At one time, the trail was much better signed for distance.
Many of those have gone missing over the years.
I’ve got this trip tagged jungle.
In many parts it’s impassable without following human or game trails. Dense fynbos is the natural shrubland or heathland vegetation unique to this part of the world.
This ocean is cold and choppy. That didn’t stop Scott.
The family had barbecue once again. I shared some of their chicken. And ate my usual meal — smashed potatoes.
Day 1 = 4.8km (± 2 hours) – Storms River reception to Ngubu huts
No rush day 1.
I relaxed in the morning. And enjoyed 2 MORE restaurant meals at Storms River Mouth Restcamp, making the obligatory day hike to the Suspension Bridges.
You must register for the Otter at the Park entry gates, not down at the campground — as I had hoped. Carrying my hiking pack, I started rolling the rest of my luggage UP the steep hill to the Park office.
Not one vehicle stopped to offer me a lift. (Best not try to hitchhike in South Africa.)
I did spot a bushbuck crossing the highway. Then a large troop of baboons, the first I’d ever seen in the wild.
Happily the Registration folks let me store my excess luggage for the 4 nights I’d be on the Trail. …
Registration is quick and efficient. The safety video has been out of order some months, so was not required for me.
Each hiker is given a poor map with trail description, suggestions, bird list, etc. Most critical on that one page document is instruction on how to most safely cross the Lottering and Bloukrans rivers.
You are also given tide tables (essential) for the dates of travel.
Start of the Otter, you share the trail and coastline with (many) day hikers.
Requires some boulder hopping with heavy pack.
This trail, 50-years-old in 2013, is rugged but very well maintained. There’s plenty of help. Steps. Bridges. Even a few ropes.
You can’t get lost. Follow the clawless otter.
Water is plentiful.
You are advised to treat all water. I did. Many locals don’t bother.
It took no time at all to reach the first camp. I was pleased to meet Steven and Kimberley, Scott and Claire Marques from Zimbabwe.
Rod and Jess, holidaying from the States, were the other 2 hikers starting same day. They had seen this Puff Adder sunning on the rocks.
Rod had grown up in this region. He’d never seen larger.
It’s not uncommon to see snakes on the Otter Trail. And throughout South Africa. For more information, ask at registration.
There are two huts, toilet and cold shower at all 4 camps, each mandatory stops. Each of the two huts has 6 bunk beds with firm mattresses. Hikers must provide their own blankets/pillows/sleeping bags etc.
Happily the Marques family got their own hut. Rod and Jess got their own hut. And I tented under the mesh, protected by a roof in the dining hut. Normally tenting is not allowed, but my set-up certainly did no damage to the environment.
Of 12 spots available, only 7 hikers arrived to start. Many folks book a year in advance. There are no refunds. And its not allowed to replace those who don’t arrive.
A permit for the Otter is the most difficult in South Africa. It’s a shame they haven’t modernized registration procedures to get more folks on to the adventure.
A few tent sites should be added to each camp, too.
The one thing that unites ALL South Africans is murdering and cooking up animals out of doors.
The word braai (plural braais) is Afrikaans for “barbecue” or “grill”. I carried in frozen chicken.
Sanparks keeps a supply of wood dry underneath the huts. In fact, they were delivering wood fresh each day when we were there.
Two mooching genets made an appearance at dusk. Seems they’ve been gifted — or stolen — grilled meat in the past.
Lightning quick at dusk, we couldn’t get photos. They were gorgeous, though, with both stripes and splotches.
Here’s what they look like.
Finishing the wine I’d carried in, it was an early night. Dark at 6:30pm, the Southern Cross and Milky Way were stunning.
We were all asleep by 8pm. The only sound the crash of huge waves.
