Juan de Fuca Marine Trail Day 2: Bear Beach to Chin Beach

Day 2 of the Juan de Fuca trail was a 12 km hike and definitely our most difficult day of the journey. We hiked from Bear Beach (kilometre 8.6) to Chin Beach (kilometre 21) and gained a total of 540 metres of elevation throughout the day. The bluffs in this section are steep, so be prepared for lots of hill-climbing and descents!

If you missed the Day 1 post, find it here, along with helpful information about the Juan de Fuca trail.

Departing Bear Beach East Camp

Despite efforts to be prepared earlier, we left our campsite at Bear Beach East Camp at 10:15 am. We hiked the 2 km stretch down Bear Beach, now that the tide had receeded, and made it to kilometre 11 at 11:00 am. Though we thought hiking down the beach would be faster than climbing the bluffs, we had to move slower than we’d planned. Our heavy packs made navigating the loose rocks on the beach more complex than we’d anticipated. The 11 km post was at Rock-on-a-Pillar (seen in the above photo), or Bear Beach West Camp.

From here we crossed Ledingham Creek and began a steep climb up to the top of the bluff. This climb caught us off guard as we had been picking our way over the flat beach for the last 45 minutes. The next two kilometres took us about 45 minutes each, as we climbed and descended multiple bluffs. The first two climbs were definitely the steepest, and they got a little bit easier from here. The time discouraged us a little, as we were used to doing a kilometre in about 30 minutes or less, as per the day before, but this section was certainly more difficult.

Logging Roads and Trail Erosion

Around kilometre 13 there is a brief reprieve from the ups and downs as you walk along an old logging road. We picked up the pace a little here, before descending again to Newmarch Creek for kilometre 14. At this point we returned to the rolling hills. Just under two hours later, we passed a difficult section between kilometres 16 and 17. There is a steep hill that has largely eroded away, so we had to use tree roots to help guide us down.

At the tops of the bluffs, the trail was usually well-maintained and easy to follow. As we descended into the valleys, the amount of mud on the trail increased, as did the degree of erosion on the trail. There are areas that have been fixed or replaced by BC Parks and occasionally alternate routes, but some sections have yet to be redone. It is important to keep an eye out for flagging tape in unclear sections as it will help guide you to the correct path. We took one incorrect path at one point during the day and ended up missing the 15 km marker.

Additionally, ensure you have good hiking boots (I would not recommend trail runners as having high waterproof shoes that go above the ankle are helpful in keeping mud out). As well, consider bringing gaiters if there has been lots of rain before your trip. It had been relatively dry before we started our trip, so there was less mud than usual (but still enough for us!).

Wildlife on the Juan de Fuca

Be sure to take in the views along the way. You never know what wildlife you might see. There are many short lookout sections that bring the trail out to the edge of the bluff where you can overlook the ocean, both at the tops of some bluffs and in the valleys between others.

Around 5:30 pm we crossed a bridge between kilometre 18 and 19 with a great lookout onto the Juan de Fuca Strait. I saw an orca pass briefly through these section which was amazing! Although we were concerned about making it to camp in time, we loitered for a few minutes here to watch the whale and try to catch another glimpse once it had passed.

Camping at Chin Beach Centre

We arrived at Chin Beach as the sun was setting. Luckily the tide wasn’t high enough to block our route to Chin Beach Centre Camp, but be sure to check your tide table. There is a Chin Beach East Camp above the beach a little ways past kilometre 20, but there is no water source directly at this camp, so you need to hike back a bit on the trail to get water if you stay here. We continued on the beach and watched the sun fall into the ocean as we arrived at Chin Beach Camp (kilometre 21) at 6:45pm. The early sunset is the one disadvantage of hiking in October.

We got our camp set up before it got dark and ate dinner on the beach in the darkness. The mist didn’t settle on us that night and we got the most incredible view of the stars. Despite feeling a little defeated at points along the trail, realizing we had underestimated the difficulty of the hike, we were content and pleased to have made it through the most challenging section of the trail. The next day would feature 8 km and the most technical part of the trail and this time we had a sharp cut off at 3:00 pm for our pick up time. We were off to bed before 9:00 pm with a plan to get an earlier start on our third and last day on the trail.

Check out my next post: Juan de Fuca Marine Trail Day 3: Chin Beach to Sombrio Beach for more information about the final leg of our trip!