 8 year old grandson, who turned to me and said “When can we go Papa?”
Hi David. Thank you so much for such a kind comment. I’m excited to continue sharing the WCT experience with each of my kids and would love to be able to share it with my future grandkids one day. I was so grateful to see how little the trail had changed between 1999 and 2019. Besides having bear boxes to more properly cache our food, the Trail was as wonderful as my memories had built it up to be. What was your experience? Is the current trail true to your earlier memories from over 30 years ago?
Beautiful photos!
In over 30 years of trekking the Trail, this is likely the most beautiful photo collection I’ve ever seen. I’m in awe and decdidedly jealous of your talent.
I can’t express how much your comment means to me, Wayne. Thank you 🙏 And thank you too for inspiring so many of us to venture out of our comfort zones and experience these life-changing connections with nature.
Wow…that was great!
I’m going June 7-14 – N2S. Guess I don’t need to bring my good camera now 😉. I’ll just point peeps here 👍.
Congratulations on securing a coveted spot! Pack light and enjoy every moment!! And thanks for the kind words 😊