The bat-eared fox is a canid of the African savanna, named for its large ears. …
… also referred to as big-eared fox, black-eared fox, cape fox, and Delalande’s fox …
… an insectivore that uses its large ears to locate its prey. 80–90% of their diet is harvester termites. When this particular species of termite is not available bat-eared foxes feed on other species of termites and have also been observed consuming ants, beetles, crickets, grasshoppers, millipedes, moths, scorpions, spiders, and rarely birds, small mammals, and reptiles. The insects they eat fulfill the majority of their water intake needs. …
… the bat-eared fox has a reversal in parental roles with the male taking on the majority of the parental care behavior. Females gestate for 60–70 days and give birth to litters consisting of 1 to 6 pups. Beyond lactation, which lasts 14 to 15 weeks, males take over grooming, defending, huddling, chaperoning, and carrying the young between den sites. …
Dead Burro Canyon Trail is a loop hike for the adventurous around a mountain block through a deep scenic canyon in Havasu National Wildlife Refuge, a wilderness setting where very few trails exist. Look for wild burro and Bighorn sheep! …
As expected, I was quickly lost.
One wash looks much like the next.
On the other hand, I enjoyed a solo morning off trail. It’s all good in the desert outside Lake Havesu, Arizona in February.
I dropped a Summit Stone atop one random stone mountain.
The highlight was finally spotting wild burros. LIVE ones.
… winners of the 48th annual Veolia Environmental Wildlife Photographer of the Year Competition were announced on October 17th featuring 100 incredible photos selected from 48,000 entries originating from 98 countries, with top prize claimed by Paul Nicklen for his bubbly capture of emperor penguins. …
The North Coast Trail is the newest (2008) of the WCT alternatives. An alternative way to spend time in this wild coastal temperate rainforest. It’s billed as “the WCT circa 1970“.
Was the WCT this bad in 1970? … Probably.☹️
STANDARD ROUTE:
• the North Coast Trail is a 43.1km extension to the original Cape Scott Trail. The total hiking distance Shushartie Bay (from water taxi) to San Josef Bay & Cape Scott Trail parking lot is a minimum of 59.5km (37mi).
• the only ways to get to the NCT are by logging road (64km from Port Hardy), water taxi or float plane.
• actually, a few masochists have bushwhacked in to Shushartie from Port Hardy. Dumb idea.
• best hike is to decide as you go where you want to camp. An “open” itinerary. Base your decisions each day on tides, weather and how you feel.
• many do 7 days, 6 nights on the standard NCT trail but — if you — instead — start at the parking lot, any number of days works. If you have serious problems, walk out.
• often you can choose between an inland path or a coastal route. The coast is almost always better. Certainly more scenic.
• the most detailed route report of the STANDARD NCT was posted in Wild Coast (2008)Shusartie to Laura Creek:
1. Shusartie overland (Shusartie to Skinner)
2. The Nahwitti Stretch (Skinner to Cape Sutil)
3. The Sutil Scramble (Cape Sutil to Irony)
4. Christensen Coast (Irony to Laura)
5. Nahwitti Cone (Laura to Nissen)
… walk out via the easy Cape Scott Trail
Though I had a challenging, terrific experience Sept 2012 (see trip report) … my recommendation is NOT to do what I did. Don’t hike the STANDARD NCT (minimum 61km). You can do better on Vancouver Island.
The new trail is extremely difficult where you start in the east. And gets easier as you head west and then south.
The beaches and trails are “better”, too, I felt, in the older western & southern parts of the Park.
Instead of the standard North Coast Trail: water taxi to Shushartie to Cape Scott Trail parking lot, better itineraries are:
• or — best of all — hiking the North Coast Trail, differently:
_____
HIKE DIFFERENT – option 1 of 2:
~ start Cape Scott Trail parking lot (getting there by personal vehicle or Shuttle Van) -> hiking as far into the North Coast Trail as you wish -> then backtracking to the parking lot.
That in-and-out hike gives you many, many options. You can decide what you want to do, as you go. Keeners in your group can go further east, while others in your group relax on a favourite beach.
The very worst section, in our opinion, is Skinner – Shushartie. You can stop when you get to Skinner, if the going is rough.
Downside?
Some hikers hate backtracking. No worry, in this case. The Trail looks completely different walking in different directions. It changes, too, with the tide. Trust me — you won’t be bored.
