Nitinaht Crabshack

Nitinaht Crabshack is a small floating dockside restaurant on the south side of Nitinaht Narrows, 32.5 km along the West Coast Trail. It is a cooked-meal stop for hikers, not somewhere you can drive to. If you are hiking the 75-km trail, this is a memorable break at the water; reaching it means taking on the remote, strenuous West Coast Trail, not a casual day visit.

Access is on foot and requires a West Coast Trail reservation. The trail and Crabshack operate seasonally, so confirm the restaurant's dates before setting out.

The kitchen serves breakfast, lunch and dinner in season, with seafood as the draw. The family menu has included crab and fish, some caught by the Edgars themselves. Menus can change, but meals are walk-in and cash is preferred.

Heated cabins and tent decks are rented nearby by the same operation. They are overnight accommodation, not general public indoor facilities.

Nitinaht Narrows is the tidal passage where Nitinat Lake meets the Pacific. The West Coast Trail ferry crosses here, splitting the route between its north and south sections; the Crabshack is on the south side by the water. The floating docks bring the kitchen, boats and trail crossing together in one compact stop.

Carl Edgar, a Ditidaht First Nation member who grew up at Clo-oose, has ferried West Coast Trail hikers here since 1975. His father upgraded the original dugout canoe with outboard motors. Carl built the dock in 1999 and began cooking crab or salmon for himself; hikers asked to buy meals, and the family kitchen grew from there. Hikers gave it the name Crabshack; Edgar had wanted to call it Sea Level. The West Coast Trail also crosses the traditional territories of the Huu-ay-aht, Ditidaht and Pacheedaht First Nations.