Wild West Coast Beauty

We had been planning to head out on a day’s outdoor adventure as a family and this weekend the opportunity arose with the need to be on Vancouver Island for soccer matches the day before.

So after a night in Victoria, a fantastic early breakfast at the Blue Fox, we headed up the west coast of Vancouver Island to East Sooke Regional Park.

Our goal - to hike the East Sooke Coastal trail - a 10 km hike along the windswept winding coastline, over dry rocky hill tops and up and down through dark coastal rainforest around sheltered coves. The trail is part of 50 kilometres of trails that take you to all corners of the Park, through forest, marsh and field. It is very easy to pick a route that suits the ability of your outdoor adventurers but it’s the coastal trail that offers the magnificent views of the Strait of Juan de Fuca and the Olympic Peninsula in Washington State. 

The full coastal trail can become quite challenging at times with short, steep climbs up and down rocky faces. Natural steps in the rocks helped the more vertical stretches and clearly visible yellow markers kept us to the intended trail. Our backpacks started off full of trail mix, water bottles and chocolate. A bag of hard candies always finds its way into our hiking supplies as it is wonderful how tired children can be reinvigotated with the offer of a Werthers Original!!

Looking out over the water as we hiked north, our views of the Juan de Fuca Strait were occasionally broken by the colourful spinnakers of the yachts on their final leg of the Swiftsure Annual yacht race. At one point they were sharing the Strait with a steady stream of whale watching boats - all puposively heading up the coast in search of what must have been a reported whale sighting. 

When our attention wasn’t drawn to the activity on the water we were equally distracted by the stunning colours in the flowers along the trail. The boys were the official photographers on the hike and developed a keen eye for capturing the best shots including a garter snake basking in the sunshine.

The hike took us 6 unhurried hours.  With tired legs but very satisfied with our achievement we met up with a friend at Miner’s Bay at the northern end of the trail so we could be transported back to our car where we started.  With 40 kms still to be explored in the Park, we will be back!!