I read somewhere that Vancouver Island’s West Coast Trail is one of the top ten backpacking trips in the world. There was no mention of the Juan de Fuca Trail on this list – in fact it took a little digging to find maps, a guidebook and sort out the logistical details for backpacking this other “west coast” trip, even though both trails take travelers through the tiny town of Port Renfrew at one end or the other of the journey. Same island, same climate, same terrain, same flora and fauna – not the same trail!

Major Differences:
• The West Coast Trail (WCT) is 75 km long; Juan de Fuca is 47 km.
• The WCT needs reservations and limits numbers; Juan de Fuca doesn’t.
• In 2007, WCT fees per person (all in Canadian $) are $24.75 for the reservation, $108.95 for all overnight use and $15 each for the Gordon River and Nitinat Narrows ferry shuttles; Juan de Fuca costs $5 camping fee/per person over age 16/per night.

On the Trail
At first glance it appears forgotten and a little run-down, but we discovered the Juan de Fuca Trail to be a viable, family-friendly backpacking alternative to the West Coast Trail. It’s an easy and short 2 km jaunt from the parking lot at China Beach to the first campground of Mystic Beach – but just a word of warning, garbage left behind by lazy hikers was an issue here.

It’s a pleasant, not too demanding, up and down 10.5 km to next campsite at Bear Beach. Reaching this vista well before noon, we opted to go on to the next campground – Chin Beach. Perhaps now would be the time to tell you to really read the guidebook and map carefully. The next 10.5 km was indeed the “most difficult” and there is a difference between up and down and UP and DOWN.

Bear to Chin is the latter, taking hikers deep down into a creek bottom, climbing way up the ridge on the other side and down again to the next creek – repeating this pattern over a half dozen times. Add in mud bogs, fallen trees, missing stream crossing bridges, monstrous hemlock and cedar tree roots and it makes for one the most challenging sections of a hike we’ve ever done. We made it to Chin with spirits and bodies intact – barely – but wouldn’t recommend this extended day for families.

By comparison, the 8 km day from Chin to Sombrio is a cakewalk along the beach, through the forest, over Loss Creek suspension bridge and along old logging roads. Dropping down, down, down off the bench down to the beach made me glad we were traveling south to north along the trail and the not the reverse direction.

It’s 12.5 km from Sombrio to Payzant, but note that while it might be less windy to camp in the shelter of the trees, there’s also less wind to blow away the mosquitoes! Payzant to Botanical Beach is an easy 7 km, aided by endless stretches of boardwalk. Expect to see numerous dayhikers on this stretch (unlike the rest of the trail).

Wildlife sightings on our four-day trip included tons of tidepool critters, one garter snake, nine seals and a black bear!

If you go:
• Get the Juan de Fuca trail guide: Giant Cedars, White Sands.
• There is a daily shuttle from Port Renfrew back to China Beach.