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Tips for Hiking the Juan de Fuca Trail

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Juan de Fuca Trail Articles

Tips for Hiking the Juan de Fuca Trail

Day hike the Juan de Fuca First

If you are new to the area or new to multi-day backpacking. I recommend day hiking one of the trail sections first. Spend a few hours to see what the trail is like and how hard it is. You’ll be more prepared and comfortable to spend 4 days on the trail after spending at least 1. For more see Day Hiking on the Juan de Fuca Trail.

Set up a Tarp First

It rains a lot of the west coast of Vancouver Island. The Juan de Fuca trail runs through a temperate rainforest after all. Carrying a small lightweight tarp does add a bit of weight but makes setting up camp and making meals dry and comfortable. Set the tarp up first then do everything else.

Guidebooks for the Juan de Fuca Trail

Giant Cedars, White Sands: Juan de Fuca Marine Trail Guidebook – A great paper guidebook to the trail first published in 1999.

Juan de Fuca Trail Articles

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  Juan de Fuca Trail

  Everything you need to know to day-hike or backpack the Juan de Fuca Trail on Vancouver Island, BC.

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  Day Hiking on the Juan de Fuca Marine Trail
  Most people know the Juan de Fuca trail as the 47km long coastal trail near Sooke that takes 4 days to hike. There are also… Read More »Day Hiking on the Juan de Fuca Marine Trail
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  Trip Reports: Great stories from the Juan de Fuca Trail
  Reading through trip reports is one of the best ways to get information to plan a trip. Speaking to a person face to face is… Read More »Trip Reports: Great stories from the Juan de Fuca Trail
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  The Juan de Fuca Marine Trail: A Must-Do Coastal Hike on Vancouver Island
  The Juan de Fuca Trail is a 47km hike along the west coast of Vancouver Island. It runs from just north of Victoria at Sooke… Read More »The Juan de Fuca Marine Trail: A Must-Do Coastal Hike on Vancouver Island
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  Running the Juan De Fuca Trail
  I can’t remember who came up with idea first. If it was my friend Ryan or if it was me. I have a feeling it… Read More »Running the Juan De Fuca Trail

The post Juan de Fuca Trail first appeared on Pack & Trail.

This post is about the 4 main places you can start a day hike on the Juan de Fuca trail. To follow along best, open up the BC Parks Juan de Fuca Trail Map so you can see where I’m talking about in the post below.

If you’re interested in spending multiple days on the gorgeous Juan de Fuca, we have a full guidebook that details every section of the trail, all the campsites and what you need to bring.

Where can you start hiking?

China Beach Trailhead to Mystic Beach

China Beach starts the trail at the south end nearest Sooke. This trailhead accesses the Juan de Fuca trail as well as the China Beach camping area. Take the trail down to Mystic Beach if you want to day hike from this end. The 4 km hike down to the beach is a beautiful walk along easy trail. The way back up is a more sweat-inducing so leave enough time and energy to get back up to the car! The beach is worth it though. I’ve spent whole days at Mystic Beach before. It’s a beautiful place.

The access to the China Beach parking lot is right off the highway and it’s paved. There are outhouses near the parking lot. 

Sombrio Beach

Sombrio Beach has become a favourite spot for surfers in recent years. It’s a much shorter drive from Victoria than Tofino. The beach is very rocky at the north end but still has a lot of sand at the south. It’s a nice place to hang out for the day. The beach is big enough that you can explore either direction for as long as you have time.The parking lot is only 10 minutes walk from the beach. It’s not paved and can be a rough drive down. Often the road gets washed out in places and is 4×4 only. There are outhouses near the tenting area on the beach. 

Parkinson Creek

Parkinson Creek is closer to Port Renfrew. There is a dirt road down off the highway to a small parking lot. The Juan de Fuca trail winds it’s way right through the parking lot and keeps going. There are outhouses near where you park.

There is no beach access from Parkinson Creek to the water but you can hike short distance on the trail either direction to find access to the beach. Parkinson Beach is at the 37 kilometer marker along the trail. Only 10km north and you will be at Botanical Beach, the north end of the trail. 