If you don’t have your own vehicle, you’ll somehow have to arrange the Shuttle to come pick you up.
_____
HIKE DIFFERENT – option 2 of 2:
Start at Skinner. Or even Cape Sutil.
… Why doesn’t everyone do that?
“Park Facility Operators” by email:
Shushartie is by far the safest and most reliable place to drop off hikers. It can be reached at all tides by most boats. I completed a survey of the coastline with the Coast Guard and they also recommended keeping Shushartie Bay as the primary access point strictly from a safety perspective. It is also a hardened area that is not negatively impacted by constant boat landings. …
Though more materials for boardwalk has been airdropped alongside the Trail, I heard money had run out. There has been some controversy regarding the funds expended, too.
_____
If I was going again next year, I’d start at the Parking lot. Not Shushartie.
… Are we being too hard on the Skinner – Shushartie slog?
“Park Facility Operators” by email:
It’s unique due to its rare vegetation and tree species, its endangered (and protected) fish and amphibian species and its ability to positively affect the rest of the park’s functioning ecosystem. All rare and unique. These types of ecosystems are often referred to as the lungs of our environment.
“Park Facility Operators” felt that it was very important to represent this ecosystem as part of the hike. It is very unique and like I say, one of the primary reasons this part of the park was created, from a conservation perspective.
Those upland bogs are interesting.
But visiting them requires one day of your life.
WHY WE LIKE THIS HIKE:
• North Coast Trail is like the West Coast Trail without the hassle of getting a “Trail Use Permit”
• west coast of Vancouver Island is fantastic. This truly is one trek that could change your life.
photo by Sam Yeaman
• NCT camping is only C$10/person/night. May to Sept. You can buy backcountry permits online, or pay cash at the trailhead. Honour system.
• no quota on number of hikers (WCT allows only 60/day)
• no reservations needed
• you can hike NCT / Cape Scott year round, weather permitting, while the full WCT is only officially open 5 months a year. (However, the Water Taxi stops running around Sept. 15th each season.)
• gorgeous beach campsites with sunset views. Nel’s Bight beach is 2.4km long and 210m wide at low tide. Sweet.
• some old-growth forest including giant Sitka Spruce & Western Red Cedar
• pretty sea stacks and other fascinating coastal geology
• tidal pools, bogs, riparian areas, …
• good tent pads, far better than on the West Coast Trail
• campfires allowed. Plenty of drift wood.
• chance to see whales & other marine mammals, bald eagles, river and sea otters, mink, deer, elk
photo by Sam Yeaman
• everybody loves Guise Bay & Experiment Bight
• few biting insects on the coast (you will find mosquitoes inland out of the wind)
• possibly a few horseflies inland (not to mention millions of weird, but non-biting, beach hoppers on the coast)
• creek crossings are only an issue when in flood.
• two new cable cars propel you over the only major rivers
• theft and vandalism of parked vehicles is normally no problem at Cape Scott trailhead, San Josef. No parking fee.
• wild (dispersed) camping is allowed
• many set up tents protected within “fortresses” (temporary beach shelters made of drift logs). “Park Facility Operators” asks that you dissemble those, when finished
• beach-combing is fascinating, look for wreakage from Japan
• the Cultural Heritage of this area is fascinating. Signage explains the history of native peoples and the failed Danish colonies
• you’ll see BEARS and WOLVES in the wild 🙂
CONSIDERATIONS:
• you’ll see BEARS and WOLVES in the wild 😦
• bears and hikers both love: berries, low tide, trails
photo by Sam Yeaman
• it’s MUDDY, … really, really MUDDY
• did we mention it’s MUDDY?
• prepare for slippery rocks, roots and logs. Eyes blinded with rain, you’ll need to scramble up, over and between giant stumps. With a full pack.
• most wear waterproof hiking boot with high gaiters. It’s a gamble to wear anything else — 5-10 water shoes, for example.
