The Juan de Fuca Marine Trail is a remarkable multi-day hike along the coast of Vancouver Island, Canada, progressing over beautiful beaches and through spectacular indigenous forest.
In this article you will find all information needed to plan a hike on the Juan de Fuca trail, all about our hike; detailed itinerary and packing list.
This is a moderate to strenuous 47 km hike in the Juan de Fuca Provincial Park along the west coast of Vancouver Island in British Columbia, Canada. We hiked the route in four days, which is the most common way to complete the entire trail. The footpath stretches from China Beach, close to the town Sooke in the south, to Botanical Beach located close to Port Renfrew in the north. The more famous West Coast trail with similar scenery also start close to Port Renfrew extending along the coast in the opposite direction. See our detailed guide and report on hiking the West Coast Trail.
Recent news on the trail (2023) Partial Trail Closure – The Juan de Fuca Marine Trail is closed between the Little Kuitshe Creek Campground and the Parkinson Creek Trailhead to support facility upgrades – BC Parks anticipates the full reopening of the Juan de Fuca Marine Trail on April 8, 2023. Both the Little Kuitshe Creek Campground and the Parkinson Creek Trailhead remain open but there is no trail access permitted between the two sites. All other sections of the Juan de Fuca Marine Trail remain open.
The Juan de Fuca Marine trail meanders through a spectacular mix of solitary rainforest, sandy and rocky beaches and biodiverse rock pools, offering panoramic views and an unreal variety of fauna and flora. Keep your eyes on the ocean and you might spot grey whales, killer whales, seals or sea lions, in the forest keep a look out for black bears and cougars and don’t skip the fantastic tidal pools inhabited by starfish, sea urchins, barnacles, blue mussels, anemones, sea cucumbers and plenty more interesting animals. Vancouver Island is packed with amazing things to do, see our guide to Vancouver Island for a complete guide on things to do, from the wonderful Victoria to hikes, whale watching and activities like kayaking, surfing and hiking.
Table of Contents
Trail Information
- Distance – 47 km/ 29 miles
- Time required – 3 to 5 days
- Starting and End point – Botanical Beach to China Beach
- Total ascent (in 4 days) – 1973 m
- Total descent (in 4 days) – 1930 m
- Walking surface – a mix of sand and rocks on the beach, footpaths with surface varying between dirt and knee deep mud.
- Route marking – wood signs, orange markers on trees
- Average cost – average of $30 per person per day
- Accommodation – camping
- Food – carry food for the duration of the trail
Walking with a Lifestraw water bottle made drinking an easy process, we could just fill the bottle anywhere and know the water is safe drink. On this video you can see myself and Alya using our Lifestraw bottle in Nepal.
Various walking surfaces on the Juan de Fuca trail
Which direction to hike The Juan de Fuca Trail
The complete trail is 47 km/29 miles according to the official markers, my GPS gave me a bit more distance everyday, maybe there was a bit of variation in distance because we tried to go to the beach as much as possible. The trail can be hiked either way; from north to south starting at Botanical beach close to Port Renfrew and ending at China Beach or the other way around. We hiked the trail mid August, there were only a handful of people on the trail and traffic in both directions was very similar, but I have heard more people hike from China Beach heading north to Botanical Beach in season. All the hills are steep ups and downs as can be seen on each day’s elevation profile, our total ascent and total decent was almost identical confirming the difficulty would be similar in both directions.
Time required to hike the complete Juan de Fuca trail
I was visiting family in Canada and my brother hiked the trail with me, he is not a very experienced hiker. We did the trail in 4 days and 3 nights comfortably, so if you are reasonably fit you should be able to complete the trail at a very relaxed pace in 4 days without problems. It took us an average of 6 hours per day, that leaves a lot of time to swim, break and explore. You know what pace you are comfortable to walk at, we met a couple of people on the trail doing it in 3 or 5 days respectively. We even passed some runners completing the trail in one day! I would recommend that you try to get up early enough to start walking by 10 am. The first day we totally overslept, waking up at 10 am and only starting our walk at 12:00, we walked almost 7 hours finishing quite late.
