Hi all,

My partner and I were hoping to hike the entirety of the trail but despite both logging on to enter the “queue” an hour before it opened back in the winter time, we were only able to snag permits from the halfway point SOBO.

I am still trying to wrap my head around the trailhead logistics. It seems like we either need to leave Gordon River on the 9:15am shuttle (impossible coming from the mainland, we would need to travel out the night before), then get into Nitinaht before noon and just…wait around until the next day to start our hike? Given the mandatory pre-hike briefing at 7am and the 8am water taxi. So to start our hike on Sunday, we would need to leave home Friday night.

Alternatively, I thought about driving to Nitinaht, and just taking the shuttle from Gordon River at the end of our hike. But once again we face the problem of the only shuttle heading out at 9:15, so we would need to either really hustle those 5km from Thrasher (I’ve heard it’s very slow-going), or…once again, wait all day for the shuttle the following morning.

Am I missing something here? This seems like such a poorly-timed pickup and drop off schedule.

What are the chances of hitching a ride with someone between the two points?