Cape Scott Park is a rugged, isolated, beautiful park located at the north end of Vancouver Island. The park was created in 1973, the park has over 115 kilometres of incredible, remote, and scenic beaches, estuaries, and trails for you to enjoy.
The park starts at Shushartie Bay in the east, then stretches westward around Cape Scott running south to San Josef Bay. White sand beaches dominate the park with the most impressive being Nels Bight. This beach is more than 2,400 meters long and is the Park’s most popular camping destination.
Visitors can choose from day hikes to full backpacking excursions to explore rain forests, lowland bogs, and shorelines of this wilderness park. The eastern portion of the park contains a number of estuaries that are accessible only by boat. You can wander the beaches at these remote spots for days without ever seeing anyone.
Cape Scott is also fortunate to have some excellent examples of old-growth forests, including Sitka Spruce trees in excess of 3 meters in diameter, and Western Red Cedars of similar sizes.
Many giants of these trees can be found throughout the park, including on the easy hike to San Josef Bay.
Just north of the Eric Lake campsite is a Sitka Spruce that measures more than 7 meters in circumference. This spruce is a popular tree for hikers to relax under and just soak in the incredible beauty of the area.
The first time that I hiked into the Cape Scott area was in 1971. It was several years before it became a park. It was quite a journey then, you travelled through the old homesteads where apples and cherries grew wild. I can still remember the wonder that I felt the first time, it was such a beautiful area that was isolated and in those days, you would be lucky to see another soul here. It is a place of wonder.