The most iconic and popular hill in the Victoria area, and deservedly so. Magnificent forest at the bottom of the hill, a large network of trails and a wide range of views from the top make for a great family destination.
LOCATION
From just about anywhere in Victoria, find your way to Shelbourne Street, a main thoroughfare running north–south. Drive to the north end. As you enter large forest, the parking lot for Mount Douglas Park is prominently signposted on your left.
DISTANCE
4-km loop
ELEVATION GAIN
205 m (altitude: 225 m)
DIFFICULTY
An easy and popular route to the top is simply along the paved road. The suggested route for older children, more isolated, adventurous – and attractive – involves a little route finding and some clambering up bits of fairly steep, rocky trail.
SEASON
All season
OF SPECIAL INTEREST FOR CHILDREN
Several labelled “wildlife trees” can intrigue curious children with eyes tuned to spotting flickers, pileated woodpeckers and downy woodpeckers. Specially selected, too, is this adventure route for those children who love a sense of achievement in the (controlled) outdoors.
The paved road to the top is closed to traffic until noon each day and can be used, therefore, as a kind of all-purpose trail during the morning for those who want the easiest walk to the top.
Because the hill is so popular and is so intertwined with improvised trails, particularly near the summit and the south end, keep in mind that no two of many maps the same. Fortunately, plentiful signposts make route finding comparatively easy.
1.From the parking area (complete, note, with a portable biffy), and facing uphill, turn right onto Norn Trail. Whether or not the trail is named after the Norse mythological figures who rule destiny, there is a mythic atmosphere surrounding the winding, level path through large cedars. When you come to a signpost, switch your destiny to Irvine Trail, heading sharply to the left. Walk gradually uphill through a section of split-cedar fencing and past two much-pecked wildlife trees. If you feel like engaging in a little edification about forest fires, pause and comment as you pass a venerable, fire-scarred Douglas fir.
2.When you reach the paved road, you can pause at the bench before picking up Irvine Trail slightly to the right and across the road. If you’re wondering why the trail symbol changes from a blue square to a black diamond, remember that the latter is supposed to signify “difficult.” Point this out to children who are eager to sniff out adventure. The trail does, indeed, become a little steeper climbing past the fir forest and into a zone of Garry oak and licorice fern. Make your way up a slightly challenging knoll of exposed rock and, at a junction, fork left to continue on Irvine Trail unless, reconsidering, you turn right onto the paved Churchill Drive.
3.The next section, partly through large firs and arbutus, rises in stages, at some points beneath fairy-tale bluffs of licorice fern. Watch for small, foot-level “Irvine” signs to reassure yourself, particularly as you pass increasingly frequent side trails and make your way over some narrow, rocky bits of steep trail. Although the trail is never dangerous, you may want to keep stumbly children close to you at some sections. At others, be prepared to heft them up steep, rock steps. Along this section you get some good views over Cordova Bay, many of them framed by Garry oaks.
CLOCKWISE FROM TOP LEFT Downtown Victoria and the Olympic Mountains; Sidney and Darcy islands framed by weathered firs; the expansive views include Island View Beach and James Island.
4.As you near the top of the hill, you must find your way through a maze of user-made trails, most of them to viewpoints. You can’t really become disoriented because looming over you is the transmitter tower near the top. Turn up towards this tower when you reach an unsignposted T junction by a forked arbutus below the tower. Alternatively, you can keep contouring around the mountain to get some more views before turning up on a convenient trail to the tower. If you come to the South Ridge Trail sign, turn back to make your way up to the tower to avoid too much repetition, since you will be coming down South Ridge Trail.
5.Approaching the tower, come to a broad trail descending to the summit parking lot, a view terrace and, no doubt, photo-snapping throngs. Join them, certainly, but also certainly take the paved trail across the parking lot to the highest point. Enjoy some of the best views in the whole Victoria area, particularly of downtown Victoria backed by Mt. Olympus and, in the other direction, the Gulf and San Juan islands.
6.Retrace your route towards the tower, but as you approach it, fork right onto signposted South Ridge Trail. Any feeling of insufficient adventure to this point just might shift on this new trail. Two options, an easier and a rockier one, bring you to what is clearly a ridgetop stroll and the beginning of the trail proper. Thereafter the trail starts to drop down natural rock steps, well-signed to prevent unpleasant consequences from straying off the safe route. Brace your troops for a minor thrill as you descend to what appears to be a promontory surrounded by vertiginous cliffs. This, of course, is an illusion. The perfectly safe trail swings right and drops by more steep, rocky steps towards the forest.
7.Switchbacking left and passing a section of split-cedar fencing, the trail passes through groves of Garry oak and brings you to a T junction. A signpost announces this to be the end of South Ridge Trail and points both left and right to Harrop Trail. Turn left to follow the fenced trail down into the fir forest. When you come to an unsignposted fork, turn left. Pass a large, fire-scarred fir, and keep left when an unsign-posted small trail heads off right.
8.When you reach the signpost indicating the end of Harrop Trail, turn left onto Norn Trail (sound familiar?) and follow it – via a wildlife tree and a boardwalk – back to your starting point.