Juan De Fuca Trail Hike

Of Note in General: Camping and overnight parking fees required, high tides may cut off beach/trail access, numerous mud stretches, frequently damaged infrastructure (ladders, bridges, boardwalks), bear scat, the trail is popular, uneven ground, rocks and roots, stones of all sizes on the beach, very slippery stones in grottos and on the beach, hiking poles and boots are highly recommended. Very limited /nonexistent cell phone coverage along the trail - it might be possible to get a signal from a USA carrier (beware of roaming charges!). The entire trail is in the tsunami hazard area - head to higher ground or inland in case of an earthquake.

Vancouver Island, Victoria & Gulf Islands Backroad Mapbook (9th edition) Coordinates: Page 4 (Jordan River) C4-B4-A4 and Page 3 (Port Renfrew) G4-F3-E3-D3-C3.

Related Website: Juan De Fuca Provincial Park - BC Parks Official Website.

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Juan De Fuca Marine Trail is a multi-day 47 km-long hike on Vancouver Island along Salish Sea between China Beach (East of Sooke BC) and Botanical Beach in Port Renfrew, BC. Both trailheads are easily accessible by vehicles via Highway 14 (West Coast Road), allowing for a one-way hike via a shuttle. Also, because there are two other vehicle-accessible locations along the trail (Sombrio Beach and Parkinson Creek), it is possible to hike Juan De Fuca Trail in series of one day hikes, which is exactly what we did. On Day 1, we hiked from China Beach to Bear Beach (km 0 to 9) and back. On Day 2, we went from Sombrio Beach to Chin Beach (not to be confused with China Beach! - km 29 to 21) and back. On Day 3, our hike was Parkinson Creek to Sombrio Beach (km 37 to 29) and back. And, on Day 4, we went from Botanical Beach to km 39 (2 km West of Parkinson Creek) and back.

Thus, we hiked the entire Juan De Fuca Trail except the part from Bear Beach to Chin Beach (km 9 to 21) and a small part between km 37 and 39. The Bear Beach to Chin Beach part was not possible to do in a day hike, and the part between km 37 and 39 was all in the forest (like the most of Juan De Fuca Trail, by the way), and we wanted to save time to explore Botanical Beach area, arguably the best part of this entire hike.

The main attractions of Juan De Fuca Trail are: three long suspension bridges, fine shoreline views at beaches and (sometimes) from the trail in the woods, wonderful tidal pools at Botanical Beach (and a few much smaller ones at other beaches), very interesting grottos at some beaches, several waterfalls, and a few interesting forest scenes. Campers would certainly enjoy spending time at the beaches (mostly made of stones, small and large), and will likely have a whole lot of other people nearby at all times aside from, perhaps, the coldest and wettest months of the year.

What surprised us is that, despite being a marine trail, the vast majority of hiking has to be done in the woods. There are no major elevation changes, so it's a fairly easy trail to hike from that perspective, but the biggest challenge comes from numerous slippery sections and rather frequently worn-out wooden infrastructure (ladders, bridges and boardwalks), presenting somewhat complicated and, sometimes, fairly dangerous conditions in many parts of the trail.

Also of note, while there are pit toilers at all the parking lots and some campsites along Juan De Fuca Trail, the garbage cans can only be found at the Sombrio Beach parking lot! There are no garbage cans at the Botanical Beach lot (there is a free public dump in Port Renfrew, open during business hours only), and none at China Beach lot either (however, there are garbage cans at China Beach campground, about 1 km east of the lot). Overnight parking and backcountry camping requires a fee. Parking around Port Renfrew is complicated. No overnight camping is allowed at the Botanical Beach lot, and there is a forest service road fairly close by (just east of Port Renfrew), but it does not have a good level spot for parking, unless you manage to find one.

Furthermore, there will likely be a whole lot of mud on this trail if you hike it at any time aside from, perhaps, late Summer and early Fall. But hiking during the drier season also means that the waterfalls along Juan De Fuca Trail (there are a few) would not be as impressive due to a much smaller volume of water.

Finally, there are no fresh water taps anywhere along the trail. Be prepared to have your water boiled or treated, especially if you plan on having a multi-day hike.

* All trail distances are based on a GPS odometer and are approximate.

62. The next two pages describe our hike from Sombrio Beach to Chin Beach (29 km to 21 km). Please, do not confuse Chin Beach (located at km mark 21 of Juan De Fuca Trail) with China Beach (located at km mark 0 of Juan De Fuca Trail). Here is a Google Maps location of Sombrio Beach parking lot, located 1.5 km off BC Highway 14.

63. We are westbound on BC Highway 14 on Vancouver Island, 20.1 km west of China Beach access road turnoff, and are approaching Sombrio Beach access road turnoff, seen on the left side. It's 1.5 km from here to the parking lot via a decent gravel road. Interestingly enough, while there are signs indicating 2 km to the turnoff and 400 meters to the turnoff, there are no signs of any kind at the actual Sombrio Beach access road turnoff.

