Carmanah to Walbran on the West Coast TrailAfter camping at Tsusiat Falls and Carmanah Creek, you start to fall in love with every new campsite. Tsusiat Falls with its sweeping ocean views with the occasional passing whales to its crashing falls just steps from your tent. At Carmanah Creek you have a terrific beach that goes on and on. On a sunny day it is a stunning West Coast Trail paradise very hard to leave.

  • Carmanah Beach is paradise on a sunny day!
  • Beautiful, easy beach hiking for much of the day
  • Cable car crossing at Carmanah & Walbran
  • Bonilla Falls is an easily missed, amazing place
  • Bonilla Creek has amazing sunrises & sunsets
  • Carmanah, Bonilla & Walbran are skipped by most!
  • Shipwreck debris at Bonilla Point from the Puritan
  • Walbran campsite is comparatively deserted
  • Walbran Creek & Beach are very nice
  • If the beach was white sand it would be perfect!

The West Coast Trail

  Shipwreck on the West Coast TrailPrologue Shipwreck on the West Coast Trail1: The West Coast Trail Shipwreck on the West Coast Trail2: When to Hike & Fees Shipwreck on the West Coast Trail3: Trailheads Shipwreck on the West Coast Trail4: Getting There Shipwreck on the West Coast Trail5: Considerations Shipwreck on the West Coast Trail6: Campsites Shipwreck on the West Coast Trail7: Shipwrecks Shipwreck on the West Coast Trail8: Routes Hiking Route West Coast TrailDay 1 Pachena to Darling Hiking Route West Coast TrailDay 2 Darling to Tsusiat Hiking Route West Coast TrailDay 3 Tsusiat to Carmanah Hiking Route West Coast TrailDay 4 Carmanah to Walbran Hiking Route West Coast TrailDay 5 Walbran to Cullite Hiking Route West Coast TrailDay 6 Cullite to Camper Hiking Route West Coast TrailDay 7 Camper to Thrasher Michigan Creek at 12k Darling River at 14k Orange Juice Creek at 15k Tsocowis Creek at 16.5k Klanawa River at 23k Tsusiat Falls at 25k Cribs Creek at 42k Carmanah Creek at 46k Bonilla Creek at 48k Walbran Creek at 53k Cullite Cove at 58k Camper Bay at 62k Thrasher Cove at 70k

As you continue hiking south, you have some good news and bad news. The bad news is the West Coast Trail starts getting harder, a lot harder. You get a nice 6 kilometres of beautiful beach hiking, then plunge back into the forest. The ladders become very frequent and increasingly long. If you are hiking early in the season, you will bog down in knee deep sections of mud and find your pace reduced to about 1 kilometre an hour! The good news is that there is a string of excellent campsites quite close together on the horizon. Bonilla Creek campsite is just two kilometres past Carmanah Creek and an excellent campsite in its own right.

It is easy to hike past Bonilla Creek and not give it a second glance. The creek is a bit shallow, rocky and reddish coloured from the tannins leached from the forest. Runoff water from tree roots and decaying vegetation colours most creeks and rivers along the West Coast Trail a beer or tea colour. If you follow Bonilla Creek to Bonilla Falls you will find a cute little world that feels hidden. The campsite that is revealed in the forest next to the falls stretches for about 100 metres and is packed with curiosities. From wooden carvings and art crafted from flotsam, to extraordinary hammock that must have been crafted from an old fishing net. Added to that you have a very pretty waterfall with a small pool that begs you to jump into. If you were to camp here, you get some sensational sunsets with an array of deep blue to vibrant orange and the sun disappears behind the horizon.

West Coast Trail Day 4 Map - Carmanah to Walbran

 Day 4 Carmanah to Walbran Continued...