Hiking the epic West Coast Trail through ancient rainforests, bogs and tidal pools, and across an almost endless coastline has a way of working up your appetite. Our WCT expeditions include plenty of hearty, home-cooked meals you might not expect to enjoy out in the wild. We try to stay away from dehydrated meal packs as much as possible!
Here’s just a sampling of what you can expect to find on our wilderness menus:
There’s a reason they say breakfast is the most important meal of the day…feed your body and fuel your hike with hearty meal of fresh-made bacon and eggs. Alternating days feature assorted cereals, including old-fashioned oatmeal, creamy porridge, cornflakes, and energy-rich bagels. Steaming mugs of fresh brewed coffee and tea provide just the eye-opener you’ll need before setting out for the day.
Picnic beneath the canopy of an old-growth rainforest; perched on a boulder above a tidal pool; or on a nurse log drinking in the sights of a tumbling waterfall. No matter where we stop for lunch one thing is certain – the landscapes will be as filling for your soul as lunch is for your belly! Swap out wet socks for dry ones then settle in to a trailside picnic lunch of smoked meats and assorted cheeses, creamy coleslaw and wrapped sandwiches.
It’s essential that when hiking the WCT that you maintain a diet that both fills and fuels you. Our camp-side dinners do just that. Hearty, stick to your ribs, home-cooked-over-a-camp-stove goodness is your daily reward for conquering the trail, mud bogs, ladders and all. While you’re setting up your tent, our guides get busy, toiling over their camp stove, cooking up beef stew with mashed potatoes, chili and corn bread, our favourite butter chicken and rice recipe, and robust pasta dishes.
The WCT can be a grueling workout – keeping your energy reserves high is critical to your success on the trail. Indulge in mid-morning and mid-afternoon snack breaks. Granola bars, dried fruit and nuts, beef jerky, energy bars, and sweet chocolates all help keep your strength up between scheduled meals. There will be plenty of breaks to enjoy those treats, while sunning on the shore at low tide, while resting on a bed of moss beneath an ancient cedar, or while waiting for others to make their cable crossing or forest ladder ascents.
There’s no way around it – if you want to eat wholesome, healthful meals while out on the trail, we have to pack it in. A mid-point food drop at "Chez Monique" means the group will only be shouldering three days worth of food at a time.
We understand dietary restrictions can hamper the best-laid vacation plans. If we know of your dietary limitations in advance we will do what we can to accommodate them. If space allows, we can also help you make arrangements for special dietary foods to be delivered to the food drop.