- 4 day Hike - Mice - JDF Trail
- Hi,
- My adult son and I and my (well-behaved)
dog are planning on hiking the trail starting Monday, Aug. 10th.
We want to do it in 4 days (3 nights camping and 4 days hiking).
Based on that timeline, any suggestions as to where we should
camp the first and second nights? I would like to travel as far
as possible the first day when I’m fresher. One more question.
I hear the mice are bad along the trail at campsites. If we cache
our food up a tree (hang it) can the mice still get at it or
do they only bother food left around the campsite?
- Thanks for your help ... Becky
-
- Reply:
-
- Hi Becky,
- To hike from camp site to camp site the
trail works like this. Starting at the Juan de Fuca trail head
or the opposite starting from Botanical.
-
- Juan de Fuca Trail Head - 2k - Mystic
Beach - 7k - Bear Beach - 11k - Chin Beach - 8k - Sombrio Beach
- 4k - Little Kuitshe Creek - 7k - Payzant Creek - 8k - Botanical
Beach
-
- If you want to make a big push on your
first day you could hike to Chin. Then to Sombrio and the third
night at Pazant. It would give you a pretty big first day but
3 easy days after that. Starting from the Botanical Trail head
you could hike to Sombrio on the first day then to Chin then
to Bear and 4th day finish.
- Mice shouldn't be a problem if your food
is in a food cache. Mystic, Bear, Chin, Sombrio all have food
cacheJeff tin lockers to put food in ... Kuitshe and Pazant have
a steel pole to hang food from. Or if you hang it on a rope from
a tree it shouldn't be a problem.
-
- Hope this helps and hope to see you on
the trail (I work out there)
-
- vapor
-
High Tide - JDF Trail
- Hello my name is Randall and I will be
going on the Juan de Fuca Trail in 1 week and I was hoping you
might be able to answer a question for me. When your on the beach
hiking where is the point you have to make it around before high
tide?
Thank you for your time
-
- Reply:
-
- Hi Randall,
- The area you are referring to I think
is the west end of Sombrio beach. You can get past this point
on an alternative trail we call the High Tide trail. Going from
east to west it is about 1/4 k from west Sombrio as you make
your way down the beach. It is a clay embankment with ropes and
markers at the top. This access point has had slope slippage
and erosion in the last couple of years but has been made quite
easy to use. We have installed ropes and foot holes. Coming from
west to east the high tide trail is about 1k from from west Sombrio
just before the sandstone bluffs at the mouth of the creek. It
should also be marked with red bouys in the trees. Easy access
and good trail. So Sombrio high tide is not an issue as long
as you take the high tide trail.
- Both ends of Chin beach can be cut off
on a 9 ft tide - 2.7 meters. This is quite a high tide so Chin
isn't usually a problem. If you are on the east side of Chin
there is a emergency cabin you can stay in above beach access.
Very nice little spot. If you arrived late in the day on the
west side of Chin and found you couldn't get down just pitch
your tent some where in the forest and spend the night and go
down in the morning. (No fires in the forest above high tide)
- The rest of the trail should all be passable.
- Say Hi if you see us working out there.
-
- vapor
- Dogs - JDF Trail
- Hi there,
- just found your site and thank you for
all of the information on the trail as we are planning on hiking
it this coming month.
I was planning on taking my dog with us to do the hike and keep
her leashed but I wanted to make sure that people can bring their
dogs on this hike. Your thoughts/comments are greatly appreciated.
- Many thanks in advance,
- Louiise
-
- Reply:
-
- Hi Louiise,
- A small percentage of people bring dogs
on the trail and there is not a rule against it. It is not something
I myself or Parks would encourage because dogs can be disruptive
to wild life. There are bears on the trail and they tend to coexist
well with humans but may feel threatened or provoked by the presence
of a dog. All the wildlife along the trail coexists well with
humans but may be frightened by a dog.
-
- vapor
- Bears - JDF Trail
-
- Hi!
Thanks a lot for your new site which is very helpful.
We're Tim and Eveline from Belgium, and we'll be hiking the JDF
trail from 3rd till 7th of July.
We have some experience with hiking, but none whatsoever with
hiking in "bear country".
Is it easy to cache food along the JDF trail? Are there generally
bear poles near the campsites or do we need to hang the food
in trees?
And another question: do we need special sand pegs for our tent?
Thanks in advance for your answer!!!
Eveline & Tim
Ps we're hoping for some good (dry) weather!
-
- Reply:
Hi Tim and Eveline,
- There are bear caches and poles to hang
your food from in or near all camping areas. At the east end
of Sombrio Beach the bear cache is gone. A winter flood and land
slide took it out. That is also the preferable end of the beach
to camp. In this case you would hang your food from a tree. There
are lots of trees over hanging the beach. Most bear caches consist
of a metal (tin) locker that opens at the front with a hinged
door and latch.