Day hikes on the Juan de Fuca trail
The trail can be accessed from several trail heads each with car parking if you want to do one-day hikes or only walk part of the trail, in this way some people also do the trail over more than one weekend. The trail can easily be accessed from the road at Parkinson Creek, Sombrio Beach and China Beach. Shorter stretches of this fantastic trail is perfect for a weekend getaway from Vancouver
Juan de Fuca Trail Transportation
The trail is easy to reach by public transport or with your own vehicle. The West Coast Trail Express provides a shuttle bus service in season, May 1 to September 30, picking up and dropping off passengers at Victoria, Sooke, Jordon River, China Beach, Sombrio Beach, Port Renfrew, and Nanaimo. At the time of writing the price is $CAD60 one way from Victoria to Port Renfrew with the shuttle. If you have a car, you can park at the trail head parking area where you will end your walk and book the shuttle to pick you up, finishing the hike at your car. For example, many people park their cars at the China Beach car park and book the West Coast Trail Express bus to pick them up at China Beach taking them to Port Renfrew to start the hike. Another popular option is to book the shuttle to pick you up after your hike and take you to Victoria, but remember it only drives once a day in each direction so you might have to wait a couple of hours and if you are late the bus will leave without you. We did not book the return shuttle since I knew we would finish hours before the pickup time, we hitchhiked to Sooke from where we took a public bus, it only took us 5 minutes to get a ride.
Best Time of the Year to Hike Juan de Fuca
- The Juan de Fuca Trail is open the whole year, no booking is required for campsites.
- Although the hike may be done all year round, weather wise a pleasant time of the year is mid-May to mid-September. That’s also the main camping season.
- Busy season from mid-June through to early September
- Peak season July and August.
Role of Tides on the Juan de Fuca Trail
The Juan de Fuca trail has some sections that can be hiked on the beach. Some of the beaches may be underwater at high tide, there is however always an alternative trail in the forest. The entrances from beach to forest trail are clearly marked with red buoys and there are signs that show at which tides certain beaches may not be accessible. A tide table from the Port Refrew area will show you when and how high tides will be. Botanical Beach is said to be one of the richest tidal areas on the island’s west coast and the life in the rock pools is fascinating. To fully appreciate the life in the tidal zone of this beach explore this area at low tide, preferably below 4.0m.
The following beaches can only be passed when the tides are are lower than indicated below. We found the info on the table below on the official BC trails map.
| Beach Name | Km Marker (South to North) | Passable at tide height below m/ft |
| Bear Beach | 8.0 | 3.00/9.8 |
| Chin Beach (east) | 20.6 | 2.75/9.0 |
| Chin Beach (west) | 21.3 | 2.75/9.0 |
| Sombrio (east) | 28.0 | 3.0/9.8 |
| Sombrio (west) | 29.6 | 2.6/8.5 |
| Sombrio (west-west) | 30.2 | 3.0/9.8 |
Campsites on the Juan de Fuca Trail
Camping along the Juan de Fuca Marine Trail is only permitted in designated beach and forest camp sites, these are open all year. All camp sites where we stayed had a bear cash, running water and toilet. Self-registration envelopes and safes are located at each trailhead for depositing your camping fee, you can also pay online. China Beach is the only camp site where sites can be booked, all other sites are first come, first serve.
Camping on the beach – Camping on the beach is possible at Mystic Beach, Bear Beach, Chin Beach and Sombrio Beach (East). If camping on the beach make sure you camp above the high tide mark. At Chin beach we thought we were pitching our tent above the high tide mark, I woke up in the middle of the night with the water about a meter or 2 from our tent, the ocean was very loud! We decided to move the tent to a safer spot.
Camping in the forest – at Little Kuitsche Creek and Payzant Creek the camp sites are in the forest and away from the beach.
Toilets on the Juan de Fuca Trail
The facilities on the trail was excellent, it was long drop style toilets, but every camp site had very clean, modern toilets with toilet paper and hand sanitizer. We were super impressed.
Bears on the Juan de Fuca Trail
Bears do live in these forests, (black bears). Put your food and garbage in a bear proof container (bear cache) at the camp site. Don’t leave your garbage there, you are suppose to carry it with you.
