BestHike editor Rick McCharles
I’ll be offline the coming week. I’m hiking the West Coast Trail.
This time I’m starting at Nitinat.
Hiking towards Port Renfrew for as far as I like.
Then backtracking to Bamfield.
I’ll try not to get injured this time. 
BestHike editor Rick McCharles
The first time I hiked the West Coast Trail I fell 7 times in 7 days.
No injury.
June 2021 I fell only twice in 6 days. An improvement. But broke a camera on the first. And badly bruised my thigh on the second. 
About one in a hundred hikers are evacuated on the very challenging West Coast Trail.
MANY are carrying more weight than they can comfortably balance.
As a Gymnastics coach, I teach kids the safest ways to land and fall. In this video I’ve applied those same techniques for hikers. Absorb IMPACT FORCES over time and surface area.
BEST strategy is to pull in your arms (dropping poles). Take the first impact landing on your backpack.
Having things dangling can complicate. Keep your pack as compact as possible. Fragile equipment protected inside.
Click PLAY or watch it on YouTube.
BEFORE you hike — practice falling deliberately on to your pack (filled with pillows).
When it happens for real on the trail, it’s often FEELS in slow motion. Do not flail. Pulling in your arms should be highest priority.
YouTube superstar Kraig Adams headed for Peru to do the fantastic Huayhuash Circuit.
Unfortunately it was June 2021. Peru had become the nation with the highest COVID related death rate.
As a result, Kraig needed to switch to famed Laguna 69 out of Huaraz, one of our top 10 hiking towns in the world.
As always, his video is fantastic. By far the best I’ve seen on Laguna 69.
Click PLAY or watch it on YouTube.
Film maker Dylan Moron hiked the Te Araroa, New Zealand’s thru hike, in 2019, interviewing others alone the way.
It turned out to be a terrific documentary. (21 min)
Click PLAY or watch it on YouTube.
Sponsored by Black Diamond Equipment.
King, a mountaineer and adventurer, is attempting to climb the world’s tallest mountains. If he succeeds, he’ll be the first African American to climb the 14 summits (the seven summits plus the world’s seven tallest volcanoes).
But, “conquering mountains” isn’t his actual goal. He knows that bringing diversity to the outdoors is the real challenge. …
Click PLAY or watch it on YouTube.
Trip report by BestHike editor Rick McCharles.
Day 0 | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | gear | video
I awoke in the morning wondering whether my injured leg could get me out in time for the 3:30 ferry across the Gordon river.
I had ALL DAY to make 10km.
My leg felt no worse. And no better. Every step hurt but it seemed full strength.
Two choices, both challenging:
I headed for the shelf.
First challenge — many surge channels.
Happily, the tide was very low. Waves almost non-existent.
Best weather of the week.
I was able to jump or walk around all surge channels without trouble.
Plan worked. I reached Owen Point at exactly lowest tide.
A highlight of the West Coast Trail.
Next challenge: HUGE boulders and log walking.
As a former gymnast, I enjoy scrambles. No problems.
I arrived Thrasher Cove before Noon.
From here my guidebook estimated 4 hours for 6km all inland. It could’t possibly take me that long, even injured. 
Could it?
The Thrash is a steep, switchbacking scramble from the beach up to the high inland trail.
It seemed to take forever to reach the famed Donkey Engine.
I started to worry about time. There is some gorgeous easy trail walking on the final 5km, as well. Nobody understands WHY this section takes so long.
Donkey engines were used to pull huge logs, back in the day.
I didn’t reach the final ladder down to the Gordon river until 3:25pm, 5 minutes before the (supposed) deadline to cross.
Whew.
As required, I waltzed into the West Coast Trail office to check off the trail. Relieved.
I had a second permit to start the next day BACK to Bamfield. A WCT yoyo. But had to cancel due to injury.
Easiest was to simply change the reservation. Out of the blue, I decided on July 3rd out of Nitinat.
Once the excitement of finishing ebbed, my leg really started hurting on the slow plod 5km into Port Renfrew town.
Just before I got to the hiker’s hut I had booked, 3 friends from the trail stopped to ask me if I wanted a ride to Nanaimo.
Sweet.
That was exactly what I wanted to do.
I collected my resupply. Cancelled my reservation at the hiker’s hut.
Got home before 9pm.
And I’m already looking forward to another West Coast Trail week in July.
Trip report by BestHike editor Rick McCharles.
Wow. What a fantastic campsite.
Protected from the rain by the cliff, I had my own personal kitchen.
Here’s the impassable headland at Cullite.
Therefore everyone heads up the the ladders. Those at Cullite highest of all.
Top of the stairs is a quagmire of mud and trippy roots.
But the inland trail can be beautiful.
Wild and weird mushrooms.
One of the most interesting creatures is the Banana slug.
If you could eat them, you’d never starve. And they have been eaten by humans — but are not appetizing. Remove the slime first.
DAMN. I slipped in a mud pit — face first — badly bruising my thigh on a hidden root.
The leg seemed to work … but was painful. I limped on with the logic of walking it off.
I can’t go on, I’ll go on.
Our plan had been to camp on the beach Km 65 . Cross Owen Point at low tide next morning. And out to Port Renfrew.
Km 65 is only 8km from Cullite — but the short day sounded good since I was now injured and moving slowly.
Unfortunately there was no place to set up a tent near Km 65.
I decided to camp right on the trail. A good spot, actually.
I was able to secure my food because I’d carried it in an Ursack.
No campfire.
Went to be early hoping the leg wouldn’t hematoma.
