West Coast Trail - Getting There

Adventures on the West Coast Trail start long before you actually set foot on the trail. From planning and preparing food, checking things off the packing list, getting it all to fit into your backpack, and making it as light as possible is just the start. A light pack makes for a happy Shelley.  :-) 

July 13 – Port Renfrew

After having a good gym session in the morning, I drove up to Port Renfrew in the afternoon. My first stop was the Pacheedaht Campground office so I knew exactly where I needed to be the next morning. It always feels good to take a little uncertainty out of an early start.

With that taken care of, I headed over to Botanical Beach. It was low tide, which is supposed to be the best time to visit, but I must not have hit it quite right. I didn't see many sea creatures beyond a few little crabs scurrying around the rocks. Even so, it's a beautiful spot and a nice way to ease into the trip.

On the way back to Port Renfrew, I passed two women hiking into town with big backpacks. They looked liked they'd just come off the Juan de Fuca Trail. I thought of my own upcoming hike and know I would not like a 5-6 km walk along the road back into town so I stopped and gave them a ride. They were very appreciative and it gave me an opportunity to ask questions about that trail. 

Dinner was at the Renfrew Pub, where I had delicious pulled pork tacos paired with a Lone Tree blackberry cider. An excellent choice, if I do say so myself.

That night I stayed in one of the Hiker Huts. They were clean, comfortable, and set up with bunk beds. And one of the few places that you could book for just one night so it's perfect for hikers passing through. I wish the huts had their own washrooms though. Every middle-of-the-night bathroom trip involved a headlamp lit walk outside. 

July 14 – The Journey to Nitinaht

The morning started with breakfast at the Coastal Kitchen Café, conveniently located just across the street from the Hiker Huts. After that, it was back to the Pacheedaht campground to park the car. Five days of parking cost $100 (ouch!) and before long I was boarding the West Coast Trail bus.

As I climbed aboard, I overheard two women chatting about pack weights. One commented on how light the other's pack was at 37 pounds.

"So how much does yours weigh?" she asked.

"Oh... in the 60s," came the reply. "But I've got three pairs of shoes in there."

I'm still not sure if she was joking. I quietly kept the fact that my pack weighed only about 25 pounds to myself!

One thing I wasn't prepared for was how cold the bus would be. The air conditioning ran the entire trip, and even wearing my sun hoodie over my T-shirt, I was freezing.

Great views from the front seat of the bus!

The drive was smooth until just after Pine Point Recreation Area, when the road turned into a long stretch of rough logging road. At first it wasn't too bad, but eventually it became incredibly bumpy. I was very happy that Nitinaht was my destination and I didn't have to endure the whole ride to Pachena Bay.

We arrived at the Nitinaht Junction around noon, but getting everyone unloaded and onto the shuttle took a little while. There were only seven of us heading to Nitinaht, and we finally reached the West Coast Trail office around 12:25, only to discover they were closed for lunch until 1:00. After that, there was another wait before we could check into our rooms at 3:00.

With time to spare, I wandered down to the river and spent some time watching the kite surfers. They made it look so effortless, gliding back and forth across the water. It was a relaxing way to pass the afternoon.

Once I checked into the Nitinaht motel, I grabbed a cold drink and a few snacks from the nearby store, stretched out on the bed, and enjoyed some quiet reading time.

Later that evening, I headed out to explore. I stumbled across a beautiful hiking trail that began beside two totem poles before winding through a peaceful forest of towering trees. It eventually led to the river, where everything was calm and quiet. I retraced my steps back to town, feeling like I'd discovered a hidden little gem.

Puppy Season

Puppy -- as in baby seal pups! 

Every late July / early August since we moved to Victoria, we've seen the yearly gathering of momma seals and their babies on Colvile Island, which is just in front of our home. This year, we also saw them on an even smaller island just a little further west of us. 

The lighting was particularly good a couple mornings ago so I got out there with my camera before it changed. 

I was just about to head back inside when I realized that Andrew, who'd headed out earlier for a walk, was also busy taking photos of them! He got a bit closer than I did, plus has a larger telephoto so I'm sure he got some really good ones! 

 

Road Trip June 2026 - Bend to Home

Well, finally getting to the final post of our June road trip. Only because I did a backpacking trip in July and want to post about that! Sigh . . . 

Anyway, after leaving Boise, we stopped to camp at Martin's Landing near the border of Idaho and Oregon. We've stayed there before but this was the first time we saw wild turkeys and their young ones. 

We knew we'd get to Bend, Oregon, early afternoon so we looked for something to do. The High Desert Museum, just outside of Bend, looked interesting. I think because it's on a highway that we don't usually travel on, we hadn't paid attention to it on other trips through this area. It was well worth the visit. 

I loved the colours and the sun shining through this "Finding the Light" exhibit, causing colourful shadows on the ground. 

We enjoyed seeing the birds of prey and learning more about them during a couple of demonstrations. 

It was time for a hotel stay to get cleaned up after camping and we stayed at our usual place, the Riverhouse Lodge which is beautifully situated along the Deschutes River.  Great views from the dining room and lovely murals on the outside of the buildings. 

The next day we stopped for lunch and wine tasting at Andante Vineyard. Another beautiful place we've been to before. Of course, we picked up our allowed two bottles of wine each to take home across the border. 

The Astoria-Megler Bridge, stretching the 6.5 km between Oregon and Washington, is another favourite site. It's the longest continuous truss bridge in North America and second longest in the world. 

The Art Walk at the Willapa National Wildlife Refuge is a great place to stop for a short break from driving and is finally open again after being closed for a few years during and after Covid / 2020. There are several metal sculptures and sometimes lots of real birds too. 

And then there's one of our favourites -- Elixir Coffee Shop in South Bend, WA. :-) 

Road Trip June 2026 - Yellowstone to Boise

Driving through Yellowstone National Park is a combination of somewhat annoying (vehicles, people) and, at the same time, so interesting. You never know for sure what animals you're going to see. This time, we saw more bison than we ever had. In addition to quite a few close to the road, there was a very large herd (guessing about a hundred of them) off in the distance. Also in the distance were lots of elk and sandhill cranes.

Humorously, this bird was sitting on the bison's back for quite some time. I don't think the bison even noticed. 

Just west of West Yellowstone, there's a campground near the Henry's Fork River where we often stop to camp. The pelicans are a mainstay although they were a bit further from the campground this year than they've been in the past. They're also usually more active and we try to take photos of them in flight but this time, they were content to just float along. Or stand, as the water was so shallow. 

 

When in huckleberry country, we have to try out the local flavours. 

This was the sunset from our van. 

The next day we made it to Craters of the Moon National Monument which has a campground there as well. It's been a very windy trip and this, along with some rain, kept both of us awake much of the night. 

We had a short driving day so we decided to go into Boise for lunch. I excitedly told Andrew that Boise is home to 2x CrossFit Games Champion Justin Medeiros. He'd didn't seem too impressed. LOL! 

While at lunch, we realized we were close to the Zoo Boise so put that on our agenda as well. It was a bit disappointing in that there was so much wire on the cages that it was hard to see the animal and virtually impossible to take photos.  I managed to get a couple photos through glass. 

We h

Boise is so much bigger than either of us imagined and it then took us what seemed like forever to get out of the city! We were much later to our campsite for the night and a bit grumpy and tired. Speaking for myself at least!