Botanical Beach

Botanical Beach is the northernmost entrance to the Juan de Fuca trail. It’s a beautiful beach to explore on it’s own with many tidepools. You can hike the trails and beach around Botanical Beach without really getting on the Juan de Fuca Trail itself. The Botanical Beach parking lot is all paved and easily accessed by a short drive out of Port Renfrew 

Hidden side trails

There are some side trails at other points along the Juan de Fuca trail that access the road. Giant Cedars, White Sands by can get you started on those hidden side trails. 

Gear

As for the gear for the trail, you probably won’t need anything special. Some sturdy shoes or hiking boots, a backpack with food and water, and your camera to capture the beautiful scenes will likely be all you need. For sunny or overcast days, sunscreen and hat come in handy. Exploring tide pools all day keeps you in the sun for long periods of time. Always think about the 10 Essentials on every hike and take what you need to be safe.

For more tips on hiking the trail in multiple days, see 13 (+1) Tips for Hiking the Juan de Fuca Trail.

The post Day Hiking on the Juan de Fuca Marine Trail first appeared on Pack & Trail.

I try to keep trip reports around for the Juan de Fuca Trail, it being one of my favourite hikes, so I can keep up to date on what’s happening on the trail. These are the latest ones I’ve found. 

Trip Reports

2018

Crenellated’s 3-day Trip Report – Reddit – May 2018

Treord8’s 3-day Trip Report – ClubTread – May 2018

Michal’s 4-day Trip Report – Hiking is Good – June 2018

Brooke Willson’s 3-day Trip Report – Fresh Air and Freedom – August 30, 2018

2017

Angelica Lauzon’s 3-day Winter Trip Report – Island Mountain Ramblers – February, 2017

Ben Massey’s 4-day Trip Report – BenMassey.ca – July 7, 2017

2016

Backpacks and Bike Racks 3-day Trip Report – Backpacks and Bike Racks – March 2016

Luke’s Trip Report Video – Life of Luke on YouTube – July 2016

2015

Justin’s Trip Report – Eating Snow Around the World – July 2015

2014

Clueless Hiker – CluelessHiker.blogspot.ca – September 2014

2013

Murray Coates 5-day Trip Report – Travelblog.org – April 2013

2012

Jenny Strong’s 4-day Trip Report – Jenny Strong’s Blog – August 2012

2011

Matt and Caroline’s 4-day Trip Report on Matt and Carolines’ Blogspot – July 2011

Henry Armitage’s 3-day Trip Report – hpka.net – June 2011

2009

Lonny Barr’s 3-day Trip Report on SurfingVancouverIsland.com – May 2009

Dan Durston’s Trip Report on the BackpackingLight.com Forums – October 29-23rd 2009

2007

Mark Feenstra’s 4-day Trip Report on MarkFeenstra.com from August 2007

Running Trip Reports

Some of the crazy ones that run the trail actually write trip reports too (oh right…. I ran it in 2010)

Ross Collicutt’s 1-day Run Trip Report (my own) on PackandTrail.com – August 2010

Jeff Hunt’s 1-day Run Trip Report on TrailAdventurer.Blogspot.ca – August 2008 

Other Articles

Hiking the Juan de Fuca Trail on TravelingCanucks.com

Add your report

If you know of other good trip reports or articles about the Juan de Fuca let me know! I’ll add them to the list.

The post Trip Reports: Great stories from the Juan de Fuca Trail first appeared on Pack & Trail.

The Juan de Fuca features beautiful (and often muddy) single track trail through the coastal forest and along the rock and sand beaches. Portions of the trail can be done along the forest trail or the beach. Multiple areas of the trail are cut off at high-tide which can make timing important.

Campsites are in designated spots along the trail or on a few of the beaches. Distances hiking between the campsites range from 9km to 14km. Most people take between 4 and  6 days on the trail. 5 days is a perfect pace to hike the trail at but you may have to squish it into 4 to fit into the pesky schedule of those day jobs.

The south end of the trail undulates up and down adding up to hundreds of metres of elevation gain and loss over the trail. One particular hill up out of a creek and over a ridge near the middle of the trail felt so long, I dubbed it “the neverending hill”. The north end flattens out considerably and is a relaxing hike through the coastal forest over boardwalk and soft spongy ground.

You’ll see a huge variety of plant, tree and animal life along the trail. The plants range from tiny shrubs all the way to massive old growth cedars. Most of the forest is spacious and open but parts grow so tightly hardly any light hits the trail.

