Heads up: The Berg Lake Trail is currently closed. It suffered extensive damage due to flooding in late June and early July 2021. BC Parks has announced that the trail will be open as far as Kinney Lake in summer 2023, but the full trail will not re-open until 2025. The Berg Lake Trail in …
Backpacking Guides
Cape Scott Provincial Park is at the very northern tip of Vancouver Island. It’s a remote but beautiful place: old-growth rainforest, coastal bog, gorgeous white sand beaches, and lots of historical sites. It’s a 23.6km hike from the trailhead to the lighthouse at Cape Scott, so most visitors do it as a backpacking trip, staying …
I’ve made no secret of the fact that I love Tasmania’s wilderness. I spent 6 days exploring it on the Overland Track on my first visit in 2019, so when I returned to Tasmania in 2020, I pretty much went right from the airport directly to Walls of Jerusalem National Park to go backpacking. Unlike …
Organizing transportation to the West Coast Trail can be one of the most complicated parts of the hike. There are a few different options for getting to the start and getting back from the finish, and it can be hard to figure out which one makes the most sense for you. I have also talked …
The West Coast Trail is a wilderness experience: each night you’ll pitch your tent on a remote beach and listen to the waves crash as you fall asleep. I’ve hiked the West Coast Trail twice and visited all of the campgrounds. And I can tell you… some of them are definitely nicer than others. (And …
Packing for the West Coast Trail can be a little bit confusing. Your pack needs to be light, but it also needs to contain everything you need, including lots of food and waterproof gear. The first time I hiked the West Coast Trail in 2004 I was really inexperienced and used mostly borrowed gear. My …
Due to the way the campgrounds are spaced out, and the placement of the difficult trail sections, most people use a 6 or 7 day West Coast Trail itinerary. When I first hiked the trail in 2004, we just winged it. But when I was planning my 2019 trip I worked out tons of options. …
The West Coast Trail is a 75km multi-day backpacking trip along the West Coast of Vancouver Island in British Columbia. Along the way, you’ll hike through the rainforest on rough trail, boardwalks and mud bogs, walk along sandy beaches, boulders, and slippery coastal shelf, cross rivers on high bridges and cable cars, and climb in …
If you’re looking to explore some of Olympic National Park’s rugged coastline, I recommend hiking to Toleak Point from Third Beach. It’s a moderately challenging trail that travels along beaches and across steep headlands. The area around Toleak Point is dotted with dozens of offshore islands and sea stacks, making it really picturesque. Plus there …
I’ve done a fair amount of backpacking, but I had some trouble deciding what to pack for my trip on the Berg Lake Trail in early September. The trail is at a high elevation in the Canadian Rockies, so I knew the weather would potentially be colder and wilder than I am used to. As …