San Joseph Bay is a great hike for those not wanting to slog the long trail to Cape scott, but are still looking for the same beautiful sandy beach. The trail to San Joseph Bay is wide, gravel, and runs along the San Joseph River. It is 2.5kms long and takes around 30mins to an hour to hike. It would be great for people with kids. The beach is stunning and there are a number of unique features that make this trip a must for anyone headed to this part of the island.
Day #1
This was a trip I did in August with a couple people as a 2 nighter. We headed out Friday afternoon from Campbell River and arrived at the trail head for Cape Scott a bit late in the day. We packed up our bags and headed out on the smooth trail, taking a left at the junction for San Joseph Bay (San Jo) and Nels/Nissen Bight.
We arrived at the beach after a short and easy hike just as the sun was getting low in the sky. We found a nice nook beside a rock, tucked to the back of the beach to set up camp. Once set up we relaxed and took in the sun set with a few drinks until it was time to retire to our tents. On thing I noticed about the beach was that it was very high traffic. Because of this there was very little fire wood to be found on the beach. It would almost be worth bringing a wheel barrel next time full of fire wood. We had to get quite creative to scavenge for wood as seen in the picture below. |
Another thing we noticed the first night was the massive amount of toilet paper in the woods all along the beach from groups of people defecting back behind there camps... Kind of nasty! There are pit toilets and food caches to use. Day #2 The next morning when we woke up we got dressed and headed up Mount St Patrick which can be accessed at low tide from the north end of the beach. After passing through the sea stacks and caves onto another beach there is a yellow sign warning of the roughness of the trail to mark the trailhead. The trail to the summit is about 5.6kms return from San Jo and takes about 2-3 hours. The trail itself is rough and steep, but is well booted and easy to follow. From the top we were greeted with panoramic views of the area including Sea Otter Cover and Lowrie Bay. The trail from the summit does descend down the other side of Mount St Patrick to Sea Otter Cover and carry on to Lowrie Bay, however, we were not feeling that adventurous. I imagine that it is probably quite rough. |