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PSA: Ditching the popular West Coast Trail for the North Coast Trail was the best call I made last summer
Everyone told me to do the standard West Coast Trail on Vancouver Island, but the permit cost was 250 bucks and it's always packed. I picked the North Coast Trail instead, 59 km of pure mud and isolation. The trail was brutal, like knee-deep bog sections and slippery roots that tested my patience. But I saw maybe 3 other people in 5 days, and the beach campsites felt like my own private slice of wilderness. Has anyone else skipped the famous routes for a quieter option and found it way better?
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rubysingh1mo ago
@miles_young59 probably knows a thing or two about paying for solitude, huh? Honestly, you had me at "knee deep bog sections" because who needs dry socks when you can have a story to tell? The permit price for the West Coast Trail is basically a down payment on a used car, and you still have to share the trail like you're in a Walmart checkout line. Think I'll take your advice and just slog through mud instead of paying to bump elbows with half of Instagram.
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eric_knight71mo ago
Man that sounds like a TOTAL win. Paying all that cash just to walk in a line with strangers doesnt make sense when you can have mud and peace for way less. The beach campsites being private is probably worth every bit of that knee deep slog.
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