The hearty pub grub is immensely satisfying after a hike in Cape Scott Provincial Park! You can stock up in Port McNeill or wait until you reach Port Hardy. Cape Scott Provincial Park is located about 563 kilometres from Victoria. High winds and heavy rainfall is a common experience in the park with little warning signs. The West Coast Trail vs. To get to the Cape Scott parking lot and trailhead, you head towards Port Hardy on Northern Vancouver Island, highway 19 north. The turn off for Cape Scott Park is just before you reach Port Hardy. If you don’t want to hike the Cape Scott trail, but would like a excellent day adventure from the Port Hard area, this is a most worthy destination for the day. Each year, thousands of backpackers and nature lovers head to the northern limits of Vancouver Island, bound for the jewel of the region: Cape Scott Provincial Park and the recently completed North Coast Trail. The real trail begins! While there may be no need to ascend any mountain peaks to see Cape Scott’s attractions, the challenges here include slippery boardwalks, lowland bogs, swathes of mud and giant fallen trees. Directional signs clearly indicate where to go and the amount of remaining kilometres at important junctions. Trail distance: 15.5km Estimated time: 8 hours Get up early to tackle the first, and toughest, stretch of the trail. What a journey to get there. It can be traversed east to west from Shushartie Bay to the eastern end of Nissen Bight or in reverse from west to east. Achetez neuf ou d'occasion Drinking water is not available at the Cape Scott Lighthouse. Hikers will walk to the top of Potberg (611m), which has breathtaking panoramic views of Swellendam, the Indian Ocean and the Breede River, Cape Infanta and Cape Agulhas. The Cape Scott Trail is an unforgettable 47km journey to the northwestern tip of Vancouver Island and back. Good luck for your hike Erik! You can wild camp (random camping) in Cape Scott Provincial Park outside of the campsites but you still need to pay the nightly backcountry camping fees. The property lies about 1-1/2 miles on the west coast south of the main hiking trail. A common backpacking itinerary on the Cape Scott Trail looks a little like this –. Access TO and FROM the Park will be blocked fo…, Love the outdoors? There are a number of established camping areas with facilities in Cape Scott Provincial Park. Think of it as a trail fee – it pays for the maintenance of the trail so you are able to hike it. We will be hiking from the trailhead to San Josef Bay and thenjoy North as long as we can. The entire hike of the Cape Scott Trail is a veritable highway compared to that of the North Coast Trail. Thank you very much for response and for great trip report. There are several accommodation options in Port Hardy, the, being a popular choice. What gets most hikers are the sore and blistered feet from the pack weight and uneven ground. If you are hiking Vancouver Island, find your bliss on a guided hiking adventure in Canada's premiere wilderness areas. You can stock up in Port McNeill or wait until you reach Port Hardy. After 20 minutes after leaving, the trail passes a huge Sitka Spruce tree. If it is open, it is worth a visit for both a cold Lucky lager (maybe not for the driver!) Of course we keep the Leave no trace principle, camp without making noise, fire etc. The Vancouver Island North Tourism Centre has plenty of great resources for, If you have any other questions about how to get here and how to best plan your trip, hit us up with a, A reminder to anyone planning a visit to Cape Scott Park next month. setTimeout("gtag('event', 'No Bounce', { 'event_category' : 'Adjusted Bounce' })",180000); Cape Scott Provincial Park has a reputation for being one of the wettest and muddiest places on Vancouver Island. If you want a pre-hike indulgence, this is the last place to grab a good coffee, ice cream or baked good before you head off the beaten path. Before you head out, you can check road conditions of the highway here. Select an option below to see step-by-step directions and to compare ticket prices and travel times in Rome2rio's travel planner. Logging road with lots of pot holes and big rocks to avoid. Here are some essential points to get you started: Here’s what to expect on the Cape Scott Trail, from the parking lot all the way to the Cape Scott Lighthouse. It is time to head back to civilization. Besides the rusting plows and pulley belts, there are other obvious signs of previous colonisation in Cape Scott Provincial Park. There are no picnic tables at Cape Scott. 