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Carmanah Creek is one of our recommended campsites:
- lovely beach setting
- gorgeous views of the lighthouse
- close to Chez Monique's
During the high season you can usually wade Carmanah at low tide. There is a cable car if you prefer — or when the water is high.
You may be tempted to make a 2 km dash sidetrip to the Carmanah Giant, 95 m tall, the tallest tree in Canada and probably the tallest Sitka spruce in the world. Your Trail Permit does not allow you to trip into Carmanah Pacific Provincial Park, home of the Giant.
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Heading for Bamfield you'll see Chez Monique's long before you reach it.
A restaurant? On the isolated West Coast Trail? This is sacrilege! You should march on past.
Chez Monique’s is so crazy, so inappropriate, that it works. And Monique, a feisty French Canadian, is another of the memorable coastal characters you find at the edge of North America.
Monique runs a food exchange. You can drop-off anything you are carrying that you don’t think you will need, or swap it for something you do.
After the restaurant, plan on spending some time up on Carmanah Point enjoying the beautiful lighthouse grounds. You can't miss the trail at the end of the beach leading to a ladder up to the lighthouse.
Though your official map shows it as impassable headlands, it's possible at low tide to scramble around the point & then climb up to the lighthouse from the other side of Carmanah Point. We recommend you skip this scramble & take the regular trail up through the trees to the lighthouse.
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Heading for Port Renfrew stay on the beach all the way to the Bonilla & then on to Walbran.
