The magical Juan de Fuca Trail - A family affair.

The Juan de Fuca Marine Trail is a rugged 47-kilometre wilderness hiking trail located within Juan de Fuca Provincial Park along the southwestern coast of Vancouver Island.

July 18th 2020, although we are in full blast Covid pandemic, the summer bloomed everywhere in BC and we can take the ferries! Running the Juan de Fuca Trail was on our list for this weird 2020 year where all races had been cancelled.

The plan was quiet simple – Take the ferry from Vancouver (Tsawwassen) to Victoria (Swartz bay) with the truck, drive first to Goldstream Niagara Trestle and have a run there on the old railway trestle bridge followed by the running to Mt Finlayson Summit. Once that done, head out to Sooke, take the BC Highway 14 towards Port Renfrew and find the entrance of the Juan de Fuca Marine Trail at China Beach.

The original plan was to be dropped at the start of the trail and run the whole 47 km and be picked up at Port Renfrew. We had to reorganize our day run as we didn’t find anybody available to drive. So we end up sleeping at China beach the Saturday evening, run 16km back and forth in order to drive back for the 7:00pm Swartz Bay ferry.

Our 4 stars hotel.

Wake up time at 6:30am allowed us a nice breakfast, coffee and muesli. And at 7:45 am, the run started. First leg was to reach Mystic Beach.

Starting running in this forest was quite mystical indeed. Due to difference of temperature between the land and the sea, the Juan de Fuca straight was, the previous evening when we found the parking lot, totally covered with fog. At dawn, the fog started disappearing, leaving still an array of whiteness in the sky, the birds are well awaken and a slight wind made the trees sing and crack. The closer we arrived from the sea, the more we could smell iode and the beach. Finally after having crossed couple of bridges, a long stairs lead us to the beach.

The second leg was to go from Mystic beach to Bear beach.

We had first to walk on the beach. Hikers were starting to wake up. There’s so many places where you can put your tent, facing right the straight. When passing by we could feel sometimes some wonder… why? why do you have to run?… It’s Ok, some choose to hike, some others to run. It was great to see smiling faces!

Open space concept. Ready to have breakfast!

The trail is basically following the straight going up and down when passing through a beach. You stay for a while at the top of the cliff and eventually goes down to pass over another bridge. At times it can be very very muddy. But you really feel being almost part of the nature. Visually, the greens paired with the blue of the sky and the sea are blended with the browns of the forest, the rocks and the sand. The sounds are magical, birds, water from the streams, wind in the trees, the ocean.

We left Bear beach at 10:00am, so far, we’ve been running/hiking for 2 hours 15min. We decided to go till 11:45am, which will made a 4 hours leg West and 4 hours to go back which will leave enough time to rest a bit before heading out back to Sooke, Victoria and Swartz Bay.

So off we went with more trail going up, going down, crossing streams. Stunning views, to finally decide at 16km to return. We were starting to be a bit tired and had to consider the way back with the same ups and downs.

At the top of the cliff, with the American side of the Juan de Fuca straight.

At the bottom, near sea level. Sturdy bridge.

Clem using the filtration system, before drinking. Delicious water.

The temperature is beautiful, warm with a little breeze. Going back made us see another angle of the trail. We finally made it back at 4:00pm, for a total of 32 km in 8:15 hours. It’s a long stretch, we obviously couldn’t run the whole thing. You constantly need to watch your steps. We were really in discovery mode and it was amazing!

8 hours 15 minutes is a long journey. But worth every second. As usual, embarking on these long runs has a huge mental component. It’s a family affair, son-father trip, special moment which make you feel very fortunate to be able to experience it fully. Not to mention the joy of coming back to our 4 stars hotel, turned restaurant for the occasion.