Birds and and other  animals are often on the trail and may get into your food. Most of the campsites have bear caches where you can store your food overnight to prevent any issues. It’s always a good idea to bring some rope to hang it from a tree just in case. You probably don’t want to fight a bear over your food in the middle of the night.

Cougars and bears are fairly common on this part of the island so it’s recommended you make noise or carry bear bells to warn them of your arrival. Animals sightings are advertised at each information board along the trail.

If you’re really up for a speedy hike, a group from Victoria runs the 47km long single track trail in less than one day. Some of the times have gotten down around 5 or 6 hours for the entire trail. Now that’s a fast hike!

There’s more trail information on the BC Parks Juan de Fuca Trail page.

If you’re looking for a guidebook for all the details on spending a night (or 3!) out on the Juan de Fuca trail we have a full guidebook just for you with trail descriptions, gps tracks and 3, 4 and 5 day itineraries.

Comments!

Have you hiked the Juan de Fuca? What was your favourite part? 

The post The Juan de Fuca Marine Trail: A Must-Do Coastal Hike on Vancouver Island first appeared on Pack & Trail.

The idea grew into a plan. Then an exact date was set. Then some details were figured out. It was actually going to happen.

The Juan De Fuca Marine Trail is a 47km multi-day hike from Mystic Beach near Jordan River to Botanical Beach near Port Renfrew. It’s just north of Sooke on the West Coast of Vancouver Island and just south of Bamfield and the West Coast Trail. The trail consists of a lot of dirt switchbacks up ridges and down over streams, some stairs and boardwalks and a few suspension bridges.

I spent a few weeks planning out the details. I threw an event up on Facebook assuming that there wouldn’t be anyone else crazy enough to run the Juan De Fuca.  

6 other people signed up to run. I couldn’t believe it. In the end it was too good to be true as most of them dropped out.

With the plan set and most of my gear packed, I sat down the night before to go over the plan. Everything was in place, I had worried as much as I could. It was time to let things get going and see how it goes.

And it begins…

The first bridge on the Juan de Fuca in the dark.

I can’t believe I’m doing this. It’s 2:30 in the morning. I don’t think I’ve ever woken up this early to do anything in my life. It’s often the time I start sleeping.

I haul my non-responsive body out of bed and get my gear together. I’m hoping the adrenaline will kick in at some point and I’ll get a wake-up boost. It doesn’t happen. 3am rolls around. I hop into Ryan’s car and we’re off to Port Renfrew.

Heading south we turn to Lake Cowichan just before Duncan. The fastest way to Port Renfrew from anywhere north of Duncan is through a paved logging road from Lake Cowichan. To find it just drive straight through Lake Cowichan until you see a sign on the right for Port Renfrew. Turn left and you’re on the almost 60 k backroad. Not having any streetlights made the road a little creepy. The car’s highbeams were making the trees glow a pale green on either side of the road. We passed a few elk. I was just trying to stay awake.

We hit Port Renfrew and kept going. We were heading to the Mystic beach trailhead to start. The 30 minute drive from Renfrew was a poignant reminder of the length of trail we were about to run. With all the coffee and water from that morning running its course, we had to stop for a bathroom break. I had my socks drying on my lap for the drive down and had forgotten about them. We hopped back in the car and headed off down the road. I start looking for my socks. Only one sock….One u-turn, a quick sock grab and another u-turn later, we were on our way and made it to the trailhead.

I couldn’t believe it, this was really happening. I was starting to get psyched now. We had originally planned to start at 4am. I had no idea how long we were going to take so earlier sounded better. We moved it to 5 to try and take advantage of the later light but it didn’t help. Things were still pitch black at 5:30 when we got to the trailhead.

Just after 5:30am we had our bags packed, our headlamps on, fees paid and were off at a trot. Hiking in the dark with a small headlamp isn’t easy, running is even harder. It was tough to go at any sort of speed with all the roots and rocks and not being able to see either of them in the dark. It was exhilarating! If you’ve ever gone trail running during the day, you know how fun it can be. Multiply that fun a bunch when you do it at night.

The first couple kilometres headed mostly downhill towards Mystic Beach, a beautiful part of the trail when you can see it. We walked along the beach and then headed back up into the woods. Running on the beach is a tough but necessary evil when it comes to doing long trails around here. We walked them for the most part, in part to conserve energy and hopefully prevent any major accidents on the rocks. Mystic was nice and sandy. I usually love this kind of beach but the sand saps your much-needed energy on a run.

