Wet rocks and slippery logs can lead to falls, which can cause injuries. If you are allergic to bee and wasp stings or anything else, take appropriate meds along. Take Tide Tables and keep a clean camp and eat foods with little aroma and store foods high in a tree and have respect for wildlife and find out when it is safe to eat shellfish (DFO-1-60 Nootka Island is Area 25). HazardsYou can be wept away by a wave, or drowned in a rushing tide or eaten by a black bear or wolves, or poisoned by shellfish but these are very remote possibilities and you can be prepared for all of them by prevention and planning and care and hygiene and by good information. The Natives charge a fee to cross their land and also to see their historic materials in the local church (1-80). Its best to have some training in wilderness first AID and bring basic and any specialty medicines you need. Marine Channel VHF radios would be best tuned to channel 16 or ship to ship channel 6. There is a community there called Friendly Cove.Remote areas are fine until something goes wrong and then especially problematical if you need medivac or medicines or emergency treatment so keeping that in mind, there are things that you can do to be prepared. Degree of DifficultyModerate but due to remoteness and weather, it should be regarded as difficult. The trail is not shown on this map and is marked by hikers. From the 4th of July to the 12th of Sept the MV UCHUCK sails round trips on Wednesdays and Saturdays.MapNootka 92E10 topographical map covers the area. Pal says that the ideal is to fly there and sail back. If you fly, have the pilot cruise the route so that you know where you are going.You can also take a Water Taxi from Gold River to Friendly Cove. The best access is by float plane (Air Nootka, 25) from Gold River and for interest, you may want to return via the Motor Vessel UCHUCK III (25) back to Gold River. You then need to fly, boat, sail or kayak from Gold River to Nootka Island.Your late May to early September trip can be done in three days but can also be enjoyed for as long as eight days. The book 'White Slaves of the Nootka' published by heritage House is still available and is a first hand description of native life at the time.AccessTake the Ferry from Horseshoe Bay to Nanaimo, drive north from Nanaimo to Campbell River and then take the island highway west to Gold River. They lived with natives for 2 years and Hewit wrote down their experiences. In 1803 Nootka natives attacked the sailing ship Boston and all on beard were killed except the sailmaker and the blacksmith, John Hewit. Captain Vancouver and Captain Quadra averted a war here between England and Spain (Hence Quadra Island?). Soon after, Friendly Cove became a hub for the sea otter fur trade. Captain James Cook visited here in 1778 with two ships, the Discovery and the Resolution. Spaniards were the first to see this place. HistoryOccupied by natives for at least 4300 years. Jyrkkanen17 July 2004The SettingRemote wilderness, spectacular beaches, wildlife like wolves and whales can be found on the 35 km Nootka Trail, located on Nootka Island off the West Coast of Vancouver Island. Enjoy!The Nootka Trail A Backpackers' ParadiseBy Pal Horvath Editor: J. Pal wants nothing in return other than your voice in protecting this trail.

Pal has hiked and organized trail maintenance trips to this trail dozens of times, we hope you enjoy.

The more people that visit and write letters of support in expanding the protected shoreline area the better, and trailpeak is glad to be a part of it.

The trail takes roughly 5 to 6 days and is tide dependent.Pal Horvah also recently contacted trailpeak and offered his book to us in a greater effort to have this trail protected. If you look at the cut-out (below) from topo map 92E/10, you will see in the small overlay (overview) 4 other 'dots' that represent this hiker's daily stopping point, marked on his GPS. However, there are a few tricky sections where one can get somewhat disoriented and most people find their way back onto the trail without much difficulty. We have some GPS points for you (see GPS Download), which you can use, however the donor (Lorenzo) claims that in very few places will you need GPS. This is the trail everyone is raving about.

Nootka island