• most hikers get blisters. Bring moleskin, or whatever works best for you
• most hikers bring a second pair of footwear for camp
• consider bringing one or two hiking poles. There are many wooden walking sticks to be found in the campsites, as a back-up
• you must scramble fallen trees, steep slippery slopes sometimes assisted by muddy rope
• expect to fall on your face. Most often at a moment when you’re not paying attention to your footing.
• so far “Park Facility Operators” has recorded more injuries on the “cobble beaches” than any other terrain. Slippery boulders can be ankle busters.
• bring a first aid kid. There are 3 Ranger stations, but many parts of the trail are not regularly patrolled. Plan to be self-sufficient in any emergency.
smilewithyourheart – on the road to Cape Scott
• water is a problem in this Park, sources few and far between. By end of season some sources are reduced to a trickle. Or seep. Boil, filter or treat. Collect rain water with a tarp, if you get the chance.
photo by Sam Yeaman
“Park Facility Operators” by email:
Perennial streams on coastal trails, including the NCT, are hard to predict. With such little relief and few lakes to store runoff, it all comes down to recent rain fall. Even the big streams like Nahwitti and Stranby are tidally influenced and are brackish near their mouths. …
• best bring more water carrying capacity / person (perhaps 4 litres / person)
• signage is terrific on the Cape Scott Trail, but minimal on the new NCT. Most hikers are working off the $10 Wild Coast Map
• when the NCT was built, the signage was combined with the Cape Scott Trail for consistency. Makes sense.
• fishing is permitted as per provincial and federal fishing regulations. Nobody was catching anything when we were there.
• leashed dogs allowed — but NOT recommended. There’s a chance they’ll run into wolves. UPDATE – we’ve heard dogs are no longer allowed on the trail.
• no emergency phone. No phone coverage. (Marine radios can be rented from North Coast Trail Shuttle. If you call, evacuation costs about $1000 … IF they can get to you.)
UPDATE from George of North Coast Trail Shuttle:
Only 2 injured hikers picked up in 2012. at no cost, 1 heli 1 coast guard. We picked up 2 on different days that called in to say they were done. 1 pooped 1 mild knee strain. They paid seat price as we were in the area.
We have only had one group pay the charter rate of $1000.00 in 5 years. Most get picked up next morning for discounted rate after we drop off others.
• bring your own satellite phone if you want to maximize safety. VHF radios are going to work. SPOT locators are fairly unreliable, in my opinion.
• sections of the trail are impassable or very difficult at high tide. Check tide tables posted at most official campsites. Get tide tables in advance, as a back-up, in Port Hardy. Jot them down from signs (if posted) in campgrounds, as they may be slightly different
• May to October are the best months
• we like August and early September best of all
• off-season this part of the world is very cold and rainy
• some consider Cape Scott Lighthouse a bit of a letdown. It’s not on the sea.
• rogue waves can knock an inattentive hiker into the sea
• expect torrential rain and wind. You need a good waterproof tent and tie-downs. And clothing for those conditions.
• keep a dry set of clothes in a waterproof bag, for wearing inside the tent
• summer highs around 14C (57F)
• risk of hypothermia
• bring parachute line to hang food from a tree as a back-up, in case you don’t make it to an official campsite, for any reason. There are bears everywhere.
• bear-proof metal food caches are widely available, actually. Near essential in this bear country.
photo by Sam Yeaman
LOGISTICS:
• almost everyone arrives Port Hardy by the only lonely highway. It’s 499km from Victoria, 412km from Vancouver (plus ferry).
• a terrific alternative, would be to arrive or depart by BC Ferry from Prince Rupert. (From Rupert you can catch the Alaska Marine Ferry, something I did once. A superb trip up the Inside Passage.)
• bring stove fuel with you to Port Hardy as stores may be closed
• public transport is convenient
~ one Greyhound bus a day
~ walk a couple of blocks to one of two hostels. There are many hotels, too.
~ walk to the North Coast Trail offices at the Marina, morning of transit
• both the hostel & North Coast Trail Shuttle will store a small bag for you, while you are gone. Your small bag with CLEAN clothes.
