A complete guide and 6 day itinerary for the NCT and CST on the remote northern coast of Vancouver Island, BC

There are few people that would consider the promise of the North Coast trail – “more bears than people” – a selling point for a long hike. The bear, however, seems to be my spirit animal, and so this feature did nothing but intrigue me. Living in a famously outdoorsy city, there is an increasing drive in my circles to escape the weekend warrior crowds, to find quieter trails, remoter backcountry, and the paths less traveled. The remoteness of the North Coast trail, located along the isolated northern shore of Vancouver Island, had caught my interest for this reason – the ancient forests and silent wind-swept beaches could be mine, all for the price of six days of hard hiking, drenched in mist, rain, and crisp, salty air (and I love all of those things). From the leap from the front of a barely stable boat onto the jagged and slippery rock that constituted the trailhead, to the eagles swooping feet overhead to claim their dinner, to night after night of crimson beach sunsets over warmly crackling campfires, this trail was the epitome of epic west coast hiking.

Much less well-known than its southern neighbour, the infamous West Coast trail, I’ve put together a guide to help you plan your trip, as information can be less than abundant. And, should you think I’m glorifying what is actually a difficult and long trail, read on for the full account of the pain, the inconceivable amounts of mud, and the almost embarrassing amount of naps taken. Almost embarrassing.

Background

The North Coast trail was designed as a 43.1 km extension to the older Cape Scott trail. To complete the NCT, you’ll need to also complete at least a portion of the CST, namely, the walk from Nissen Bight to the shuttle in the parking lot – this brings the distance up to 58 km. Should you choose, as our group did, to complete the entire CST as well, the total distance is 79 km. The trail is usually done from east to west, which places the hardest terrain at the beginning. It is a one-way trip through dense forests, open marshes, and countless beaches, followed by the gentle, historic trails of Cape Scott, including a quaint red and white lighthouse.

While very similar to the West Coast trail, The NCT is considered to be more difficult, mostly due to the rugged, unsculpted terrain (ie: less stairs/structures/carved steps). It is also much more remote, meaning mishaps comes with higher consequences. While about 6000 people do the WCT every summer, less than 6000 have ever done the NCT!

The rest of this guide outlines how to plan and prepare for the NCT, some essentials to pack, some tips, and some highlights of my trip.

Logistics

To make the NCT/CST happen, you’ll need to do the following:

• Get to Port Hardy on Vancouver Island – the boat/shuttle to the trailheads will start and end here. To reach Port Hardy, take a ferry from Vancouver to Nanaimo, then drive about 4 hours up the coast
• Book transportation to and from the trailheads – the east end of the trail, Shushartie Bay, is only accessible by boat, so hiring someone is unavoidable. Cape Scott Water Taxi operates the NCT service out of Port Hardy. For about $180, they’ll ferry you to the Shushartie Bay trailhead via boat (an hour ride), and pick you up in the Cape Scott parking lot to return you to Port Hardy via shuttle van (an hour and a half ride). The boat leaves the marina at 7 am, and the shuttle at the end leaves the lot at 1pm, so plan your travel, accommodations, and hiking around these times.
• Pay BC park backcountry camping fees – these are $10 per night per person. No need to pick your sites ahead of time, just be sure to print and carry your permits with you. Campsite amenities are limited; most sites just consist of tent pads, a bear cache, an outhouse, and a fresh water source.
• Buy or print a good trail map, and perhaps make a rough plan. Have an idea of how many kilometers you’ll cover each day (10 km with a heavy pack over hard terrain is a full day’s hike for most people), and where the campsites and fresh water sources are located. The NCT usually takes about 5-6 days, while adding the CST will take more like 6-7 days.
• Print a tide table (and pay attention to the high tide lines on the beach when setting up camp) – have some concept of whether you might experience unusually high tides during the trip, because some of the beach campsites may not be a smart idea at those times. Additionally, there is one portion of the trail that cannot be passed at high tide (between Skinner Creek and Cape Sutil).