- There are bears along the trail and sometimes
on the beaches. Some people hike the trail and don't see bears
and others do ... so it's hit and miss. If a bear is in your
path ... stop and watch it ... maybe back up a bit so the bear
knows you aren't going to crowd it. These are black bears, predominantly
vegetarian eating mostly grass, berries, etc. They do not hunt
... they are not predators.The bear will almost always move out
when it sees you. They may hesitate and keep eating for a bit
so just let them know you are still there. I will usually whistle
to let it know I am still waiting for it to move. You can move
forward a bit at a time slowly and at that point they usually
go. If the bear starts to walk in your direction slowly back
track and he will probably head off on a side trail soon enough.
He is not after you but just happens to be going in the direction
that you are. Not a good idea to run. In the 13 years the park
has been open we have never had a bad bear incident with a human.
Don't drop your pack because he may look through it for food.
I have been working in the park for 3 years and have never had
a negative incident with a bear. I have had countless sightings.
At the same time always be respectful of bears.
- Some of the camp spots are in sand and
some in dirt so a tent peg that works in sand is a good idea.
- Hope to see you on the trail .... we are
usually out there some where working.
- July is usually nice weather with very
little rain. Should be nice.
- Any more questions ... feel free to ask.
-
- vapor
- Water - JDF Trail
-
- Actually, we have a base camp filtration
system and just wanted to make sure there would be water sources
close to camp? Especially in regards to camps like at Sombrio
that is so big. East vs West?
- We will be staying at Bear, Chin, Sombrio
and Payzant.
- Take care.
- Can you reply to my blackberry. I will
be on the road this weekend and then flying out Mon and away
from my home computer.
- Thanks again. Maybe we'll see you out
there!!!
- Amanda
-
- Reply:
- Hi Amanda,
Yes there are good water sources on all the Beaches. Bear has
a good size creek at both ends and one in the middle. Chin has
a creek in the middle. Chin is a short beach so the water is
not far from where you will camp.Sombrio also has a water source
at the east end of the beach near the trail head, a couple of
small creeks in the middle and Sombrio river at the west end.
The smaller creeks in the middle you may have to go up a short
way to catch the water. Little Kuitshe has Litle Kuitshe creek,
.Payzant has Pasant creek.
- At the east end of Sombrio (the Victoria
end) the creek comes out on to the beach creating an elevated
gravel deposit due to excessive winter flooding and a couple
of landslide that came down into the creek. It almost looks like
a gravel road going up the creek. Take a few minutes and walk
up the creek. Within about 3 to 4 minutes you enter a narrow
sandstone canyon hall way cut by the creek. As you walk up it
(sand stone walls on both sides of you) a high water fall spills
down into it. Perhaps one of the most spectacular formations
on the trail. Many people miss it.
- Same end of Sombrio beach where the beach
ends and the the sandstone cliff starts. You will see large boulders
have fallen from the cliff face. Climb up over these boulders
and you will find a sea cave behind them, Very easy to enter
and enough light is coming in to be able to see in the cave,
Also a cool experience.
- Hope to see you on the trail.
- Vapor
- JDF tips May
long weekend.
- Hello!
- I just read your site, it is very concise
and helpful.
- A group of us are hiking/camping the jdft
this weekend, and I am wondering if you have any special tips
for taking the trek? (aside from packing well and packing light)
would you suggest bringing walking poles?
We only have three days to hike/camp so I doubt we will have
time to do the whole thing. Is there a certain place we should
start to get the most out of the trail considering our limited
time frame?
fyi, we are a moderately to skilled ranged group of hike/campers.
- thanks for your time, and for your site
as well!
- Megan
-
- Reply:
-
- Hi Megan,
- You can start at the JDF Trail Head just
past Jordan River and hike to Sombrio Beach (or vice versa).
First night at Bear Beach , second night at Chin ... then on
to Sombrio. That way you can camp on the beaches and have a fire.
Down side to this is that the beaches may be fairly busy being
May long weekend. People hike from the high way down to Bear
to camp. Best bet for camping on Bear would be at the East end
as you come off the trail before you pass the sandstone bluffs.
The trail from the highway comes on to the beach about 1 k past
this point. Chin will be less busy. Main beach at Sombrio will
be a "nut show" this weekend because of the May long
weekend. Lotsa drinking and partying because the parking lot
is so close to the beach. If you do camp at Sombrio ... camp
at the far east end as you come off the trail onto the beach.
It will be quieter. Or camp at the far west end ... west side
of Sombrio Creek.
-
- If you start at Sombrio and hike west
to Botanical Beach (end of trail) or vice versa ...camping is
in the forest at Payzant Creek and Little Kuitche Creek. Parks
does not want you have fires at these camp sites. There is no
where at Payzant to have a fire but at Kuitche there is a fire
ring up near the pit toilets that would be ok to have a fire
this time of year. Both Payzant Creek and Little Kuitche have
access trails down to the ocean but it is a rock shoreline as
opposed to beach. Still very nice. There will be less people
camping through this section of the trail. From Parkinson to
Sombrio is quite muddy.
- Yes take walking poles or a hiking stick.
It helps to keep your balance while skirting mud holes etc.
- Take your camera and keep it out ready
to take pictures. Take lots of pictures.
- Email me and let me know how your hike
went.
Feel free to ask if you have any more questions.
- Hope this helps.
- vapor
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