10 passenger Chevy van will pick you up from the Cape Scott Parking lot when your hike is complete. The final part of the Cape Scott Trail encounters another era of history. The cost is $10/per adult/per night. The route also takes in stunning Guise Bay, complete with sand dunes. From Port Hardy, you then book a shuttle with. Access to the … Hiya! Luckily, another camping group had joined us on Nels Bight. How to Get to the Rockwall Trail. A small radar station was built at Cape Scott in 1942. There are currently no docking facilities. How to Get to Cape Scott Park & The North Coast Trail (& where to stop along the way!) We lost cell phone signal very shortly after leaving Port Hardy, Dogs are prohibited in most areas of the park due to high wolf activity, There are kilometre markers all the way to Nels Bight beach, which helps to keep track of the journey. Remains of a wharf can be seen on the shore of the lake. Cape Scott Provincial Park is located at the extreme northwestern tip of Vancouver Island, British Columbia, Canada. While the trail is not technically difficult, however, hikers must be prepared to have wet feet by the end of it. Looking for an epic summer job? There are 3 ways to get from Vancouver to Cape Scott Provincial Park by plane, train, ferry or car ferry. The Cape Scott/San Josef Bay trailhead is at the end of San Josef Main, about 18.5KM from Holberg (65KM from Highway 19). Outside of these dates, transport must be arranged on an individual basis, which can come at a higher cost, but can also offer more solitude if … Pick up time: 1 p.m. For detailed information about booking the North Coast Trail Shuttle, please contact us by phone or email. Shuttle service to the parking lot can also be arranged in Port Hardy. There is parking space at the trailhead. The Cape Scott trail perfectly show cases the diversity of Canada's wilderness. Back into the forest, the sounds of the ocean soon be heard. Keep exploring you two. Parking is available and plentiful at the parking lot, which is the only way to enter the park by vehicle. The drive to Cape Scott from Nanaimo is an arduous one. If you have a low profile car or truck or you have a nice vehicle, don’t bring it! Not only was it our very first multi-day hiking trip but we also experienced a 6.6 magnitude earthquake right on Nels Bight beach. My girlfriend and I enjoyed this trip so much. This site features affiliate links for products and services. If you are doing the North Coast Trail, Port Hardy is also where you will be catching the North Coast Trail Shuttle, but we’ll be talking more about that below. The hike begins at the Cape Scott Provincial Park parking lot and follows a well-used path for 900 meters, then … With most campsites being on the beach, there is lots of space. The drive to Cape Scott Park is actually an adventure on its own. You can monitor Western Forest Products. It is the easiest section of the North Coast trail and also the most maintained. After leaving Port Hardy, there are very limited services and facilities available. Eric Lake (3km) is also an option, though the trail is more difficult. Another wave of settlers arrived in 1913, this time a mixed group from the US, Canada and Europe. The minimum one-way hiking time is about 5 days, but most hikers take 6 to 8 days to complete the trail. For this reason, the 47 km return hike to the Cape Scott lighthouse via the Cape Scott Trail can be difficult. Once you reach Port McNeill, you have two choices. We love sharing these experiences to inspire and help others to do the same. There is an outhouse at the trail head and the beach. British Columbia, Canada North Vancouver Island. This place is so magical and for us the mud and the difficulty of the hikes made it even more rewarding. There are also a number of information boards offering cultural and historical background at points of interest (such as the Cape Scott settlement site, Hansen Meadows etc). The North Coast Trail is a highly challenging and unbelievably rewarding adventure. Cape Scott has had two waves of colonization and while there haven't been permanent dwellers here since the sixties, there is still lots of evidence from colonization. window.dataLayer = window.dataLayer || []; The turn off for Cape Scott Park is just before you reach Port Hardy. The Cape Scott Trail has a reputation for being muddy, and it didn’t disappoint this time. The Cape Scott Trail is well visited throughout the main hiking season (May to September) but is certainly not overcrowded. From Nanaimo take the Island Highway 19 North until you’re almost at Port Hardy. The North Coast Trail is a stunning mostly beach hike, with a very wild feel, garnering it the well deserved reputation as one of the premiere Vancouver Island hikes. Hiking; 24 November 2019; 24 November 2019. The father just happened to be the fire chief for Port Alice (coincidentally where the epicenter was) and had a satellite phone at his disposal. We drove from Port