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Round trip, 15.2 km in 8 hours and 25 minutes. Wikiloc links of our route:

• https://es.wikiloc.com/wikiloc/view.do?id=19088938
• https://es.wikiloc.com/wikiloc/view.do?id=19143124

Sombrio Beach is much wider than Bear Beach, there is camping area on both sides of a small river that is saved by a suspension bridge.

The first part of the trail is through the beach at low tide; it is a long section, and one of the inaccessible points at high tide, so it is essential to check the tide tables before starting the march.

Once in the forest, we will pass by this small and bucolic waterfall.

After 4 km we’ll arrive at Little Kuitshe Creek, much more basic, but also quieter, than Sombrio Beach.

Later there are many sections with stairs and difficult access areas.

And the views of the coast are spectacular again. On the rocks of this area it is common to see sea lions, although we only saw them in the water and very far away.

The last part, before reaching Parkinson Creek, trees are low.

We only had to go the way back and, who says that the return is not different from the way? The first thing that happened to us, just 500 meters from Parkinson Creek, is that after a bend I found myself 10 meters away from an adult black bear with her cub. Luckily they were as surprised as I was. My first impulse was to take out the camera, but my second and next saner impulse was to slowly back away without losing visual contact, raising my arms slowly to try to look bigger, as I had read in all the recommendations during the last 3 weeks in Canada. Once we got so far back that we lost sight of it, we started making noise and moving slowly. This scared the bear cub, which did not have a better occurrence than climbing a tree that it later could not get down, which made it even more frightened, and this made the mother not move away from the road nor even a meter until the adorable creature was able to go down, 10 minutes later. Then they left and we lost them in the bush. We did not feel completely calm until 15 minutes later we saw them on the rocks of the coast, more than 100 meters away from the road.

After the hype for the encounter with the bears, and with the day much more clear, the way back became more ameno than the way there, even the cliffs seemed more attractive.

MORE STAGES IN JUAN DE FUCA TRAIL:

<CHINA BEACH TO BEAR BEACH                                 BOTANICAL BEACH>

∇ Destinations / ∇ Canada / ∇ British Columbia / ∇ Vancouver Island / ∇ Juan de Fuca Marine Trail