The village of Ahousaht (also called Maaqtusis) is a small First Nations village. There a couple of small guesthouses but you should call to make sure they are operating.

We went on May Long weekend. Most of the trail was deserted but there were about 20 tents at Cow Bay – it turned out about half of them had chartered a boat in for a 40th birthday party and the rangers confirmed it was unusually busy. But Cow Bay is a big place so as long as you don’t mind camping a bit of a walk from the outhouses and food caches, you can find some solitude. The other campsites don’t seem very heavily used and of course you could always just find your own pocket cove somewhere to camp away from everyone else.

You can always email the wildside trail rangers to ask how typically busy it is – I would guess a dozen people on the trail would be busy for there.

Sounds like a great plan Debbie. Be sure to check in with the Wildside Trail staff for the latest on trail conditions – they were sooo helpful when planning my trip. Let me know how it goes.

Fingers crossed for sunshine for you Linda! Our first couple of days were a bit grey – the sun came out for our hike back to Ahousaht.