What to do if you see a bear (regional parks) – stay calm, speak to the bear in calm voice, back away slowly, don’t make eye contact, don´t run – the bear is faster than you, take out bear spray and know how to use it, take some nice photos! if attacked use bear spray and fight back!
Food on the trail
Packing food for this trail was a pleasure since we had access to hiking store selling awesome dehydrated camping meals in Vancouver, a bit more pricey, but light, filling and delicious! everything you want from camping food.
- Breakfast – 2 packs of instant oats each per day for breakfast
- Lunch – a chocolate per day each
- Dinner – We packed a mix of what Alya and I usually pack and dehydrated meals. Nights 1 and 3 – A dehydrated meal (2 servings) each. Night 2 – 2 packs of noodles and a small pack of tuna each.
Alya (the other Stingy Nomad) and I are serious caffeine junkies, Kobus fit perfect suffering from the same addiction. We made awesome coffee twice a day with our Aeropress Go.
To boil water for coffee and prepare meals we carried a little gas stove and two small gas canisters and a cook set.
Drinking Water on the Juan de Fuca Trail
There are many water sources along the way and carrying one water bottle per person should be sufficient. Every camp we stayed at has a river or at least little creek with running water close to the camping area. It is recommended by the official government website that drinking water is boiled, treated or filtered before drinking, do this if you want to be safe. We carried a Lifestraw filter bottle and a MSR filter to treat water with, other campers had chlorine tablets, this is cheaper but taste terrible. My opinion is that the water is good quality, running water with slight discoloration due to tannins from foliage. There are no big herds of farm animals like cows, sheeps or alpachas we discussed this, reasoning a couple of bears and deer can not crap that much and drank water without treatment when we got lazy, we did not have any problems. Don’t get drinking water directly down stream of a busy camp site.
Accommodation
There are plenty of accommodation options to suit your budget in Port Renfrew and Victoria.
Victoria
- Arbutus Inn, good rating central location.
- Ocean Island Inn – good price, in the city center.
- The Bedford Regency Hotel – bit more luxury, in the city center.
Port Renfrew
- On a Budget – You can camp at China Beach and start walking North in the morning, Botanical Beach does not have camping, there are several other campsites in Port Renfrew if you are on a budget.
- Wild Coast Chalets (good rating, 400m from town center)
Juan de Fuca Trail Budget
- Camping – $CAD10 per day pp – $30
- Food – $CAD15 per day pp – $60
- Transport – $CAD55 pp Trailbus one way
- Bear spray – $CAD50
- Stove Gas – $CAD6
Total – $CAD201 per person ($150)
Juan de Fuca Trail Itinerary
Maps and elevation profiles were generated with a Garmin Fenix 5 GPS Watch
Day 0 – Vancouver to Victoria
Take a ferry from Vancouver (Tsawwassen Ferry terminal) to Victoria (Swartz Bay Ferry terminal). Take a public bus from Swartz Bay to Victoria. Overnight in Victoria. Spending some time in Vancouver? see our detailed guide for things to do in Vancouver
Day One
Victoria – Port Renfrew-Botanical Beach
We took the West Coast Trail Express from Victoria to Port Renfrew departing at 06.45 and arriving at 08:45. See the West Coast Trail Express Bus Schedule here. Had a great breakfast at Coastal Kitchen Cafe. Walk from Port Refrew to Botanical Beach Trail Head is 2.5km on the road (25 min). There was an ATM at the Coastal Kitchen Cafe.
Botanical Beach to Little Kuitshe Creek
Botanical Beach, Payzant Creek Camping, Parkinson Creek Trailhead, Little Kuitshe Creek Camping
- Starting point – Botanical Beach Trailhead
- Finishing point – Kuitshe Creek Campsite
- Distance – 14 km (walked 18km total according to my GPS)
- Walk on the Beach – 1.5 km
- Total Time – 7h 6min
- Moving Time – 4h 19min
- Total ascent – 457 m
- Total descent – 488 m
Highlights of the Day
- The Rock pools at Botanical Beach
We arrived in Port Renfrew just before 9am, finding a place to have breakfast, buying water and drawing money took some time (we ended up doing all of that at Coastal Kitchen Cafe). The bus drops you in Port Renfrew from where it is an half an hour walk to the start of the trail, we only started the hike at 12 pm.