• no reservations are needed to hike the North Coast Trail. But you must book both van shuttle (San Josef) and/or water taxi (Shushartie) in advance. To get a good price you need a number of hikers taking that transport at the same time. North Coast Trail Shuttle rents VHF marine radios too ($50+tax).
You can prepay your $10/night/hiker to North Coast Trail Shuttle, as well. Very convenient.
• National Topographic Series Maps, Scale 1:50,000, Index No.102, Sheets 1/9 and 1/16, cover the Cape Scott area. Available at most map retailers in British Columbia.
BEST VIDEOS:
Cape Scott Park has a Flash-based Virtual Tour. Click around to discover highlights.
Mornings are often foggy on this coast. It burns off after a couple of hours on a sunny day.
Here’s a fog bank, for comparison, dissipating later in the day at Nel’s Bight.
Departing Nissen, you find that your North Coast Trail is now also the older (1973) Cape Scott Trail. In much better condition.
Very cool. Unique, so far as I’ve seen, is this broken up wooden ship hulk, sunk as a breakwater, slowly being overgrown by vegetation.
The Earth reclaiming. 🙂
From 1897 until 1910, Danish settlers tried to establish a fishing community near San Josef Bay. Due to the harsh climate and lack of governmental support, the community failed …
… another attempt was made at Hansen Lagoon, similarly failing by 1917. Alfred Spencer, the last resident, left in 1956.
Some artifacts can still be seen in the park, including a three-metre-tall granite tombstone, several corduroy roads, many ruins (that look like anonymous mossy mounds), and rusty farming implements. …
Of those relics, the most impressive to me is this crude tractor abandoned jammed between trees near Hansen Lagoon.
Nel’s Bight is gorgeous. My favourite stop. The most popular beach in the Park is reasonably easy to access from the parking lot. No need to hike the NCT to get here.
I set up my tent early in the day, for the first time. And walked the 2km long beach barefoot in bright sunshine.
I’d pushed to get here early to have time to side trip to the Cape Scott lighthouse. (minimum 13.6km)
It’s a pretty, varied and well maintained trail. I love log bridges made of materials available on site, this style in particular.
Some find the manned light house a bit of a let down. It’s immaculate, however.
The weather was marvelous. With views over to the island north of the north tip of Vancouver Island.
The letdown is the location of the light station, far from shore atop a hill. Somehow it’s not as exciting as those on the West Coast Trail.
Locals love grass fringed Guise Bay en route.
And unique Dune Neck to Experiment Bight.
Natives formerly dragged their boats across this sandy stretch rather than risk the circumnavigation of Cape Scott in dangerous seas.
FEAR the WOLVES
By the time I got back to the tent, it was late. I was tired.
My food, as always, was carefully locked away in the campsite cache.
🙂 Fortunately, I’d found stove fuel left behind by departing hikers.
😦 Unfortunately …, there was a pack of wolves close to the water source at Nel’s beach.
Why?
They were feasting dawn and dusk on a sea lion carcass dead directly in front of the Ranger’s cabin. Here a photo I took the next day.
The water — however — was close to the Ranger’s cabin, as well.
So wolves, be damned. I marched directly to get water. The beasts dissolved into the trees.
…
It was quite dark by the time I finished dinner. Instead of cleaning the pot, I used an old trick — filling it with sand and sea water. That prevents critters from coming to visit during the night.
But the tide was low. I had a long walk barefoot to reach the surf.
When I turned around, there was the alpha wolf, about 25ft away. They’d trapped me!
I SHOUTED. I raved. I waved (my pot).
I grabbed KELP and snapped it like a WHIP.
The wolf mother finally realized I was some madman. And finally trotted off with her brood. … At least my THEORY is that this is a mother with young ones. Some speculated the leader is the Alpha Male with 3 or 4 followers.
Here’s a wolf, perhaps the same wolf, on the same beach Aug 10th, 2012, a month before I was there.
It was much, much later before I realized she was only coming out to see where I dumped leftovers in the sea.