Trip report by BestHike editor Rick McCharles.
Day 0 | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6
My good camera died permanently 
the previous day. So I have fewer photos from the last 3 days.
Cribs is unique. I love the weird natural rock breakwater.
Here’s the campsite.
Pit toilets are excellent on the the WCT by the way. Some of the best I’ve seen around the world.
Again, I started on the beach in my water shoes. The weather steadily improving.
The iconic image of the West Coast Trail for me is a sea stack. Most of those are on the Port Renfrew end.
Wolves are common on beaches here now. We saw many prints.
In fact, a woman from Carmanah Light Station was interviewing hikers and recording what wildlife they’d seen.
I climbed the stairs up to the Light Station, even though visiting was still not allowed due to COVID.
It doesn’t take long to walk around. And drop back to the beach.
NOTE – I was told the very WORST inland trail of all right now is the section heading towards Bamfield from the Light Station. I was also told it would be CLOSED until improvements could be made.
Nearby is legendary Chez Monique’s, a popular snack bar on the trail for decades. Monique Knighton ran that — but died New Year’s Eve 2017 at age-78.
Rumour had been that it would not reopen for 2021.
SURPRISED I was to find a family at the old location. They hoped to reopen to some extent this season when supplies arrived.
It’s a pretty beach walk from here.
The weather kept improving.
Bonilla Point. Vancouver Point,
Cablecar over Walbran Creek.
From Walbran to Cullite I stayed up on the inland trail, bypassing Adrenaline Surge, the most infamous on the WCT.
I actually like the ladders, each time considering how the trail must have been before they were constructed.
This was my first time crossing the magnificent new suspension bridge over Logan Creek. While this climate could quickly overgrow most of the manmade structures, this bridge will survive for hundreds of years.
One more cable car. And I dropped down to camp.
Arriving late yet again, there were only two obvious campsites left at Cullite.
But mine was a good one. Mostly sheltered from the rain.
Guys from my shuttle van camped 4 of 5 nights at the same spots as me. They got a big fire roaring every night.
A big fire to try to dry their hiking boots. Not the best footwear for the WCT in my opinion.
Next day I saw a hiker had abandoned his.
Trip report by BestHike editor Rick McCharles.
Finally. Serious rain.
But I was dry in a little tent secured under a Tsusiat cliff overhang. Didn’t need my fly.
Put on the water shoes — trail runners with neoprene booties — in the morning as I’d be starting on the beach. Tide was low enough.
My rain gear perfect.
I enjoyed walking through Tsusiat Point a second time, 12 hours after exploring it the previous evening.
The shelf in the rain is classic West Coast Trail. But you are forced inland at the impassable headlands of Tsuquadra Point.
I stayed with the water shoes due to muddy pools on the inland trails.
IF you have the agility of a gymnast, you can often save time by walking natural log bridges.
In the rain, it’s tempting to stop and see if there is availability at the Ditidaht First Nation Comfort Camp.
The inland trails were overgrown after having seen no hikers for almost 2 years. The WCT was closed due to COVID in 2020.
It’s always a thrill to reach Nitinat Narrows, cold, deep and fast moving tidal waters. A symbolic half way point.
For days I’d been looking forward to fresh caught salmon lunch.
There are cabins to rent here though I’ve never stayed.
As you can see, my camera fogged up badly.
Departing the crab shack, there’s a lot of new (slippery) boardwalk. Careful.
And the way got even more overgrown. At one point, I thought I’d missed the main trail. Tempted to head back to the crab shack to borrow a machete.
There’s a good suspension bridge over the Cheewhat river.
This day I really enjoyed switching back and forth between trail and coastline.
At one point — for fun — we tried and failed to cross an impassable headland. Waves were too high to wade. I turned back to the last beach access, but some younger hikers managed to scramble up the cliff to rejoin the inland trail.
Didn’t arrive Cribs until 7:30pm. Very tired.
Set up my tent in the trees in the first available spot. Next to the outhouse.
Trip report by BestHike editor Rick McCharles.
Good morning.
Another surprisingly clear day for June on the WET Coast Trail.
You head south from Michigan on the beach. But I wore my DRY shoes with wool socks. Optimistic.
The usual rule on the WCT is to take the beach unless forced inland by tide, weather or impassable headlands. I stayed on the beach this morning as long as I could.
Between Billy Goat and Trestle Creek you MUST head up. Happily, it’s a relatively easy section of trail walking, even after being overgrown during the pandemic closure year.
One of the highlights of inland scrambles is admiring old growth trees.
At Trestle, I headed back down to the coast. Switched to my grippy trail runners with neoprene booties. I would end up wearing my “wet footwear” at least 75% of the time. I’ll wear the same on future WCT hikes.
At the Klanawa river I headed back up to do the cable car crossing. FUN and a bit challenging if you’re alone.
It’s about 3km further to famed Tsusiat Falls.
Plenty of ladders.
Challenging, trippy, muddy trails, as well.
I was taking many panorama shots on my iPhone. Some I’ll use in videos. They can make interesting speed ramps.
Arriving about 5pm I was surprised to see the only “cave” not occupied. I grabbed it instantly.
It’s illegal to camp in caves on the WCT, but you could argue this one is more of a slot in the cliff face. Still, it’s deep enough to shield from rain.
I tried my best to keep sand out of the tent.
NO I didn’t swim. I’m still chilled from a plunge here in 2004 !!
In the past these famed falls have been crowded and littered. But post-pandemic we only had about 15 people sharing a BIG space.
Evening I went exploring Tsusiat Point at low tide. The highlight of the day.
