Upana Caves Interpretive Forest Site Path Entrance — Attraction in Area A (Kyuquot/Nootka/Sayward)

Fun little rugged island adventure thats a little "out there". Once you leave Gold River, the paved road turns into gravel. The gravel road wasnt too bad condition wise, not many potholes but there are some washboard feeling sections, and sections where the gravel is quite loose so watch your speed (also quite a twisty road with some blind corners).

The cave area was easy enough to find. Theres a fork in the road with a sign pointing to the cave parking lot. The parking is very minimal with 3 spot by the Upana Caves sign and a small spot just over the little bridge. All spots were full when we arrived so we followed the "toilet" sign down that road. We didnt see the toilet on the way in, drove a solid 10min down and apun around. I sptted the toilet on the way out, its a green outside about 10-15' up the northside of the bank not far past the toilet sign.

We managed to snag 1 of the 3 spots as someone was leaving. The sign at the parking area makes the park look way bigger than it is and is a bit hard to read/understand. Just walk over the little metal bridge and you'll see the trail on the right. Follow that down about 10min to your first cave, the "insect cave". We disnt venure too deep into the caves but nost seemed fairly roomy and from beginner to maybe medium difficulty. The caves all have signs on the outside with a bit of a map, what each cave has to offer and the rough duration (most were 15-30min). One of the caves mentioned a right crawl which would be tougher if youre not geared up to slide through wet caves. All and all, we spent about a hour, hour and a half and explored each cave entrance and in about...

Off the paved roads about 25 min past Gold River is the Upana Caves. Just park at the map and walk across the bridge, on the right you see an arrow pointing to a path, this is the trail. Total of the trail is about 15 min. A slight steepness on certain parts but manageable. You can feel very cold air coming from the caves, apparently this is a good area for those learning to crawl into caves. Very fun to see, although the lookout at the end is overgrown, so you can't really see anything there. There's what looks like a road to a toilet, but after a few minutes drive and decided to turn around so not sure if there's really a toilet somewhere. Only us and a few other people, not busy at all. It was a fun...

There ISN'T a parking lot. There is a sign and space there for maybe 3 cars. The beginning of the trail is a few steps up the road TO THE RIGHT. Not the left, TO THE RIGHT. If you drove/walked to the sign that says TOILETS you have gone too far. Bring a headlamp, the 300 lumens or more kind of headlamp. Bring a jacket because the temperature in the caves, regardless of how hot it's outside, can be about 10 degrees more or less. (in Celsius) If you are claustrophobic then just go to the main cave, it's big enough for you to sort of step in and...