Itinerary (TLDR version)

Here’s a brief suggested itinerary:

Day 1: 7 am ferry to Shushartie Bay NCT trailhead (about an hour ride). 8.7 km hike to Skinner Creek campsite. Hard terrain, 5-7 hours.

Day 2: 7.3 km hike to Cape Sutil campsite. Hard terrain, 4-8 hours (depending on tides).

Day 3: 7.8 km hike to Shuttleworth Bight campsite. Hard terrain, 3 – 5 hours.

Day 4: 19.3 km hike to Nissen Bight campsite. Moderate terrain, but very long day, 6-13 hours. Official end of the NCT.

Day 5: Beginning of CST portion. 6.3 km hike to Nels Bight campsite. Easy terrain, 2-3 hours. Set up camp at Nels, then 13 km day trip (without packs) to Cape Scott lighthouse. Easy terrain, 3-4 hour roundtrip back to Nels campsite.

Day 6: 18 km morning walkout from Nels campsite to Cape Scott parking lot. Easy terrain. 4-6 hours. Shuttle departure at 1 pm (about an hour and a half back to Port Hardy). Celebrate survival with beer.

Essential gear

• Rain gear – you are spending up to a week in a coastal rainforest, after all. Pack like it could rain for a week.
• Tent with proper (full length) fly – see above
• Tarp – not entirely necessary, but a lightweight tarp to make a cooking/hangout area in the rain will make a lame hangout-alone-in-my-tent trip into a fun and social trip.
• Hiking poles – the terrain can be complex, unstable, and challenging: steep slopes, mud bogs, and massive trees to climb over and squish under. Add the heavy and unfamiliar weight of the pack, and having a pole or two to stabilize yourself is helpful.
• Extra dry clothes – I don’t know about you, but when I’m wet, I’m cold, and when I’m cold, I’m unhappy.
• Gators – there is a serious amount of mud on this trail. In addition to keeping your boots and pants a bit cleaner, gators keep mud, rocks, and pine needles out of your shoes, and provide protection against the thrashing your lower legs will get from vicious undergrowth.
• Firestarter – count on wood being damp. Make your life easier.
• Gloves for cable cars – there are two cable cars along the trail requiring you to pull on thick and coarse rope for movement. Some gloves, such as biking gloves, make this easier.
• Bags for wet items – garbage bags, ziploc bags, whatever. You’ll want something to put your wet tent and fly in when you break camp that won’t soak everything else in your bag.
• Dry-bags – keep your sleeping bag, extra clothes, electronics, etc. in these for peace of mind when a downpour starts. Knowing you have dry clothes and a warm, cozy sleeping bag awaiting you at camp will help you tolerate a lashing from the sky.
• Map, with waterproof sleeve/case – knowing how far to the next site and where to find fresh water are vitally important.
• Water filter (or other treatment options) – All water must be filtered/treated on the trail. As there are a few stagnant water sources, a filter will remove particulates that chlorine or UV won’t.
• Bear deterrents, such as bear spray, horns, and flares – remember what I said about more bears than people? While I exaggerated for effect, there are lots of bears, as well as wolves and cougars.
• Consider a satellite phone – while not absolutely necessary, it is very possible to hike the entire day without encountering anyone, and an injury could mean spending a day or two on the trail in pain until help arrives. This trail can be seriously remote.

Tips

• While you can technically camp anywhere you like, the following campsites are definitely the nicest on the trail: Skinner Creek, Cape Sutil, Shuttleworth Bight, Nissen Bight, Nels Bight, Guise Bay.
• Another bear warning: remember that bears are attracted to anything scented (not just food). Put your camp soap, deodorant, bug spray, etc. in the bear cache with your food.
• Observe the high tide line on the beach before pitching your tent. We had a nerve-wracking half hour preceding high-tide at night at Shuttleworth with two other groups of campers as we all watched the tide get within a few feet of our tents on the exceedingly narrow beach…
• If you plan to visit the Cape Scott lighthouse, a cute and well-maintained little campus staffed by friendly lighthouse keepers, there is a tap on the side of the building where you can grab clear, clean, cold water – better than anything you’ll filter from the creeks on the trail!
• I’d highly recommend planning your trip for the summer to maximize your chances of good weather. The mud is formidable and the coast damp, even in relatively dry periods.
• If you decide you love rain and visit in the off-season, there is both a yurt and a ranger station located on the trail available for overnight stays (in the off-season only).
• There are no fresh water sources between the eastern trailhead at Shushartie and the first campsite, Skinner Creek. Pack enough water for a long, hard day of hiking.
• The trail is generally obvious enough, and decently marked in questionable areas, but requires some common sense. Buoys always mark exits/entrances to the beach. The tides may dictate if you take a forest route or a beach route.