Why am I doing this?

We headed off into the bush after Mystic and then back down to Bear Beach. I’m glad we hit the trails right. There are a few in this area that take you up to the highway. We were supposed to meet up with a couple other people on the trail that had come up from Victoria to run it as well. I assumed they beat us to Sombrio Beach and then bailed or hadn’t even started for some reason. In the end we found out they had taken a wrong turn at Bear and ended up on the highway. Normally a little detour is a pretty break from the trail but when you’re already running 47km just to finish the trail, a 3km detour is not a fun way to start!

So the pretty Juan De Fuca Trail map says we’re done the “moderate” section and the most difficult section is next. I wracked my brain on the way down trying to remember the ups and downs of this section of the trail from the last time I hiked it. All I could remember was there were a lot of them. I think I blocked the details from my memory. Or my muscles did.

I was able to get into a bit of a rhythm. Each of the hills and valleys were similar to each other in terms of running them that you didn’t have to think too much of how to get the job done. Hike up, run down, hike up, run down. None of it was easy.

We hit the emergency shelter at Chin Beach and slowed down a bit to have a bar. There was some beach here so we took it easy walking. Easy meaning not running, not easy like a Sunday stroll through the garden. One slip up here and you put your running on hold for 2 months, never mind not being able to finish the trail. The big rocks were slippery and hardly uniform in shape. I’m going to try my hardest to keep some speed through the beach sections next time I run the trail. For now it was nice to not push it to hard.

Hitting the trails after Chin, I was tired but my hopes were up. This was the last beach section before Sombrio. We were almost at our “half-way” point where we could sit and rest. That’s what kept me going. I only forgot one minor detail. The biggest, longest, most tortuous climb stood between us and Sombrio.  

The bees must have picked up on our hesitation. I was getting myself psyched up for the big climb and tossing back some Sharkies when I hear “aahhh, owwww , run!” from Ryan. I don’t need to be told twice to get the hell out of wasp territory.

Torture

I was thinking just a few more ups and downs till Sombrio. That’s not that bad. The worst was almost over and then it was an easy stroll to the end. I forgot about ridge I later nicknamed Everest. I began the climb thinking that this was just one more of the climbs that riddled the trail. The only difference was that I couldn’t see the top. No big deal. My knees were sore from the pounding downhill, my quads on fire from the near-constant climbing, my lungs screaming from how hard everything was working but Sombrio was just around the corner, I couldn’t give up yet. The uphill continued it’s dirty assault. Turning this way and that, switchbacking up onto the top of the ridge, yet another uphill would appear just as the previous finished. It was like an optical illusion. The uphill kept going forever and I wasn’t moving anywhere.

The top finally appeared. It looked to be another false summit like the rest of the “tops” but on closer inspection it turned into flat trail. Sweet, sweet flat trail. I don’t think I got excited because there was just not enough energy to go between keeping my legs going and thinking about finally hitting Sombrio. The sweet, sweet flat trail turned out to be the longest non-uphill section of the trail and it was amazing. Flying (little bit of an overstatement) down the trail, whipping by the lush green trees, sucking down the fresh ocean-scented air, it felt good to be alive and I was reminded why I was doing this epic grind in the first place. Long runs have to have some small wins to keep you going and this was definitely one of those.

“Half-way”

After climbing Everest we were headed downhill to the beach. I couldn’t wait. I love to slow down and take in the what scenery I can but that was the last thing on my mind at this point. Thinking about just getting to Sombrio so much my memory neglected to remind me of the length of the beach. It might have been that I could see our next stop but I still wasn’t moving very fast. Luckily just above the high-tide mark on the beach there’s a shelf of rock that’s quite stable. Walking on that proved to be much nicer than the large rocks on Chin and I took what speed I could.

Back on to the trail. Over the suspension bridge. I could just taste it. And out to the tent pad where our support crew was waiting. We did it! Well…. half of it. The hard part was over. I was feeling tired but good as I refilled my water, slurped some Gatorade and ate a protein bar. It hadn’t hit me yet that we had just run longer than we’ve ever run before. The Kusam Klimb was the longest and hardest run I had done up until that point but the Juan De Fuca had already been much tougher. We weren’t done yet but we only had 20km to go.  I couldn’t believe what I was thinking…. only 20km to go.

