Through gathering over several cups of tea & coffee, pouring over maps and tide charts, whispering eagerly about bears and wolves; hiking the Nootka Trail was brought to life.
Nootka Island (Traditionally named Nuu-chah-nulth) has huge historic importance and is filled with rich stories of the Mowachaht-Muchalaht First Nations who have cared for the land for thousands of years. The island is located on the west coast of Vancouver Island, and is only accessible by private water taxi or float plane. This added to the intensity of the trip, and involved a decent amount of planning ahead. We hiked southbound along the wild west coast. The island is 534 square kms, and although it seems no one can confirm the exact length of the trail, it is estimated to be around 40 kms. We read tons of articles which expressed the trail is rugged and that one can expect to hike only one km per hour. We all laughed a bit… could that really be true? We were especially concerned for our dear Ems, who was attempting the trail while awaiting surgery for a torn ACL. After spending the last few days dehydrating food, making all our snacks/granola bars from scratch, printing up maps, looking ahead at the weather forecast, gathering our gear; we were finally ready to get on the road. Oh - and booking Ben a last minute flight to come out and join us for the trail as well… now I was beyond ready!!
Being Easter weekend and everyone and their mom trying to get somewhere, we ended up only getting on the 22:45 ferry to Vancouver Island. With our water taxi leaving at 7 am the following morning, we had to drive straight through the night to get there on time. We pulled into the small coastal village of Tahsis just before the sun had risen. I awoke to the gentle sounds of rain drizzling and 'Saman' by Ólafur Arnolds playing softly. We wound along the dark blue ocean who was welcoming me home. The sky was still matching the sea as the sun had not yet burst through. It felt like magic. Almost as magical was Andrew meeting us there with 10 breakfast sandwiches in hand. Sleep deprived we pulled on our backpacks and rain gear and walked down to the dock.
I groaned as I saw our water taxi... It was just a little tin, completely uncovered. I swear the rain picked up just then. Luckily my excitement kicked back in as we jumped onboard and plunked our butts down. I love being on the ocean. Even if it meant getting soaking wet for the 1.5 hour journey. The ride was beautiful. Spotting six bears along the shore line added to our excitement as we were hoping to see bears along the trail too. Theres something so simple and exciting for me about arriving to new lands by boat. Setting foot on Tongue Point and watching the water taxi drive away leaving us stranded was an exhilarating feeling. The rain stopped almost immediately and the sun shone, welcoming Nootka's first trail hikers of the year. We explored a ship wreck and adjusted our packs for the final time before starting our journey.
The first day's hike wasn't clearly marked as technically the trail starts 7-10 kms further south, where most people are dropped off via float planes. Thankfully we had two great navigators on the trip, Sahara and Dan, who "confidently" lead the way. A few hours into the journey we had our first scare. Most of us had reached this gorgeous beach where we would stop for lunch, when we heard Sahara distantly cry out from back on the trail. We were well warned that the island was full of cougars wolves and bears, and that getting help in case of an emergency would be tricky. I was on my feet in seconds, sprinting back along the trail holding my farmer sausage in hand. Dan and some of the other boys whipped past me. I was yelling loudly to warn off any wildlife that could possibly be attacking her. Relief filled my heart when I saw Sahara and Finlay standing perfectly safe, just unsure of which way we had gone.
It was mid afternoon when we climbed out of the forest and saw through the trees where home was to be set up that night. First Beach was paradise. The fine white sand stretched at least a kilometre long and turquoise water instantly brought back memories of the South Pacific islands. Was this really my cold wet Canadian coast??? The sun shone as I slipped on my bikini and collapsed on my mat in the sand.
A gentle breeze woke me up a few hours later and I found everyone else had followed suite and was asleep in the sand. Andrew had collected an impressive amount of driftwood and piled it high for our first campfire. I eagerly decided it was time to start it up as lighting fires is one of my favourite parts of camp life. For the first dinner on the trail we decided as a group to all bring one item and create a feast. We roasted heaps of vegetables over the fire as Beth smiled that her pack would now be at least 5 pounds lighter. We sat around the fire for hours delighting in chocolate, stars, this gorgeous earth and our amazing friendships.