Trip highlights

• The unforgettable launch straight into the trail – hopping off the end of a boat held briefly against sharp and slippery rocks, then immediately hiking straight uphill. There is no warm-up for this one!
• The perfect combination of company and solitude – while a full boatload (10 people in 4 groups) were dropped at the trailhead, after some initial leapfrogging, we hiked every day without seeing anyone. But at night, all the groups would reconvene at the campsite. It was nice to see a few other tents dotting the beach (just in case of trouble), and we came to enjoy the brief catch-up chats we shared in the evening with ‘the couple’, ‘the family’, and ‘the two girls’, as we called them.
• Finding a mysteriously dead ratfish (a deep sea dweller) on the shore at Cape Sutil, then, a few hours later, a spectacular show as an eagle swooped out of the sky, snatched it, and flew off over our heads.
• The two cable cars over the river – you climb a tower, hop in, and rush over the river as gravity pulls the cart to the center. You have to use the cables to finish pulling the cart to the other side, but it’s a lot of fun!
• The wildlife – a million eagles, osprey, stellar jays, whales, seals, frogs, a bear, and wolf tracks in the sand (luckily no in-person wolf encounters).
• The weather – while I was prepared for non-stop rain, I learned that the weather changes very quickly on the northern island. The rain showers we did have lasted no more than 20 minutes, and the weather improved as we progressed. We had numerous sunny days.
• Camping on the beach. We hiked hard in the mornings and finished the trails quickly, meaning that we had time to indulge in afternoon naps nearly every day at camp before dinner. (I was not at all sore after this trip by the way, and I attribute that to the naps!) Naps, a pattern of sunny weather in the evening, beach campfires, and stunning sunsets, were really what made the trip for me.
• “Paradise” beach – an unnamed beach we encountered past Nels but before Guise. Despite it having no name on the map, this was likely the best beach of the whole trip! White sand, turquoise waters, the aesthetic curve of the shore – perfect!
• The small historic stops depicting the story of the two settlement attempts of Cape Scott, including abandoned structures, tools, and a tombstone – while I confess we laughed quite a bit at the wording of the signs, they were memorable.
• The Cape Scott lighthouse. A charmingly Canadian little campus on a high cliff, everything is red, white, and manicured. The lighthouse is manned year round; while the two keepers were on leave, we met a very friendly replacement keeper, who came out to greet us and chat.
• The finale at the parking lot. The last kilometer of a trail feels like it lasts forever, but as we finished and hugged and fist-pumped, our shuttle driver (who came early to meet us) was right there with a camera documenting our victory. The ‘photo shoot’ in front of the the “I survived the NCT” sign, catching up with ‘the two girls’ riding the shuttle with us, and being whisked into the van – it all happened so fast that I feel like we didn’t have time to let the ending sink in!

While trips like this can have a large degree of ‘type 2 fun’, and I certainly had moments of apprehension (I confess that “what have I gotten myself into?!” was a common thought on day 1), the beauty and raw elegance of the trail was worth the measure of pain endured. It is not a small thing to have completed 79 km of hard hiking with a heavy bag over 6 days, and there is a degree of pride, satisfaction, and strength that goes with the accomplishment. The wildness of this corner of the world is a rare treat, the days hard but simple, and, depending on your viewpoint, it is either an isolated retreat or a worthy challenge against which to test yourself. Go explore.

Ever completed a multi-day hiking trail? Have a favourite? Let me know your tips, tricks, and tolerance for suffering in the comments below!