Wolves almost NEVER attack humans. The are among the least threatening beasts anywhere for their size and strength.
The Vancouver Island Wolf is a subspecies of grey. They will attack dogs and, indeed, there were at least two dog encounters this season in the Park. Don’t bring your dog here.
Their main prey on this Island are Columbian black-tailed deer and Roosevelt elk. While I was on the Trail, one hiker captured video of a wolf chasing a deer through the surf.
A short day planned, still I packed up early. Left my backpack with the kayakers. And headed out to explore Cape Sutil off-trail.
From high vantage I saw the girls finally arriving.
Sutil Cape is impressive. I got far enough to see this bird rock.
Bird life?
You spend a lot of time with seagulls. I did see a few distant bald eagles. And visited with a few ravens. But not as many as on other west coast hikes.
I was surprised to see two loons on the ocean at one Bay. I thought they were exclusively fresh water.
The flying highlight for me was the Steller’s Jay, Provincial bird of B.C.
There are entertaining to watch.
Walking is easiest on the rugged coasts of Vancouver Island at low tide.
Tidal pools on my trip were good, but not as good as I’d seen on the WCT or Juan de Fuca. Nor are there as many. The highlight for me was colourful starfish.
There are dozens of assistance ropes hung to assist on steep sections. But the ones everyone remembers best are these.
At times the grade ranges from 70 degrees to vertical. And they are LONG.
This excellent video — shot by another group earlier this Summer — at 3min 8sec gives you a good idea of what the ropes are like. That’s the worst the trail throws up to challenge those afraid of heights.
Ropes are mainly needed for descent. I tended to avoid them on the climbs. Roots are better and more stable.
Those folks were crazy to take dogs out there, by the way. 😦 A really bad idea with so much wildlife here. At least 2 dogs have fought with wolves this summer.
We were tremendously LUCKY with the WEATHER. Seven days, no real rain. Coastal hiking is paradise when the sun is shining.
This helicopter fly-over Shuttleworth Bight gives you a good idea of the wonderful terrain.
It IS possible to hike along the beach from Skinner Creek to Nahwitti River at low tide. (Start a couple of hours before low tide, if you can.)
Another day. Another BEAR.
Stumbling out of the trees at this beach — there was a bear. Studiously ignoring me.
I quietly scrambled atop this rocky outcropping. No bear could get up there.
I read my book. And then left a Summit Stone in a crack on top. 🙂
Many feel the Nahwitti Stretch is even more difficult than day 1 Shushartie Overland, but I liked it much better. There’s plenty of variety. Plenty of entertainment.
For example, the Nahwitti River Cable Car.
Now that’s FUN. I did not see any sign of spawning salmon, however. Perhaps it’s too early in the season.
FUN too are the longest stairs on the Trail — “Long Leg Hill”.
Hikers praise aloud those who built these, let me tell you. 🙂
So far as I saw, there’s only one truly impassable headland on the official North Coast Trail — at km 43.2.
Late, I arrived at high tide, and was obliged to lie down for a nap.
At some point later the girls arrived, needing to wait as well. They were more than mildly surprised when I popped up out-of-nowhere from my sleep.
As we found out the following day, the girls never actually made it to Sutil that night. Due to knee pain and failing light, they decided to wild camp in one of the pocket coves just short of Sutil, having to “hang” their food from bears, wolves and (perhaps) hyenas. 🙂
If the ladies had known in advance they were too late to get through, they could have stopped at Nahwitti River campsite.
The tent platforms on the NCT are fantastic. If it’s raining, you definitely try to set-up on these.
On arriving at the beautiful big beach at Sutil, I was astonished to find 3 kayaks and 4 kayakers, just dropped by the water taxi, starting a 2wk adventure. (I wished I’d come in with them to start hiking here.)
It was a birthday party. I felt obliged to finish off the leftovers from their heavy dinner. And to drink their heavy wine. And warm myself at their friendly fire.
As dusk fell we sipped wine, … and wondered whatever happened to the girls.
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