We crossed Botanical Beach when the tide was fairly low allowing us to take a look around in the famous rock pools. We walked about 2km from Botanical Beach on the beach, according to maps we looked at parts of the beach is underwater at high tide and there is an alternative path in the forest. We went for a swim at the beach at Providence cove, the water was freezing! About a kilometer after Providence Cove we walked another section of about 1km on the beach.
As can be seen from the elevation profile there were some fairly flat section with going up and down medium to big hills. Hiking this stage in either direction would be equally hard. Most of the day is walked on paths in the forest. It was a long day for only 14km, taking about 7 hours! There were some muddy sections, but not the worst we had on the trail, we were lucky with dry weather! The day became very long because we got up at 5am in Victoria, walked 2km to the bus stop, another 2 from Port Renfrew to the start of the trail and ended up finishing the day quite late, I would recommend you try to start hiking not later than 10am.
Day Two
Little Kuitshe Creek to Chin Beach
Little Kuitshe Creek Camping, Sombrio West West, Sombrio West, Sombrio Middle, Loss Creek Bridge, Chin Beach
- Starting point – Little Kuitshe Creek Campsite
- Finishing point – Chin Beach Campsite
- Distance – 12 km (walked 15km total according to my GPS)
- Walk on the Beach – 1.7 km
- Total Time – 6h 13min
- Moving Time – 4h 16min
- Total ascent – 411 m
- Total descent – 448 m
Highlights of the Day
- Slot Canyon and Secret Waterfall
- Sombrio Beach
- Suspension Bridges
After very little sleep before day one we totally overslept and had another late start! The tide was to high to walk over Sombrio West on the beach, but from there we had about a 2km walk on the beach. Sombria is a great beach, it is very popular with local surfers and there were a handful of guys out there even though the surf was very flat. Many day visitors and weekend campers come here, walking the 2kms from the Sombrio trail head. There were some muddy sections through the forest, at least it was flat. After 3 hours and 40 mins (9km) we hit the steepest climb of the day, 1 km uphill with some muddy parts which took almost half an hour, you can see on the elevation profile after a flat section we started going down again and ended the day walking a couple of hundred meters on Chin Beach to the camp site. You walk over 3 fantastic suspension bridges on this day. Don’t miss the amazing ‘secret waterfall’ in a slot canyon from Sombrio Beach, it is easy to miss. This amazing waterfall and canyon was a great place to break for a lunch break and a super refreshing shower!
Highlights of the Day
Walk to the east end of Sombrio Beach eventually you will pass a cave-like rock, just past that look for a small stream of water running from the woods to the sea, we only saw one stream. Follow that watercourse. It is about 250m to the waterfall, it is not visible from the beach.You will see two huge cliffs of moss-covered rock with the waterfall right in the middle of it.
Our campsite on Chin Beach was our favorite on the hike, we camped about 50m away from the main campsite, right on the beach. Unfortunately we were closer to the high tide mark than we thought and were woken by the ocean in the middle of the night and moved our tent!
Day Three
Chin Beach to Bear Beach
Chin Beach, Loss Creek Bridge, Bear Beach 3 Camping, Bear Beach 2 Camping, Bear Beach 3 Camping
- Starting point – Chin Beach Campsite
- Finishing point – Bear Beach Campsite
- Distance – 12 km (walked 14.9 km total according to my GPS)
- Walk on the Beach – 1 km
- Total Time – 5h 49min
- Moving Time – 3h 49min
- Total ascent – 666 m
- Total descent – 675 m
Highlights of the Day
- Swimming in the rock pools in a creek on the way to Bear Beach.
- Bear Beach is really beautiful
The stretch from Chin to Bear is known as the toughest day on the trail. We got up at 7am, it was great to start walking a early! You can see on the elevation profile we walked over 14 hills (you can count 16, depends on what you see as a hill). There was again some muddy sections, but it was not the incredibly tough day we expected and was our shortest walking day so far taking about 5 hours in total. On the way went for a great swim at a some pools about 3 or 4 kilometers before bear beach.