Vancouver Island BC Highway 14 at Sombrio Beach access road turnoff

64. Here is that decent gravel road. 900 meters from the turnoff.

Sombrio Beach access road

65. Arriving to Sombrio Beach parking lot 1.5 km from BC Highway 14. Coordinates: N 48⁰30.068’ W 124⁰17.752’. Elevation: 60 meters.

Juan De Fuca Provincial Park Sombrio Beach parking lot

66. The parking lot for Sombrio Beach is rather small, and this location is quite popular, so you may have to park along the road. On the positive side, Sombrio Beach is the only parking lot with garbage cans out of four parking lots for Juan De Fuca Trail. Even China Beach at the eastern end of the trail has no garbage cans (you can find them at China Beach campground one km to the east). At Port Renfrew (western end of Juan De Fuca Trail) use the free public dump off the main road (open during business hours only).

Sombrio Beach parking lot

67. The start of Sombrio Beach access path. It's 450 meters from the parking lot to Sombrio Beach and Juan De Fuca Trail.

Juan De Fuca Provincial Park Sombrio Beach access path

68. At 230 meters, there is a split. Turn right to head to Sombrio Beach West. We turned left, as we needed to head to Chin Beach via Sombrio Beach East.

Juan De Fuca Provincial Park

69. You will pass by an information board and several pit toilets, and then arrive to Sombrio Beach East.

Sombrio Beach entrance in Juan De Fuca Provincial Park

70. Quite a few people were camping at the beach. We observed about 15 tents in total. This place is likely to be packed in the Summer.

Sombrio Beach camping in Juan De Fuca Provincial Park

71. So, we turned left and started heading east on Sombrio Beach. It's mostly made of small stones, but with patches of decent sand here and there. At 300 meters from the beach entrance.

Sombrio Beach

72. Looking back from the same spot.

Juan De Fuca Trail Sombrio Beach

73. Now looking back at 810 meters from the beach entrance.

Sombrio Beach on Vancouver Island

74. At 870 meters, there is an entrance to Juan De Fuca Trail towards Chin Beach, located at km 21 of the trail (and, eventually, towards km 0 at China Beach, if you keep going east from here).

Juan De Fuca Trail Entrance from Sombrio Beach

75. At first, we went to the eastern end of Sombrio Beach. Here it is at 1.03 km from the beach entrance.

Eastern end of Sombrio Beach

76-77. Now back to Juan De Fuca Trail.

Juan De Fuca Provincial Park British Columbia Canada

78. At 210 meters from Sombrio Beach trail entrance.

Hiking Juan De Fuca Marine Trail

79. At 370 meters, a barrier indicates waterfall viewpoint entrance. Coordinates: N 48⁰29.510’ W 124⁰17.554’. Elevation: 35 meters.

80. Forty meters later, here is the viewpoint. Beware of a steep unbarricaded drop-off.

Waterfall near Sombrio Beach

81. Now with a zoom.

Waterfall near Sombrio Beach in Juan De Fuca Provincial Park

Here is our video of the waterfall from this location.

More ihikebc videos are on our YouTube Channel.

82. Back on the trail. At 480 meters, we see a bridge across a creek which forms the waterfall seen in the photo above.

Hike in Juan De Fuca Provincial Park

83. At 500 meters, here is that bridge up close.

Juan De Fuca Trail Hike

84. It's very easy to get close the top of the waterfall from here, but there are no good views, and the stones by the top of the falls are VERY slippery - extreme fall hazard, do not approach!

Vancouver Island Juan De Fuca Provincial Park

85. Looking right (towards Sombrio Beach) from near the top of the waterfall.

Vancouver Island coastline view near Sombrio Beach in British Columbia Canada

86. The view of the bridge from near the top of the waterfall.

Juan De Fuca Provincial Park on Vancouver Island BC

87. Back on Juan De Fuca Trail at 550 meters from Sombrio Beach East entrance.

Juan De Fuca Marine Trail

88. At 730 meters from Sombrio Beach East, we have reached a typical Juan De Fuca Trail mileage marker. As we are heading towards km 0, the numbers are going to decline as we hike today. It turns out these markers are not exactly one kilometer apart every time, with some off by several hundred meters (but usually much less than that). Thus, take the mileage markers on this trail as a rough guideline only. We will continue distance reference going forward by indicating how many meters we have hiked from the previous mileage marker.

Juan De Fuca Trail mileage marker

90. At 110 meters from mileage marker 27 (840 meters from Sombrio Beach East) a very fine second view of the impressive waterfall is located just to the right of this staircase.

Wooden staircase - Juan De Fuca Trail - Vancouver Island BC Canada

91. You need to go through the vegetation for about 20 meters to reach the viewpoint.

Our Juan De Fuca Trail Hike trip report Continues on Page 4.

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