The 2018 season begins on the West Coast Trail on May 1st. All spaces are reservable and no spaces are set aside for standby hikers as they have in the past. Reserve online using the Parks Canada Reservation System for the West Coast Trail here.
WestCoastTrailClosesSept15th!
The 2018 West Coast Trail season will end on September 15th. In the hostile weather months the West Coast Trail is closed due to prolonged periods of heavy rain, strong winds, high tides, large waves and short days. The West Coast Trail closes to the public October 1st to April 30th.
There are lots of options to getting to the West Coast Trail. The trail is linear so you have to arrange to get to the trailhead as well as from your exit trailhead. Most West Coast Trail hikers drive to one trailhead then bus to the other and hike back to their car. Others take the West Coast Express bus from Victoria to one of the trailheads and take the same bus back to Victoria.
West Coast Trail Express Inc. provides shuttle bus service(May 1 to September 30) from Victoria and Nanaimo to the trailheads and between the trailheads of the West Coast Trail and the Juan de Fuca Trail. The West Coast Trail Bus picks up and drops off passengers at Victoria, Sooke, Port Renfrew, Gordon River, Mesachie Lake, Honeymoon Bay, Nanaimo, Nitinat, Pachena Bay, and Bamfield. In 2017 the prices were $110 Victoria to Pachena Bay, $90 Port Renfrew to Pachena Bay. These prices may seem expensive on first glance, however the route covers quite a distance of brutal logging roads. After you take into account of how much damage you saved on your own vehicle, the prices look pretty good!
West Coast Trail Express Bus (Victoria, Nanaimo, Bamfield, Nitinaht Junction, Port Renfrew) Toll-free: 1-888-999-2288 Website:trailbus.com/
Reservations can be made using a Visa or Mastercard. Online - by using the secure reservation page online at trailbus.com Phone - by calling us toll free from anywhere in Canada at 1-888-999-2288, or at our Victoria office at 250-477-8700. Individuals can save 20%, groups can save 40%, on return fares by making return trip reservations. Changes to reservations can be made up to the reservation date with no penalty. Changes made within 10 days of the reservation date are subject to availability. If seats are not available for the new date, you can cancel your reservation ( the cancellation policy will apply ), or you can receive a credit for your fare which must be used in the same calendar year. Cancellations require 10 days notice to receive a complete refund(less a $5.00 administration fee). Cancellations received with less than 10 days notice will be charged 10% per day ( example: 9 days notice = 90% return, 8 days notice = 80% return, etc.) There will be no refund when no notice is given to the West Coast Trail Express Office. Hikers with reservations, finishing the trail any day before their return reservation date, and up to 2 days after, have priority seating on the bus. They are given seats on the bus before anyone without reservations. This is not a guarantee that these hikers will have a seat. If the bus is fully booked, and there are no seats available, these hikers will have to wait for the bus on the following day. We advise anyone who is going to be early or late to call our office and give us notice. The more notice we have, the more likely we can have seats available.
Ferry Services
Butch Jack Hiker Ferry Services (Gordon River Trailhead) Tel: 250-647-5517 / 250-647-5434 Email: [email protected]
Lady Rose Marine Services (Passenger Ferry from Port Alberni to Bamfield) Tel: 250-723-8313 Toll-free: 1-800-663-7192 Website:ladyrosemarine.com
Nitinaht Lake Water Taxi / Nitinaht Wilderness Charters / Parking at Nitinaht Tel: 250-745-3509
WCT Information Centres
Information Centre Tel: 250-728-3234 (Pachena Bay) Tel: 250-647-5434 (Gordon River)
Ditidaht First Nations Visitor Centre and Store (Nitinaht Village) Tel: 250-745-3999
Trail Accommodation
West Coast Trail Comfort Camping Ditidaht First Nation – Ditidaht Development Corporation Website:westcoasttrail.com Email: [email protected]
Tel: 250-710-4453 (Hike)
Air Services
Pacific Seaplanes (Bamfield, Barclay Sound, Ucluelet, Tofino, Port Alberni, Port Renfrew, Nanaimo, Victoria and Vancouver) Tel: 250-616-5858 Website:pacificseaplanes.biz
When shipping in and out of Juan de Fuca Strait rapidly increased in the mid 1800's and alarming and costly number of ships were lost, the need for a inland trail was realized. It would take decades, and many more brutal and costly shipwrecks in the waters leading to ...