I was starting to get chilled sitting so we started to packup. One of the things I did wish I had on the trail was a super light running jacket. At Sombrio and a couple other places, it would have been nice to whip out a tiny jacket and throw it on for a few minutes to keep the heat in. I was mentally keeping a list of things for next time.

A Bear!

Sort of. Everyone said there was a bear on the beach between us and the trailhead. We didn’t see it. He must have thought, “Holy crap, those dudes are running this gnarly trail. I don’t want to get in their way.”

Wasps!

Well, only one.

We were making good time on the trail after Sombrio. The little lunch break raised my spirits and I was excited to get running. One thing kept nagging at me from the back of my mind; I was nervous about the wasps. I had hiked the Botanical to Sombrio half the week before and my girlfriend and I both got stung at different points on the trail. One of the spots we saw a bunch of wasps circling around a nest in the ground. 3 of us got past but one of the little bastards followed us about 50 meters down the trail and got my girlfriend in the leg. I was trying to picture exactly where that spot was in my head. I didn’t want to come running around the corner and get my leg stuck in a wasp nest. As you can tell I’m not a big fan of wasps.

Whew.

Made it past the spot where my girlfriend got stung the week before.

Whew.

Passed the spot where I got stung the week before. Made it. All I’ve got to worry about is getting to the end now. Won’t have to think about any more…..Ouch.

One of the little bastards got me in the front of the leg. I didn’t hear it or see it but definitely felt it. Because I swell up a fair amount when I get stung, I had an epi-pen with me. If I were to get stung in the neck or face, there’s a pretty good chance I’d need to get out of the bush asap and possibly stab that pen in the leg. That’s never happened before and I didn’t want test the procedure. It was only on the front of my leg so the chances were almost zero that I’d need the pen but my leg would still swell up a bit and it would be painful to run on it.

Someone had mentioned to me a couple weeks prior that putting a penny on stings prevents them from swelling. What the hell, I’ve got nothing to lose. Packing my stuff that morning I tossed a couple pennies in my bag hoping I wouldn’t have to use them. After getting down the trail a bit hoping I didn’t stop near a nest I grabbed some tape and my pocket change and slapped it on the wound. Weird, but ok. Time to run.

With my fingers crossed that we wouldn’t run into any more winged devils, we put rubber to pavement, err…dirt.

This part of the trail was easier. It wasn’t huge crazy hills like the first part and it didn’t have as many logs, stairs and roots to go around. Nevertheless, I still had trouble keeping my head straight. The last few kilometres were an intense mental workout. Thank god for trail markers. They definitely kept me going being able to count down like that. I was trying to see how fast each of the kilometres were but I’d stop timing to concentrate on a tricky trail section and lose count. The number of kilometres left was going down. That’s all that mattered. 6, 5, 4, 3 ….

I’ve never had to mentally push myself so hard to get running again before. The little ups and downs in the last section broke my pace just enough that it was hard to get going again. Just the little bump up to the next boardwalk and my legs just didn’t want to go. They could, I know they could. After a bit of walking, a pep talk (more verbal abuse aimed at my lethargic muscles), they got moving again and I could get into a short groove. Until the next bump.The last part of trail is a beautiful flat section that I couldn’t express in words how happy I was too see. Coming out of the woods and getting closer to the beach, I could tell that we were almost there. I could just taste it. I couldn’t remember exactly which corner was the last. But I had to be close. Over a root, across a bordwalk, around a corner, and there it was.

Getting up at 2:30am, travelling 2 hours, starting at 5:30 am, running 47 kilometers. 7 and a half hours after we started running, we were muddy, we were exhausted, we were stung. But we were done. Just before 1pm we strolled out onto the beach, following the directions of an awesome sign care of our support crew.

I can’t think of anything quite like the satisfaction and relief of having just run 47 kilometres. I’ve played a lot of sports and the game just ends. I’ve walked a lot of hikes before and you hit the peak and it’s over. I’ve run a lot of races and you cross the finish line and you’re done. None of them came close to that feeling of pushing your muscles until they can’t move, of pushing your mind until it can’t focus, and of running those 47 paintful, blissful, awesome kilometers.

Now for the West Coast Trail.

Finally done running the Juan de Fuca

The post Running the Juan De Fuca Trail first appeared on Pack & Trail.