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.

Disclaimer: We try to keep these directions up to date but they can change without notice because trail reroutes and logging.

Mount Benson from Witchcraft lake

Witchcraft trail up Mount Benson

One of the more popular ways to get up Mount Benson is from Witchcraft Lake. Getting to Witchcraft is straightforward. Driving along Jingle Pot from the south end(near the pub) take a left onto Kilpatrick Road. Nearly at the end of Kilpatrick turn right onto Benson View (Google Maps shows Kilpatrick going all the way to Witchcraft lake right now but that is incorrect). At the end of Benson View Road is Witchcraft Lake. The trail starts at the very end of the road near the yellow sign.The trail from Witchcraft is easy to follow with new signs provided by NALT. It’s about 3 km to the top from Witchcraft Lake and takes most people 2-3 hours.

Download the GPS track for Mount Benson from Witchcraft Lake

Mount Benson from Westwood Lake

Westwood Benson Trail

You can also hike up Mount Benson from Westwood lake. This trail is a little harder to follow than the one from Witchcraft. It is less steep but longer than the Witchcraft trail.To hike up Mount Benson from Westwood:

1. Start by going around the east end of the lake (to the right if you are facing the water from the main parking lot). Go all the way around the end and turn up onto the powerlines around the back.
2. Continue across the power lines and go straight up into the woods on the other side.
3. Continue straight up this trail all way up until you cross a stream and enter a clear cut. Follow the trail through clear cut and cross the road on the other side.
4. The trail goes from here up onto another logging road.
5. Cross this logging road, the trail continues just on the other side of it.
6. Turn right on this logging road and hike to where it intersects another road to form a “T”.
7. At the “T” intersection a trail will continue straight into the woods. Follow this trail until you hit another logging road then turn right and head up along this road.
8. Follow this road until you hit another intersection and a sign post.
9. From here you can go right and connect with the Witchcraft lake trails or you can go left and follow the Te’tuxtwon

From here there are good signposts up the rest of the way to the top. Basically follow the trails all the way up!

Mount Benson from Nanaimo Lakes Road

Benson Access Road

There is an access road that runs to the top of Benson but it’s gated to prevent vehicle access. While this prevents vehicle access you can still hike, bike and road the road that leads to the top. Head out Nanaimo Lakes Road from Wakesiah Ave. Where it changes from Nanaimo Lakes Road to South Forks Road there is a dirt road that leads off to the right. Take this and drive to the yellow gate. Crews still go in and out of the gate on a regular basis so don’t park in front of the gate. Start hiking at the gate and take right fork of the logging road. Follow the main road for about 5k and then take a right hand turn onto a smaller logging road. Follow this smaller road right to the top of Mount Benson! This way is quite a bit longer than the other two coming in at about 8 km each way. Check the photo below for what the smaller access road turn off looks like. I recommend grabbing the GPS track to know exactly where you are going.

Download the GPS track for Mount Benson from Nanaimo Lakes Road

Now go hike Mount Benson!

Getting up Mount Benson is easier than you think. If you haven’t been up there yet, you should pick a nice sunny day, pack up some food and water and get out on those trails.

As always, if you have any questions fill out the Contact Form or leave a comment below!

The post Hiking Mount Benson first appeared on Pack & Trail.

There are 2 main ways to get to Ammonite Falls. One from Doumont Road and the other Jameson (off of Kilpatrick and Jingle Pot).

Directions to Ammonite Falls from Jameson Road

This route is the easier way in to the falls compared to the Doumont route. Drive all the way to the end of Jameson Road. There is about 25 meters of dirt road before you get to the yellow gate. Make sure you park down the hill from the yellow gate in the proper parking lot. Your car will most likely be towed if you park by the gate.

Follow the dirt road off into the bush and get lost… I mean find the falls!

Stay on the main road at the first fork. Don’t go up to the left.Stay on the main road at the second fork. Don’t go down to the right.

The road will get a little steeper uphill here but not much. There will be a bit of a clearing at the end and the it turns to single track. Go straight into the trail and immediately hang a right to go over a little hump in the trail and then down the other side. You might be able to hear the creek by now. Keep this on your left and follow this trail. You’ll end up at a blue sign nailed to the tree. Keep to the left of this sign. You’ll go down another small hill and find yourself in a clearing at the end of a dirt road. Just head straight across the road and follow the little trail. You’ll end up just above Ammonite Falls.

Relax and take some photos at the viewpoint above the falls or continue down the rope and across the stream to get a real close look.