Day Two
To my delight I woke up to an even hotter day and blue skies. I skipped outside and found the fire still burning and Adam reporting wolf prints seen through our camp!! We lowered the bear hang and I rummaged through, looking for my favourite Kodiak Power Cakes pancake mix. While frying those up I spontaneously made some DELICIOUS date jam for on top, from mixing melted butter and dates on low heat for a few minutes. Yeah... you could say I'm a foodie. After packing up camp and filling up with water from the creek we began on our way. It was a pretty easy trail to navigate, as we knew we could just stick to the beach and head south. Now the trail is also well marked with colourful buoys hanging in trees that signify both trail heads and good campsites. I was quickly smitten with the trail as it was very technical and tricky. We often needed to regroup and discuss the best possible way to get from here to there, and had to climb under or over trees every few hundred meters. It curved along the ocean and up steep heavily wooded cliffs when the high tides blocked us from the oceans edge. We had our first bear encounter on the trail as we rounded a corner on a beach and found a bear wandering towards us. We were still a good distance away when we stopped to give him space. He watched us curiously and seemingly without fear before climbing up into the forest. Something in me just craves to be around intense wild animals. I've always been one for an adrenaline rush.
There were several times in the day that involved taking off our boots and crossing rivers or wading through slippery tide swept pools. A tide table was indispensable as many of the crossings could only be passable at low tide. We picked up our pace towards the end of the day as we knew we still had one large crossing to make before high tide. We arrived on this gorgeous long beach and spotted SURFERS who had flown into that beach just to catch waves and play with the ocean. Dream life! Calvin Falls burst majestically out of the forest on our left, splashing 6 meters down onto the fine sand. We quickly crossed the river, eager to start a fire and set up camp. We pitched our tents beside a little creek and cooked up our dehydrated meals. My food group, consisting of Sahara, Adam, Ben, and I made pesto chicken sauce with pasta. It was delicious. I looked around and noticed everyone's right half of their face had gotten significantly burnt, from walking south all day - so hilarious. We sat around the fire and got our bedtime story from Andrew, which seemed to be becoming a tradition. Life here is stripped back and simple. I love it.
Day Three
We awoke to grey skies and a hurry to get up and break camp so we could make another large river crossing by low tide. I made some oatmeal loaded with dried fruit, nuts and carob chips. (Amazing chocolate replacement! Carob chips are made from the pod of a Carob tree, a small shrub grown in the Mediterranean - very healthy and tasty!) We reached our large crossing mid afternoon. Knowing the drill well now, we tied our boots around our neck and waded across. We all burst out laughing but also cringed as Mia fell backwards and helplessly sat down in the freezing river. Thankfully we stumbled upon a fire still burning in the sand directly across the river bank and stopped to warm up. As we were roasting some farmer sausage over the fire Beth noted a WHALE a few meters from the oceans edge! There I was again, up in seconds, sprinting with farmer sausage in hand. There were two gorgeous grey whales playing along the shallow ocean's edge, scraping off their barnacles in the sand! We all ooo'd and ahh'd and felt so grateful to be seeing these playful creatures so close.
I am so grateful for the group we pulled together to hike this Island, I felt so at home and complete around all of them. There was Mia and Bethany, Sahara, Adam, Fin, Andrew, Dan, Emily, and my favourite boy Ben. The hours hiking were all naturally split between walking cheerily as a group and walking in pairs or trios, catching up on life's highs and lows together. I feel blessed out of my mind for the most genuine of friends. Especially who love getting outdoors together! One of my favourite parts about this trip was the gift giving. We decided well before heading out that each of us was to get a gift for someone else on the trip, and keep it secret for them until you thought they needed it most. (Slipping in mud, complaining about being cold, falling into the creek, etc.) So at our planning meeting sitting inside the Yellow Deli we pulled named and all said a few items that we would love to get at our worst moment on the trail. Everyone went above and beyond and got the most exciting gifts. Beer, chocolate, beef jerky, chips, mangos and fruit were some of the most common. The best part was everyone sharing their gifts, we all got to eat snacks all day long that we would have never packed for ourselves! Best of all was the large bag of mini eggs Andrew brought Emily for easter morning.
