The West Coast Trail – Part 4: Tsusiat Falls to Pachena Bay

July 10-11, 2023. The fourth and final part of a 7-day trek along the world-famous West Coast Trail.

You can read part 3 here.

• Region: Pacific Rim National Park Reserve. Traditional territory of the Huu-ay-aht, Ditidaht, and Pacheedaht First Nations
• Distance: Approximately 25 km for this segment (based on the official map, actual distance travelled is longer)
• Total Time: 2 days

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Day 6: Tsusiat Falls to Michigan Creek

When we woke on the morning of Day 6, Anna was already gone. The sunny skies had turned cloudy and a light drizzle started to fall as we packed up. The backpack covers and rain jackets we’d carried along for the last few days finally came out, though the precipitation never got heavy. An hour or so into the hike the drizzle stopped.

Departing from Tsusiat falls involved climbing some tall ladders and heading inland. We’d stay on the inland trail for roughly 2 km until we reached the Klanawa River. In contrast to the other rivers and creeks we’d been crossing, the Klanawa had plenty of water flowing down it. After crossing over in a cable car we are able to hit the beach again for another 2.5 km.

By the time we reached the beach section beyond the Klanawa River, the rain had stopped and the sky was clearing a bit. This section of the trail is interesting – it’s only passable at tide levels below 2.7 m, but there’s no inland option. If you arrive there when the tides are higher you’ll just have to wait. The scenery here was similar to other beaches, but what was unique was the wolf tracks. Several wolves had passed through not long ago.

The beach section was about 2.5 km long. It ended at some ladders near Trestle Creek. There was some debris from shipwrecks on the rocks, including an anchor sitting nearby the ladders.

We climbed the ladders back up to the inland trail and continued onward. We were closing in on the Valencia Bluffs, named for the SS “Valencia” a 1600 ton iron steamer.

The “Valencia” left San Fransisco on January 20, 1906 carrying 160 passengers and crew. Poor weather conditions resulted in her crew being unable to take astronomical observations so she lost her way and missed the opening of the Juan de Fuca Strait. Unknowingly off the west coast of Vancouver Island, and in heavy seas, she struck a reef near what is now called the Valencia Bluffs. Her hull was badly damaged and the captain ordered her driven up onto the rocks so she wouldn’t sink. Six of her seven lifeboats were launched against the captain’s orders. Most flipped, either while being lowered or after reaching the water. One of them simply disappeared. According to one witness, “Screams of women and children mingled in an awful chorus with the shrieking of the wind, the dash of rain, and the roar of the breakers.” The harrowing details of that night are detailed in the Wikipedia entry on the SS Valencia. The official death toll was 136. Only 37 men survived. Every woman and child aboard died.

The tragedy clearly had an impact on the collective psyche of the local seafaring community. In the aftermath, stories proliferated of sightings of the supernatural. One fisherman reported seeing a lifeboat trapped in a sea cave holding the skeletons of several crew members. Years later, sailors reported seeing a ghost ship which looked like “Valencia”. Ghostly figures on board hung on desperately to spectral rigging while waves crashed over the deck.

The loss of the “Valencia” is the reason that the West Coast Trail exists. There was pressure on the Canadian government from the public as well as the United States government to get serious about saving lives on this stretch of coast. A lighthouse was constructed near Pachena Point and a telegraph route along the coast was improved to become a life saving trail, allowing rescuers to reach shipwreck victims and victims to reach help.

Our journey to the Valencia bluffs was easy. Two iconic Parks Canada chairs were set up on the view point. After a short break to take in the vista, we carried on to Tsocowis Creek where we returned to the beach and hiked about 4.5 km to the Michigan Creek Campground.

Our evening at Michigan Creek was very pleasant. We stood out on the rocks watching humpback whales feeding off the shore a short distance west. It was hard to capture any in pictures, so I relaxed and just enjoyed the show. They’d come up to the surface to spout and sometimes flip their tails up. Some plucky little birds, Harlequin ducks, battled the waves on the rocks. A pair of bald eagles were relaxing on a tree. We even saw a beaver – a DHC-2 Beaver float plane.

The evening chat at Michigan Creek focused on our central goal: not missing our bus at Pachena Bay the next day. The pick-up would be at 1345 and we really didn’t want to miss it. We knew, though, that the trail from Michigan Creek to Pachena Bay would be pretty easy going. As long as we didn’t sleep in and dawdle too much along the way, we’d be fine. We wanted to budget some time to visit the Pachena lighthouse and to check out the sea lions from a nearby view point. We agreed to get going at 0700, which would give us lots of time. Our final evening on the trail passed pleasantly.