You can see from the elevation profile that the total ascend and decent for this day was the most for any day, so it should be the hardest, since we started early and finished early this day did not feel that hard. Again you again see ascend and descent was similar so direction of this day should not matter to much regarding difficulty.
Bear Beach is a long beach and a nice walk, all three campsites; Bear 1, 2 and 3 have toilets and running water. We really liked Bear 2 and camped here. Bear 2 is divided in two campsites with toilets only the main site has running water. We decided to sacrifice running water and walk a bit more for a less crowded campsite.
Day Four
Bear Beach to China Beach
Bear Beach, Mystic Beach, China Beach
- Starting point – Bear Beach Campsite
- Finishing point – China Beach Campsite
- Distance – 9 km (walked 10 km total according to my GPS)
- Walk on the Beach – 1 km
- Total Time – 3h 44min
- Moving Time – 3h 01min
- Total ascent – 439 m
- Total descent – 368 m
Highlights of the Day
- Mystic Beach, great place for a swim
- Shower, coffee, hamburger
The last day was a short one, as per usual this day we just walked to finish and buy a big americano and something greasy and unhealthy to eat 🙂 We had a fairly early start and finished at about 12 pm. If you look at the total up and down and the elevation profile you will see it was about the same as most of the other days and thus not that easy, but the length of the walk made it easy. There is some beach walking on Bear beach at the start if the tide allows and on a nice beach, Mystic Beach on the way. We were planning a swim here but this never happened, I kept thinking about a hamburger with my name on it.
Packing List
Carrying all your gear is part of the challenge on the Juan de Fuca marine trail. Keeping it light helps a lot!
The MSR Hubba Hubba tent is extremely light, waterproof and durable tent, it was perfect for this hike. Good quality, easy to pitch and breakdown and it stayed dry in the rain.
You will need a portable stove to boil water and for cooking.
Since you can not carry water for 4 days you need a device to purify.
For this multi day hike you have to pack everything you are going to need since you can not get supplies anywhere on the way. The Lifestraw filter bottle is great for treating water if you are not sure about drinking quality. Easy and quick to use, fill the bottle and drink through the powerful filter built into the straw.
Garmin Fenix 5 GPS Watch is a great tool for hiking measuring speed, elevation, heart rate, mapping and more. Maps and elevation profiles in this article was created with my Fenix 5; TOPO U.S. mapping, GPS and Glonass tracking.
There can be a of mud on the trail, I will recommend waterproof gaiters over hiking boots to keep snow and mud out and your feet dry!
For longer hikes and in the mud hiking boots work better than low cut shoes.
My Salomon X Ultra Prime gortex boots, is an amazing pair of boots, winter, summer, mud, snow and rain comfortable, light and completely waterproof.
Ladies model, Alya loves her Ladies Salomon X Ultra boots .
Rain jackets is important the North Face for ladies or North Face Resolve for men is ok, it is not really cold, but you need a jacket to keep you dry.
Quick dry trekking pants is great for hiking Columbia hiking pants for men and Columbia hiking pants or yoga stretch pants for ladies.
Ladies hiking shirts the ladies long sleeve running shirt or ladies short sleeve T-shirt is nice. I like to hike in long-sleeved Columbia hiking shirts, they dry quick and offers maximum sun protection while hiking.
Cap/hat – For sun protection wearing a quick dry sports cap, or a wide brim hat is important.
Sunglasses – sunglasses for hiking go for high UV protection and polarized lenses.
I always pack a BUFF Multifunctional Headwear – for sun and wind protection (doubles as a face mask).
Trekking Poles – great if you have knee or ankle problems, also helpful in the mud or if it slippery on the trail, TrailBuddy Hiking Sticks are very well rated, good value for money, aluminium trekking poles. If you want top of the line Black Diamond Trail Trekking Poles.
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The strong half of Stingy Nomads, a nomadic aquaman that would be happy to spend all his life in the water diving, surfing and spearfishing but often has to compromise with Alya and go hiking instead. Campbell is responsible for all our marine adventures and following them with write-ups. He loves traveling, braai (BBQ in South Africa), red wine and spending the day in a wetsuit.
