Hesquiat Pensisula Trail

Itinerary

This is our typical itinerary for this tour. Because we are travelling in wilderness, itineraries can change. There are many factors that can affect how a tour actually runs. We confirm pickup times by phone, email or SMS at least 12 hours before.

This trip begins in Nanaimo, where we will arrange your pickup to drive to the location where we begin the activity.

• Day One

  Pick up early in the morning in Nanaimo and drive to Gold River and fly to Escalante Pt.
  This day we drive to Gold River, stopping for lunch and pack checks in Campbell River. Extra items can be stored in our van, and missing items can be picked up in Campbell River. We then continue to Gold River, where we will take a scenic flight by float plane along Nootka Sound to close to Escalante Point, from where the trail heads down a beach to a small stream where we will spend our first camp. This stunning beach is worth spending time at, exploring the caves, coves, beaches and headlands. The beach at Escalante is one of the most stunning along the trail. We hike about 1.7 km to our campsite.

• Day Two

  Escalante Point – Barcester Bay (km 1.7 – km 11.4 - 9.7 KM, 5-6 hrs)
  Today we time our journey so that we have a low enough tide to cross a tricky surge channel just north of Split Cape, 6km along the sandstone from camp. At the surge channel there is a cluster of spectacular sea stacks that are worth exploring, tides permitting. The surge channel is negotiated by either carefully climbing in and out of it, or by going around on the bushy ledge. This is the only real challenging feature along this trail. Once the surge channel has been crossed the hiking continues for another 1.5 km along more serrated sandstone or sandy paths at high water. Once we reach Split Cape there are sculpted conglomerate rocks to view. We continue for another 4.5 km along easy beach or sandstone to the beautiful beach and sand dunes at Barcester Bay, where we will make our camp for the night.

• Day Three

  Barcester Bay – "Ranger camp" after Estevan Point (km 11.4 – km 21.8 - 10.6 KM 6-7 hrs)
  Our journey today begins along a flat sandy strip along the edge of the rock shelf. There is a black sand beach 4.5 km south of Barcester Bay, more interesting rock formations, sandstone domes and some larger stacks. This can be a great place to view eagles as they perch atop surveying the land and sea for prey. As we make our way around the point, we may catch sight or sound of sea lions. There is a good camping location here with excellent water. We will stop to fill up our water bottles before continuing on to Estevan Point. Water between this fill up point and our next camp is scarce, so be sure to drink up and fill up! We should be able to see Estevan Pt Light station from here. We will fill up with extra water and camp for the night about 1 km past the lighthouse, just in the forest, resting up for the next morning's boulder beaches.

• Day Four

  "Ranger camp" to the Hesquiat village (km 21.8 - km 28.7 - 6.9km 4-6 hrs)
  Once around Estevan point and on the beach, hiking can be exposed if the weather is unfavourable. When we leave the lighthouse, we hike in the forest along the remains of an old telegraph line road that used to connect the lighthouse to Hesquiat village, but only to our camp. From there, we are on "billion boulder beach". If the tide is right, we will we able to walk out on the sandstone shelf and avoid the boulders, but will be tromping through water in our hiking boots. We will be able to camp at the Hesquiat village reserve (with permission). While at the village, we hope to be able to speak with Dianne Ignace, who lives on this reserve with some of her family.

• Day Five

  Hesquiat village – north of Le Claire Point (km 28.7 – km 40.1 - 11.4 km 4-6 hrs)
  Leaving the village, we cross Purdon Creek and head out to a mix of rocky beaches and sand beaches to the open beach highlight at Anton's Spit. We may pause here for lunch or to enjoy the day and the scenery. At the North end of this beach, we climb up the small rocky cliff and pass Le Claire Point's rocky headlands, after which we will find ourselves on a lovely pebble beach at km 40 to camp.

• Day Six

  North of Le Claire Point – Boat Basin (km 40.1 – km 45.1 (5km 4-5 hrs))
  This is our final day. We will hike the final 5km to Boat Bay. This is along many pocket beaches and rocky headlands and some short, forested sections around some headlands when necessary. We respectfully journey through another First Nations reserve before arriving at Boat Basin. Once here and if possible, we will have a tour of Cougar Annie's Garden, by Peter Buckland, who renewed the garden and developed the property over his nearly 60 years of stewardship. Cougar Annie was an immigrant settler and pioneer who moved to Hesquiat in 1915: Ada Annie Rae-Arthur tamed a small part of these wild forests on her 5-acre homestead. Following this we will hike the short trail to the floatplane dock on Hesquiat Lake, where our pilot will pick us up and fly us back to Gold River. We will head into Gold River for lunch before driving back to Nanaimo to say good-bye and return to settled life.

Note:Time journeying between camp locations are estimates. We plan to take our time to experience the stunning scenery and wildlife that we may encounter along the way.

Preparing For Your Trip

How you prepare for your adventure is important. Being well prepared will enhance the quality of your experience. Because we are travelling in wilderness, it is very important for you and for the rest of your adventure group that you are fit enough to handle the level of difficulty and demand with no problems. Our guides know how to minimize the impact of these demands as much as possible, but they cannot remove them. The depth of your experience can only increase if you have made sure that you have prepared well.

Your preparation will be different for different activities. Preparing for a kayak trip is different from preparing for a hiking trip. We have provided some basic information that can be downloaded through the following links to pdf documents.

Use the links below to download some of the preparation files for this hiking or kayaking tour. When you book your tour, we will send you a complete preparation packet to help you get ready.Please take this seriously. Most people are unaware of the demands of a coastal environment, particularly with keeping dry and warm. Your preparation will really help make your coastal hiking or kayaking tour a great experience.

Hiking Preparation package

Need Gear?

We have gear available to rent if you don't want to buy a particular piece of equipment, or need to travel without it. 

Look over the following list to help you decide whether you want to rent. If you decide to rent gear, you can tell us on the phone or book it online with your tour.