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Day 7: Michigan Creek to Pachena Bay

There was no fog or mist when we packed up and began the last leg of our trek. Easy hiking on the inland trail got us to the Pachena Point lighthouse. We spent some time there straining our eyes to see some grey whales. We could see spouting in the distance, but nothing close up. We spent some time chatting with the light keeper and reading interpretive signs. It turns out that the lighthouse is the last surviving wooden lighthouse tower on the west coast. Like the one at Carmanah, Pachena Point lighthouse is designated a Heritage Lighthouse by the federal government.

Not too far from the lighthouse we reached another side-trail which brought us down to a viewpoint high above the water. Sea lions were gathered on nearby rocks. There were also several of them in the water. While we were here, some grey whales obliged us with their presence. Bhaskar and I spent some time shooting pictures, hoping to capture at least one picture of the big whales.

Beyond the sea lion viewpoint there wasn’t much more to see aside from interesting bits of forest. There was an abandoned motorcycle along the trail. It was clearly pretty old, but I’m not sure what the story behind it is. We took the final beach access point roughly 1 km before the end of the trail. This allowed us to avoid some big ladders near KM 0. We enjoyed a serene beach walk, then spied a red sign pointing the way to the end of the trail.

Coming off the trail, we all had to sign out in the ranger’s cabin. Then we dropped our packs and took a walk into the campground nearby to buy some treats from the store. The West Coast Trail Express actually arrived well before 1345 to drop off some passengers before going up the road to Bamfield. The driver said we could ride along if we wanted to. He needed to fix up something on the bus and could leave us at the cafe and store in Bamfield for 15 minutes before loading us back on and returning to Pachena Bay to pick everyone else up. We rode along and bought more treats in Bamfield. After returning to Pachena to get the rest of the passengers, we settled in for a 6 hour drive back to Victoria.

There was cell phone data coverage near the ranger cabin and campsite. I took a picture of myself and sent it to my family, letting them know I was safely off the trail. My son commented that I looked like “an ex special-forces agent brought out of retirement for one last mission only he could do”. So, I guess I looked old.

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Final thoughts

It wasn’t until I was home again and re-entered the every day grind that the magnitude of the West Coast Trail experience really began to sink in. Seven days in the backcountry gets you away from the noise of the world for long enough that it actually begins to quiet your mind. For one week I got to be very present, confining my concerns to the here and now: food supply, water sources, weather and tides. When I crawled into my tent at night I slept soundly, and when the sun came up I woke easily. I got to know my hiking companions better and got to meet entirely new people that I would not have crossed paths with in normal life. My back pain went away. It was one of the most positive experiences in my life.

For a mind attuned to mountains and prairie, coastal hiking is something I had never spent too much time thinking about. Shorter hikes that I’d done in Newfoundland and Iceland gave me a taste for it, but having done the West Coast Trail I can say that coastal hiking is definitely something I would do more of. I’m suddenly paying attention to reports from other coastal trails and pondering whether I will return to Vancouver Island for another trek. We’ll see what unfolds in the next few years.

In preparing for this trip, I found two resources particularly useful: Blisters and Bliss, and the “West Coast Trail, Beautiful British Columbia” Facebook group.

Blisters and Bliss is a book by David Foster and Wayne Aitken. It is now on its 10th edition and has been continuously updated since 1989. Foster passed away in 2018, but he remains one of the credited authors and the 10th edition is dedicated to his memory. The contents are very practical and include general advice as well as specific descriptions of the trail from both a north-to-south and south-to-north approach. I brought my copy along to make notes in as I travelled and I’ll be keeping it as a momento of the journey.

The Facebook group is a very positive bunch of people. I don’t know if the moderators are just that good or if the community is just that genuinely helpful, but it’s hard to find any negativity on there. People are happy to answer questions and share experiences. Discussions cover the full range of trip planning topics: gear, food, transport, permits, etc. Hikers report in after their trips (or during, depending on their data plans) to update people on any difficulties they encountered or just to share pictures and thoughts about the experience.

My immediate future will involve more day hikes and scrambles in the Rockies, but I’m sure the planning will begin pretty soon for another multi-day backcountry trek.