Cameron
Monday 1st of April 2024
I unfortunately didn't get a China beach camping booking and had booked West Coast express to take us from there to Port Renfew in the morning, should we just stay at Mystic beach and then walk to the bus stop in the morning?
Stingy Nomads
Thursday 4th of April 2024
Hello Cameron, that sounds like a good option. It took us about 45 minutes to walk the 2.5 km from Mystic to China Beach. You can also contact BC Parks, parkinfo@gov.bc.ca they are good at responding and just ask them what they suggest. Safe travels!
Val
Friday 14th of August 2020
Best article I've read on the JdF trail. Thanks for the great indo. I'm curious, did you take the bus back to Victoria on your last day? It says you caught the bus in Victoria at 6:45am, arrived in Port Renfrew 8:45am. It doesn't say how you got back. Looking at the schedule the only bus to Victoria is at 6:30pm so did you spend the day at the beach relaxing, or did you schedule an alternate ride back to the city?
Stingy Nomads
Sunday 16th of August 2020
Hi Val, thanks for reading, I am glad our article is helpful! There is a transportation paragraph under 'How to Hike the Juan de Fuca Trail' where I mention how we got back. The West Coast Trail Express can be booked to pick you up at the trail heads, there is a schedule, we realized that we would probably be finished hours before the bus comes by and decided not to book a return bus. We hitchhiked back to Sooke, it took us 5 minutes to get a ride, we took a public bus from there. On the West Coast trail I booked the return bus since I knew there would be very little traffic. I ended up getting offered a ride by someone I met on the trail and did not take the bus.
Kate
Wednesday 5th of August 2020
hi .) thanks for this article, guys! it was very helpful before we headed off. to everybody who are planning to do this hike: it's definitely for an advanced hikers. you need to be in a good shape to make all the high steps, climbing and carrying havy bagpacks through tuns of mud. I'd also recommend to do it this way: Botanical->China Beach. we just came back and everybody agreed on this. the first part Botanical->Little Kuitsche was the hardest one. not that it was with the worst elevation or so, but the mud..! that's what makes it difficult. even when the summer is hot and dry on the island, keep in mind that this trail is gonna be VERY muddy anyway. a stick or hiking pole is a good idea (I'd recommend a driftwood, it's lighter than a normal stick from the woods and also more dry). we were happy to have this part already done and just enjoyed the rest of the hike. yes, your bag is gonna be the fullest.. but you're also gonna have the most energy to make it .) if you want to leave the trail with a happy face, leave the easiest part (Bear->China) for the last day .)
Stingy Nomads
Saturday 8th of August 2020
Hi Kate, thanks or reading glad our article was helpful. I also enjoyed walking the trail Bear to China. Safe travels
Shelley
Monday 20th of July 2020
Thank you for your write up! We have changed our itinerary to match yours as we like the distances per day...we did the west coast trail in 2015...was a lot more rugged than I thought and I broke my arm on day 2 but managed the 7 day hike...we have done the China beach to bear beach overnight but very excited to do the whole trek this time. Thank you for the information..very helpful.
Stingy Nomads
Tuesday 21st of July 2020
Hello Shelley, thanks for reading. Hiking the bulk of the trail with a broken arm had to be tough! I can just imagine how hard climbing all those ladders had to be! Good luck, enjoy the trail and safe travels.
Julie
Sunday 21st of June 2020
Thank you for the detailed write-up. My kids and I are going to try backpacking for the first time on this trail. We're just going to do the China Beach to Bear Beach and then back. I wanted to keep it easy for our first experience. Anyway, your write-up really helps me to know what to expect on our trip. Now I just have to hope for sunny weather!
Stingy Nomads
Monday 22nd of June 2020
Hello Julie, thanks for reading, glad our post is helpful. I really liked Bear Beach, sure you will have a great time! Also look at the stretch from Sombrio to Chin Beach. Sombrio is great with the slot canyon and waterfall and Chin Beach it was nice to camp on the beach. Sombrio can get more busy than other beaches with surfers sometimes camping there for the weekend, but there is lots of space. Safe Camping!