Miscellaneous Information

Information on the Internet:

"Official" stuff

• The West Coast Trail - Homepage: Loads of good (official) information about everything you wanted to know about the trail. Be sure to visit this page! They also have the most current Preparation Guide
• Quu'as First Nations have maybe the best and most up-to-date information on the trail.
• The British Columbia Outdoors also has lots of information about British Columbia wildlife and other trails in B.C.
• The Port Renfrew Homepage has Trail Advisory Updates, some links and a 3-part map of the trail.

  Private pages (pictures and travel reports)

• i-NEEDtoknow.com has a lot of very useful stuff about the trail such as an FAQ, safety advice etc...
• Victoria Club Tread is a hiking club in Victoria, BC. They have a nice list of campsites along the trail and some more basic information.
• Le Grand Bleu (aka Martin Ritter and Lorenz M�ller) did the trail in '99. Nicely written trail report and great pictures!
• The Blistered Foot, Ant Newmans page, has a trail diary, some information and great pictures.
• Rosi B�hms Travel Report (she did the trail in 1998) is very detailed. Oh, and it's written in German.
• Ralf Haukes WCT page has maybe the longest travel report on the trail (written in German) and nice pictures.
• Karen Sykes' report on the WCT, written for the Seattle Post-Intelligencer. This is a very amusing overview on the trail.

Some commercial stuff:

• Boreas Backcountry Adventures is a commercial provider of outfitted hiking trips. They also have some good information and some nice pictures.
• Adventurous Traveler Bookstore has all the guide books and maps mentioned below (and some more), Just do a search for "West Coast Trail".
• The West Coast Trail Express provides transportation to the trailheads.
• I survived the West Coast Trail T-Shirts (I do not like these kind of T-Shirts, but you might?)

  The following links are no longer maintained/valid:

• 10 days on the WCT: Juliet C. Bourne's West Coast trail pages, with very nice pictures (under construction, and has been for quite some time).
• Big Pink WCT page: some information on various topics concerning the West Coast Trail (like what to bring and where to go).
• Christopher Graee has a huge load of really great pictures, too bad the text is in Swedish ;-)
• Some more picures of a trip in 1996 by Michael and Tom.
• Kathy and Mark's WCT page: Nicely designed pages and some very good pictures of a trip on the West Coast Trail in 1997. This link seems to be dead right now... Too bad.

Canadian Parks Services:

• Pacific Rim National Park: for reservations for the trail, phone the PRNP reservation office at 728-1282. Reservations can be made from 1 March for the following season. For up-to-date information on the WCT, phone the PRNP headquarters at 726-7721.
• Trail Information Center: located at the trailhead in Port Renfrew, this is the place for the latest information on trail conditions and transport. This is also where you pick up your Backcountry Permit. The Center is open from 9:00 a.m. to 5 p.m. daily between May 1 and September 30 and can be phoned at 647-5434.

Guides and Books:

• The West Coat Trail and Nitinat Lakes: A Trail guide by the Sierra Club of Western Canada. Revised and edited by Tim Leadem. ISBN 1-55054-017-3.
  A very good guide with detailed trail information (going the trail south to north) and maps for the whole trail and the Nitinat Lakes (good place for canoeing).
• Other guide-books:
• Blisters and Bliss by David Foster and Wayne Aikens (Cloudcap Books, Seattle)
• Pacific Rim Explorer by Bruce Obee (Whitecap Books, North Vancouver)
  I don't know any of these but I've seen Blisters and Bliss once and it seemed to be quite good (and funny).
• Timeless Shore, Canada's West Coast Trail by George Allen (Bayeux, Calgary). ISBN 1-896209-06-8. A great picture book and trail report by a guy who has done the trail 8 times (maybe more by now). 55 superb color pictures, a history of the trail and a trail description make this book a good souvenir (it can be bought at Pachena Pt. Lighthouse).

Miscellaneous:

• Victoria Backpacker's Hostel, 1418 Fernwood Rd., tel. 386-4471, offers dorm beds and private rooms for a very good price. Nice atmosphere, nice people, also good source of information about the WCT and the area in general. You're sure to meet people there who just did the trail.

Please note: Some of the information (especially phone numbers and times) may not be up to date. I am not responsible for anything concerning this information. If you have any more accurate information, please feel free to contact me