Hardy to the trail head in about 1 hour, 30 minutes with a rental that you must be careful. Be prepared to take your time and drive slowly, A high clearance vehicle is recommended. The logging road to the trail head is a bit rough to, but if taken slowly any car can do it. Once you reach Port McNeill, you have two choices. The layout includes excellent trail and interpretive details, right down to where you will find drinking water and whales. There is an excellent pub though! Cape Scott was named in 1786 after David Scott by Captains Guise and Lowrie of the Experiment and the Captain Cook during their 1786 trading voyage to the area. The trail is primarily used for hiking, camping, and surfing and is accessible year-round. Go to Wild Coast Magazine or John Baldwin.ca online for a great map and description of the Cape Scott North Coast Trail. There is wilderness camping facilities at San Josef Bay, Eric Lake, Fisherman River, Nissen Bight, Nels Bight and Guise Bay. Nels Bight and the Cape Scott Lighthouse aren’t the only destinations in Cape Scott Provincial Park. After Fisherman River, the path follows the very straight route of the telegraph line built in 1913. A tranquil meadow with crumbling fences. But traversing the mud bogged trail is part of the true experience—so I had to embrace it. What gets most hikers are the sore and blistered feet from the pack weight and uneven ground. And, while I’d like to say that the hike was amazing, it was a in actual fact a misery. Another option is the privately run San Josef Heritage Campground just before the Cape Scott entrance. It’s not technically difficult but still has a few challenges. The path splits again with one route to Nels Bight and Cape Scott, the other to Nissen Bight and the North Coast Trail. Come join us on our adventures! If you go into the experience mentally anticipating that, you’ll have a much better time. Sweeping sandy beaches, campsites with the view of the Pacific Ocean, a meadow in the midst of a … The route around the lake mostly consists of boardwalk as well as an impressive giant tree bridge. Today would have been beautiful for it. The trail meanders through the lush Pacific Northwest forest for most of the trip and then follows along a beach for the last part, ending at the camping areas. It is bumpy in places and can be very slippery when wet. 100 were here. We say 99% because there is less than 10 people we have encountered in our whole time as Park Operators that have decided to hike the trail east and west back to their car. Backcountry camping fees are collected in Cape Scott Provincial Park from 1st May to 30th September. Please Continue to Write Gemma, it lights up my day. You can monitor Western Forest Products Twitter account if there is any work or important notices in relation to conditions during the summer season. For more info, check out this excellent map which offers more details about historical and cultural points of interest in Cape Scott Provincial Park and where to find them. For both its beauty and length, Nels Bight is the ideal place to base yourself while visiting Cape Scott Provincial Park. The beaches of Cape Scott Park are incredibly beautiful and well worth the hike in. The heaviest concentration of artifacts can be seen in this area. It is a 60 minute ride that leaves at 7 am during the April 15- September 30 season. You may want to carry a radio and scan the channel listed below to listen for drivers who will be calling out their location. If you want a pre-hike indulgence, this is the last place to grab a good coffee, ice cream or baked good before you head off the beaten path. Nissen Bight, Experiment Bight, Hansen Lagoon and Guise Bay also make for wonderful day trip destinations. It has a population of around 4,000 people, but more importantly for you, a Save on Foods to stock up on food, a BC Liquor Store to stock up on campfire beers (if that’s your thing) and a hardware store to grab any forgotten supplies and camping essentials like fuel. If driving isn’t in your itinerary, there are easy flights to Cape Scott Park via Vancouver. Current Status of the VI Trail. Cape Scott isn’t the only reason to visit this spectacular region of Vancouver Island. The best water is at the lighthouse and the two keepers are super friendly. Hikers will walk to the top of Potberg (611m), which has breathtaking panoramic views of Swellendam, the Indian Ocean and the Breede River, Cape Infanta and Cape Agulhas. From the trailhead parking lot to the Cape Scott Lighthouse, the Cape Scott Trail is a well marked hiking trail. A walk on the remains of a WW2 military road. There is absolutely no supplies in Cape Scott park and Port Hardy is a good couple of hours drive away. 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