After a few hours of rainforest we poked our heads out of the trees clambered down onto the beach. A small waterfall poured down onto the logs and made me a perfect end-of-the-day shower. A bear had decided this was also his place to sleep, but thankfully he moved on and let us set up camp in this gorgeous wooded area a few steps off the beach. This was our first night not sleeping on the unprotected beach, and I felt so cosy and warm amongst the tall trees. It also started to pour heavily, so we were grateful for some coverage as we cooked our dinner around a large fire. Tonight I made Moroccan Stew, a dish full of flavour and spices that warmed the insides real good. Especially Adam's, as he was so eager to eat he burnt his whole mouth... several times. We pulled out the maps and charts and looked ahead to tomorrow, our final day on the island. Our water taxi was coming to pick us up at 13:00, which we could NOT miss, due to Ben's flight departing hours later. It looked like we had about 8 kms 'as the crow flies' and really had no idea if they were going to be easy beach or intricate forest. Dan was pretty confident it was just 5 miles left of beaches, but taking a large river crossing into consideration and the daunting little words on the map, "wade at low tide, swim at high tide", we decided it should be an early morning just to be safe. I nodded off to sleep to the sounds of the crackling fire and the ocean dancing against the sand.
Day Four
Despite the early 6 am start, I noticed after nearly an hour and a half of intense rope climbing and bush whacking, we had only gone one kilometre. We had a good laugh recalling Dan's confident "5 miles of beaches" remark. Some damn beaches. This was not going to work... we pushed harder and were ripping through the forest at nearly a jog. The journey was full of making our own path where it often seemed the trail just fizzled out into the forest. Those were all likely black bears paths, we were told later. Ben kindly reminded me after a few hours of hiking that we were going to be late anyways, there was no sense on hiking miserably, and we might as well stop to eat breakfast. I love his gentle wisdom. We stopped for 'a quick bite' and ended up eating nearly all our food laughing. Spirits were high as we walked on. I spent most of the day walking alongside the amazing Fin. After eventually getting down to the beach, we could see the final lighthouse in Friendly Cove, and knew we would make it on time. Thankfully the tide was low so we could walk the final hours along the beach. Although quicker yes, walking across beaches with hiking boots and a backpack is much harder than the firm forest ground which we all much preferred by the end of the trip. We reached the final river crossing an hour after high tide, and quickly scouted the ideal place to cross. Fin remembered reading somewhere that some river on the Nootka was best to cross 150 meters up from the ocean's mouth... so we took a gamble and walked up stream and he dropped his backpack and waded in to see what the current and depth was like...waist deep! Thankful for that random memory, we safely crossed our final river of the trip. The last two kms after this were a breeze, and the only thing on my mind was the three packs of Annie's white cheddar mac & cheese we were going to cook up the second we arrived in Friendly Cove.
Friendly Cove is actually the first place a European set foot in British Columbia. Captain James Cook, 1778. The historic site is also internationally known as Yuquot – 'where the wind blows in all directions'. The island was a popular trading spot for the French, Spanish and American explorers. There was actually a Spanish trading post established here called Fort San Miguel. Managed from 1789 to 1795, it was the first and only Spanish fort ever here in Canada. The settlement now consists of around 6 full time residents, the Williams family of the Mowachaht band who are the Beach Keepers, plus two full-time lighthouse keepers. The Nootka lighthouse is one of the only manned lighthouses left in BC. (Might seriously consider coming back here for a season of lighthouse keeping at some point!) The ocean was a full gale when our water taxi arrived, and was too dangerous to head back into currently. We were grateful for more time to explore the village. There is a Roman Catholic church left on the island which now serves as a cultural centre for visitors to explore. Filled with the islands history in articles, news papers, stories, and artifacts we spent our final hour in there, grateful to be learning more about the special land we just walked across.
The ocean calmed down within the hour and there we found ourselves getting shuttled away from our insane last few days. Getting dropped off just a few days before felt like ages ago. I left much different than I came. A lighter pack for sure, but a lighter spirit too. Being immersed in the wilderness for a few days refreshes me in a way nothing else can. What a beautiful trip in the most beautiful scenery. If you are dreaming of an off the beaten trail, an escape from civilization, Nootka Island is your paradise. I assure you, it's mine. Oh how I wish I was already back in the wild. But here I am, sitting back home, writing this amidst loads of smoke infused laundry and drying gear. What a dreamy trip.
Huge thank you to Finlay, for all the pictures!
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