Hecht Beach is a beautiful and very remote beach and hiking along the shores can be fairly demanding, there are many small rocky headlands separating the various gravel beaches. It is known as one of the best beaches on the whole island for beachcombing making the difficult drive and the hike is worth the effort. The coast can be explored in either direction for many km. The scenery here is so rugged and beautiful that it will take your breath away.
The last time I was in Hecht Beach, it was covered in debris from the Japan Tidal wave that roared over Japan, there were many parts of boats, docks, fishing gear, many net floats, and lots of other various stuff. I was quite surprised at the amount of debris that had washed up.
Camping on the beach or amongst the forest that grows right to the beach is very popular, as is surfing, fishing, swimming, hiking, and beachcombing. During low tides, long shore walks over rock and beach can be made north or south of Hecht Beach along the rugged shoreline, a most awesome adventure awaits those who do this.
In Raft Cove, north of Hecht Beach, you can still see an old trapper’s cabin that stands on the bank of the Macjack River. This was the home of Willie Hecht, an early Cape Scott pioneer who settled in the area at the turn of the century. Hecht Beach is named after Willie.
The road into Hecht Beach is pretty rough and towards the end, it narrows quite a bit. On our last trip in, we were in a narrow area when all of a sudden, a big SUV comes barreling along the road, forces us right off, and careens by. As it goes by, l hear one of them yelling at us to get out of their way. They were old, ancient, and not very friendly. We get back on the road and continue to the trail. We take the trail to the beach and as we get there we see a fire left by these old folks, burning away, right beside the forest. It’s August and all fires are banned. We put it out. If we had not come along, pretty sure this would have turned out badly as the wind was blowing onshore pretty hard, and the fire was only a few feet from burnables. Wonder what the hell were they thinking.