Juan De Fuca Marine Trail
I first learned of the Juan De Fuca Marine Trail immediately after hiking the West Coast Trail I had just finished the hike and was walking into a Part Renfrew restaurant for food and I saw the sign for it and asked one of my fellow hikers what it was. They explained it was a less-known hike that continued where the West Coast Trail left off. Fast forward to this year, for a lot of reasons I’ve been in a mood to do something silly and had to take a shift off of work for a friend’s wedding and ended up with about 10 days to do something, so I flew myself to victoria, got a hostel for a night, hit the trail for a few days and then spent two more days in Victoria before flying home. One of those days was spent on a little honda scooter doing a lap around the city along the coastline, but that’s another tale for another time.
Day 1: Victoria to Port Renfrew to Botanical to Little Kuitshe Creek Campsite
Day one was a little rough, I had to be up nice and early to catch the bus from downtown Victoria to Port Renfrew which took somewhere around 3 hours, by the time the dust settled. From where the bus dropped me, and a few others off, it was about a 2.5km walk along a paved road to get to the trailhead, Botanical Beach. Along the way, I made friends with two younger guys who were doing the trail for the first time (but had done the West Coast Trail the year before). They pulled ahead of me at the start of the trek when I stopped to pay my camping fees (they did theirs online before starting). I stopped at Botanical to have a quick breakfast and take a look at the tide pools. This is where I made a big mistake. It didn’t seem that impressive or exciting to me so I didn’t hang around long. Turns out I should have waited for low tide. I later learned that it’s one of the best sites/beaches on the island when the tide is fully out. Lesson learned for next time. The trail from the beach was initially a nice forest walk through some nice big trees, eventually, the trees tightened in on the trail which turned into ugly roots and mud. Lots of mud. Before the trail got too bad I took a detour to Providence Cove where I met back up with the two young men I had somewhat befriended, as well as a pair of girls hiking. The guys and I intended to stay at Little Kuitshe while the two girls intended to stay at Sombrio beach so they could make a push the next day to avoid Chin Beach which they were told had no food cache boxes. From the cove to the campsite was a rough ugly hike, with ankle-deep mud, and slippery ankle buster roots. I overtook the two guys, one of whom said he was having problems with his knee. The girls were miles ahead and I didn’t see them again that day. Little Kuitshe campsite was fairly unimpressive, which is what I had read about it previously. It’s just a patch of land high above the water with space for tents. Hours after my arrival the two guys came into camp, one limping. His knee had really gotten bad so he was going to hike out in the morning and catch a ride back to town.
Day 2: Little Kuitshe to Chin Beach
Day 2 of hiking was far better than day 1. Way less mud and a lot more technical. It was still a lot of hiking in the trees with the occasional view of the ocean. Somewhere along the way was Sombrio beach which was a welcome relief from walking in the forest, it’s a coastal hike, let’s hike along the water! Sombrio was pretty busy since it’s a nice beach and easily accessible by car. I passed the two girls from the previous day, they were both fast asleep on the beach. I later learned from other hikers one of them had hurt her ankle and they had to quit. On the far east end was an unmarked stream with a trail that led to a waterfall. It’s called a secret waterfall, but it’s not that big of a secret based on how many people wandered in and out. Also, I asked someone about it and they pointed me right to it. After Sombrio it was time for one of the harder portions of the hike. I found it actually easier than day one because instead of a boggy mudhole, it was just elevation gain and loss. Fortunately, there was also a 2km ish stretch of a nice maintained gravel path. I got to Chin Beach and found the bear cache was actually there, but was under a very large tree and had been crushed flat. I dug some rope out of my pack and hung my food up near the outhouses. Later someone informed me there was a proper cache farther up the trail so I went to retrieve my food and move it. I found someone had set their tent up right underneath my food and right beside the bathroom. They had an entire beach they could camp on yet somehow they felt that under a stranger’s food and in the stench of an outhouse was the best spot. I wondered if they knew something I didn’t but settled on the more likely scenario that they just didn’t know a lot. I made friendly conversation with a couple, Chris and AJ, sun tanning on the beach and drinking wine, they seemed like my kind of people. They invited me to come by later for a campfire. While chatting with them, a couple came by and the girl announced she had lost a boot to the ocean. I wish I had asked how that happened, Chris, jumped up and shouted that he had found a single flip-flop sandal in their campsite when they arrived. Wouldnt you know it, it was the right foot and close to the right size. Luckily a highway runs parallel to the trail so there are a lot of opportunities to hike out when things like this happen. Later when I went back for a campfire, a few more people had shown up and it was quite a communal event. There were 3 more people there, one of whom was taking her friend on her first hike, that friend was exhausted and slept from about 5 pm until sometime the next day when I saw them again.
Day 3: Chin to Bear Beach
Day 3 was more challenging than day 2 overall, it was about the same level of difficulty, there was just more distance at that difficulty. At some point, I took a wrong turn and ended up going too far to turn back. I had to slog through calf-deep mud and climb a ladder made of tree roots to get back on the trail, all in view of the nice bridge I should have used to cross the little Valley. Later I found a steel bridge that had been destroyed by a large tree falling on it, I’m seeing a pattern here of trees wrecking things. I was told I could climb down, cross the shallow creek and then climb up… but there’s no sense of adventure there so instead I slid down the bridge, climbed onto the log, and then jumped to the other side. It sounds exciting but this was all about eight feet above the creek. Bear Beach was by far my favorite campsite. I was able to set up my little tent just above the high water mark on the shoreline and have a small fire in front of my tent. Also all the people I had met the evening before camped in the same area. The two newer hikers camped beside me again and I saw why they were so tired, their bags were nearly double the necessary size and set for someone a foot taller than them. I adjusted their bags as much as I could for proper fit and the following day I was told it helped a lot, hopefully, that’s true and they weren’t just being polite.
Day 4: Bear Beach to Mystic Beach to China Beach to Victoria
Day 4 was going to be an easy lazy day. I had 9km of “moderate” hiking and the bus was scheduled to pick me up at the trailhead at 6:30 pm. In the morning I got lucky and had my tent packed just before it started to lightly rain. The rain only lasted about an hour and was the only rain of my hike, a rare stroke of luck for a hike along the coast. The trail out was gentle and had a few ladders and bridges. The previous day I had damaged my water filter while showing someone how great it is. I use a Sawyer squeeze filter, basically, you fill a bladder with water (like a platypus bag) screw on the filter, and squeeze it into your water bottle… well I split the bag so I couldn’t squeeze. Luckily for me, I also had water purifying tables because the creeks run from roads and inhabited land. I filled my bottles with the cleanest stream water I could find and tossed two tablets in to be extra safe. After an hour of them doing their thing, I took a swig of what tasted like jacuzzi water. At least I know I won’t catch anything from the water. In my poor research phase, I had thought that the trail ended at China beach, but it actually ends at Mystic beach which shares a trailhead with China beach, hence my confusion. I got to mystic around noon. I wandered around and relaxed for a few hours and even managed to find some beach glass and a small cove on the west end. From there I walked the extra few km to China beach and waded in the cool water then sat back, relaxed, and listened to some music while I waited for the bus to come. Once back in Victoria I hit the first pizza place I could find for two slices and an ice cold rootbeer. I checked into the hostel, had a quick shower, and hurried to the attached bar for a beer.
Posted in Hiking, Travelwith 1 comment.