The West Coast Trailis incredible. Everything about it is amazing. From the wildly, incomprehensibly enormous trees to endless jaw dropping views. And it's tough. Very tough. It is a trail that shouldn't exist. Hiking trails always form out of the easiest route worn ...
The West Coast Trail hiking season is confined to just five months due to the dangerously stormy weather during the winter months. In the winter the days are short, tides are high and heavy rain and strong winds are frequent. Hiking the trail in the summer is tough ...
There are three entry/exit points for the West Coast Trail, however the midway entry/exit point at Nitinaht Narrows is for hikers only hiking part of the trail. The two main entry points are at Pachena Bay in the north(Bamfield) and Gordon River in the south(Port ...
There are lots of options to getting to the West Coast Trail. The trail is linear so you have to arrange to get to the trailhead as well as from your exit trailhead. Most West Coast Trail hikers drive to one trailhead then bus to the other and hike back to their car. ...
The West Coast Trailis a very tough hike. About one out of one hundred hikers don't make it, they need to be rescued. That's why there are so many fees. By the time you are done preparing and registering, you laugh at how hiking got so expensive. Isn't hiking usually ...
The campsite at Michigan Creek is the first or last campsite you will encounter on the West Coast Trail. First if you begin your hike at the Pachena trailhead(hiking south) and last if you begin in Port Renfrew(hiking north). The 12.1 kilometres(7.5 miles) ...
The Pachena Bay Campground is the closest campsite to the Pachena trailhead, not on the West Coast Trail, but near the trailhead.. Located on the far end of Pachena Beach, and about a 10 minute walk from the trailhead and the West Coast Trail registration building. ...
One of the most popular and beautiful campsites along the West Coast Trail is Tsusiat Falls. Tsusiat Falls is one of the main highlights on the trail with its dramatically wide and beautifully picturesque appearance. You will find Tsusiat Falls at the base of an ...
The Tsocowis Creek campsite at 16.5k has a decent beach with an excellent water source. Most hikers pass through the beach here on their way to Michigan if heading north or Tsusiat Falls if hiking south. The beach at Tsocowis is fairly decent and there is plenty of ...
You will pass the Dare shipwreck at the 39 kilometre mark of the West Coast Trail. The Graveyard of the Pacific claimed this 3 masted, 269 ton schooner on December 23rd, 1890. The Dare sailed out of ...
The Alaskan was a small, wooden hulled steamship of 150 tons built in Oregon in 1886. She was owned by a Vancouver freight company and was on route to Kildonan in Barkley Sound with 100 tons of box ...
The Soquel shipwreck, which lies just past Seabird Rocks, was a much larger ship than the Alaskan at 698 tons. She was a four masted schooner built in San Francisco, California in 1902. The Soquel was ...
The Puritan was a 4 masted schooner of 614 tons sailing inbound from San Francisco in ballast. She was heading for Port Gamble in Washington to pick up a load of lumber when the crew failed to ...
The Revere shipwreck lays at the bottom of Port San Juan between Thrasher Cove and Owen Point. Thrasher Cove is the first or last West Coast Trail campsite you will encounter. She was a large 3 ...
Day 1 on the West Coast Trail hiking south from the Pachena trailhead is a fairly relaxing first day. Your first beach, Pachena Beach is a lovely, wide, sandy arch that stretches to a thick wall of ...
Day 6 on the West Coast Trail is another short, yet brutally challenging day hiking between Cullite Cove and Camper Bay. The ladders and mud sections are numerous as you snake your way through the ...
Day 7 on the West Coast Trail from Camper Bay to Thrasher Cove or further along to the Gordon River trailhead gives you two route options. After three kilometres of very challenging rainforest ...
The gap between official West Coast Trail campsites is quite large after Tsusiat Falls at 25k. The next campsite heading south is at Cribs Creek at 42k, followed by Carmanah Creek at 46k. ...