Variation: Hang a left at the clearing at the end of the old road and hike down a steep but short section of trail to Mini-Ammonite, a very, very small set of beautiful falls just above the larger Ammonite Falls.

Ammonite Falls Links

Nanaimo Information has a great page about Ammonite Falls.

The post Hike in Nanaimo: Ammonite Falls from Jameson Road first appeared on Pack & Trail.

The snow started about half way up and quickly covered the trail. We didn’t get into the deeper stuff until we reached the clearing and viewpoint at about 3/4. After that it was a slog to get up through the snow. Near the top it was almost impossible to get through the thick white stuff without sliding back 2 steps first. We had to switch off lead after a bit after I quickly burnt through the last of my energy. Ryan had his dog stuffed in the top of his jacket for the last kilometer of the hike because she was cold but he still kept on trucking up the hill.

The photo above was was near the top. I took a photo of the same tree just one week ago with hardly any snow around it. It’s the first photo from our first Benson Assault.

Near the top we popped out above the clouds and basked in the sunshine. Everyone else in Nanaimo saw a grey and rainy day. Ryan, Allan and I were getting a tan on the top of Benson!

Snow Over Nanaimo

With all the fresh snow in the past few days, there were no tracks to be seen when we got to the top. The clouds that were sitting over Nanaimo gave a strange perspective from Benson at only 1028 meters.

We headed back down the other side of the summit, down the Te’tuxw’ton Trail. This is my favorite part of the trail, especially heading up. Part of the way down we veered off on a steepcut that lead down back to the other trail we came up on. I had no idea there was going to be so much snow on this part of the trail. It was more than a meter in some sections and slowed our progress considerably. Every step, we sank to our hips and then wrestled with the snow to get out of the whole. I ended up sliding down the snow face first for part of it and then just crawling along the flat sections. It’s definitely time for snowshoes!

The post Assault on Benson: Too Much Snow! first appeared on Pack & Trail.

Last weekend I had the pleasure of getting up to the top for the first time in a long time with Erik Petersen. I can’t say that it was immensely pleasurable as the wind was howling and we couldn’t see much more than 50 feet. Just over the top though we got into a couple feet of snow and slid around till we met up with our turn off the trail. Stopping for lunch under a large tree while the snow is rapidly melting off its limbs may not have been the best idea but we enjoyed our meals nonetheless.

The stream there was flowing a lot and I’m assuming it’s going even more now with all this rain.

There was a bit of snow in the clearcut about half way up. It’s not enough to entirely cover to logs yet but that will come soon enough!

The top had a fair bit of snow in some spots and next to none in others. It all depends on where the wind hits. The more sheltered areas had almost 2 feet in them while the exposed areas had none. The wind was blowing like crazy when we were up there at lunchtime.

Next Sunday is another quick jaunt up the mountain to see what kind of snow has appeared in the last week with all the rain. We’ll report back to you then!

The post Assault on Benson: Numero uno first appeared on Pack & Trail.

We decide on the access road that begins on Nanaimo Lakes road and heads up the back of Mount Benson.

For some reason the track from last year didn’t work, so I loaded up some waypoints for the trail in my Colorado 300. After finally gathering in the Malaspina, err VIU parking lot, Ryan, Brett, and I in my truck and Mike, Jer, Andrew, Steph, and Greg in Mike’s truck head up Nanaimo Lakes road to find the access road. Ryan and I had made a day trip out of it last winter and had found the road no problem. There was a lot more snow now though and it was dark.We found the road a little slippery but no real problems for the 4×4’s and arrived in at the gate in no time. Everyone geared up and we were on our way. It was cold. I had a couple merino layers, a softshell, and a puffy down jacket on and I was just warm enough. A few minutes trudging through the snow on MSR Lightning Ascent snowshoes warmed me up pretty quick though.

I knew snowshoeing was a fair amount of work but apparently I had not hiked through 3 feet of powder for any distance before. There is a huge difference between the front and the back of the line, especially if there are a bunch of people in the line. Ryan led for a lot of it, he’s got long legs and has a ridiculous amount of energy, and Steph was close behind him or leading for the rest of it.

The rest of us were jockeying for last position.  When there is 7 people to pack down the snow in front of you, it’s nice and easy walking at the back 🙂

After about 1.5 hours shoein’ we arrived at a flat open area that Greg claimed to be the location of an old house. There was no trace so either Greg was a little off with his location calculations or someone had burned it down and it was buried under the snow. We’ll have to investigate in the spring.

All in all, a beautiful showshoe and a great start to the season.

Happy Hiking,

– Ross

The post Benson Access Road in the snow first appeared on Pack & Trail.