I am hoping that 2020 will bring similar adventures and even more opportunities to explore both locally and abroad.

As soon as you step foot on shore you are greeted by a small taste of what is to come later on in the hike as you have to ascend a step bank using a fixed rope, something that will become common place later in the trip, nothing like a nice easy warm up. Once you climb up to the highest point on the trail you get into one of the upland bog sections of the trail, this is a truly unique ecosystem that feels more like the alpine than something so close to the coast.

After the longest overland section is complete you are back on the coast although the route takes hikers on a mix of beach and overland, whatever offers the least resistance the rest of the trail. Our first night we made camp at the Nahwitti River which at one was the site of an old settlement. If you look closely across the river from the established campsite you can spot of of the remaining structures.

Day 2 we had a leisurely start to our day with the goal of making it to Cape Sutil, the northern most tip of Vancouver Island, although the actual tip is of Cape Sutil is outside of the park and has restricted access that should be respected. Before making it to Cape Sutil you need to decent “long leg stairs” a substantial series of steps which has the one tidal cut off at the bottom which was part of the reason for the late start. We enjoy a late lunch near the tidal cutoff which has a few small sea caves worth exploring.

Shortly after this you are into some of the most technical hiking on the trail, a series of rocky headlands that has hikers going up and down a number of step slopes.

Cape Sutil itself was a stunningly beautiful beach with sweeping views and in our case totally deserted, even the ranger outpost was empty. I have to say one of the perks of remote hikes like this is unusual feeling of being alone in the world.

Leaving Cape Sutil you traverse a series of pocket beaches and rocky headlines. Along the way you see some sweeping beaches and you go past a unique geological feature a tombolo which was a great location to stop for lunch.

Getting into camp at Irony creek it was another stunning location and the one camp that had the fresh water source close to camp. One of the oddest things about this trail was that the water source was often up to 500m away from camp which is not always the most convenient. Other hikes I have done usually have the camp locations near the water source.

The whole time we where at Irony creek we had whales off shore which is always a treat to be able to see. The next morning we a nice easy walk before doubling back to cross Stranby River over the 2nd cable car crossing of the trip.

After this it was a series of rocky beaches where we ran into a number of bears one just outside of our campsite at Laura creek. This was also the first night we shared our campsite since the first night as a group had caught up to us at this point.

The next section was the last overland section before the end of the trail at Nissen bight. Before dropping back down to Nissen bight you pass near the Nahwitti Cone and another section of upland bog which was full of stunted trees.

Once you make it to Nissen bight you are technically done the 43km North Coast trail but you still have another 16km or so of hiking left to get to the Cape Scott trail head unless you decide to hike out to the Cape Scott light house. From here we hiked to our final night at Eric which was extremely buggy but was very surprised to find that at the lake the breeze kept the bugs at bay. The following day we hiked out the remaining trail to the Cape Scott trail head where the trail bus drove us back to Port Hardy.

The North Coast trail was along what I was expecting, a rugged route along the northern tip of Vancouver Island. We did not spend as much time on the beach as I was expecting but it was a nice variety of terrain. Nothing beats the remoteness of a hike like and it is something I would certainly recommend for anyone looking for something a little more wild and challenging than the other more established coastal hikes on the island like the West Coast trail or the Juan du Fuca.

Additional information

• North Coast Trail details (BC parks)
• Cape Scott Provincial Park
• Cape Scott tides

Nels Bight is a stunning beach that offers stunning views and a fantastic place to watch the sunset. Over the next 2 nights we experienced very different weather patterns, our first night was clear without a cloud to be seen. Waking up the next morning we got to see something a little different as a heavy cloud had rolled in, while the it was sad to loose the sun the fog and cloud made for some unique photo opportunities.

Under the cover of cloud we made our way towards Guise Bay, Experiment Bight with the Cape Scott lighthouse before returning back to base camp at Nels Bight. Guise Bay was one of the more stunning beaches that we got to see, had it been warmer out it would have been something you could almost imagine as being tropical.

Guise Bay was the site of a number of building from a secret radar station at Cape Scott operated by the Royal Canadian Air Force during World War II, the current site of the lighthouse was also used for this installation and in fact the lighthouse sits on the same foundations as the old radar dome. Signs of these prior uses are clearly visible, some more than others such as the old plank road that leads from Guise Bay to the lighthouse. The lighthouse is somewhat utilitarian and is not what one would think of when you think of a lighthouse, it is simply a light mounted on a short tower located on the highlands of the cape. Experiment Bight is separated by a small band of sand dunes from Guise Bay, these sand dunes are not something that is commonly found on Vancouver Island so it was neat to explore them on the way over to Experiment Bight.

By the time the sun was setting it appeared that the fog and clouds that had hung over us all day was starting to clear making for a very different sunset compared to the previous evening.

After a day of fog and cloud we once again woke up to beautiful clear sunny skies, this morning we packed up camp and made our way over to the less popular Nissen Bight for the night. The relatively short hike over to Nissen Bight passes through the main Cape Scott settlement area which has a number of remains of attempts to tame the area by settlers in the late 1800’s and early 1900’s although some did stick around until the 50’s most had left with the onset of World War I.

Nissen Bight and Fishermans Bay are very close to each other and can be accessed by a short trail or tide permitting over the beach. Nissen bight offers a less populated camp site although the water source is some distance from the main camping area. Nissen bight is also the start (or end) of the North Coast trail.

After a night at Nissen Bight it was on to our final camp destination at San Josef Bay before heading home, although it was a long day of hiking it was easy going as it is mostly flat (or downhill) the whole way. San Josef Bay is a stunning white sand beach which has some unique sea stacks and caves between 2 bays. The sea caves and 2nd bay are only accessible when the tides permit, there is a steep overland route but it looked rather difficult. It should also be noted that while San Josef Bay does have a water source it is located at the 2nd beach which may be cut off due to the tide to keep that in mind when planning (we collected water at Eric lake). San Josef Bay is a popular location for day hikers or less adventuress hikers as it is a short few kilometers from the trail head so expect it to see more crowds than other beaches in the park.

Cape Scott is an iconic hike and is well worth the journey to get there. It offers an amazing selection beautiful natural sites with some neat history which is not something you experience at most hiking destinations. While the hiking is relatively easy the distances getting out to the beaches near the cape are long and depending on the conditions can be a challenge in that regard.