Trip 311 - May 15, 2024 (Wednesday)

Ridge Trail Hike

Gowlland Tod Provincial Park (Caleb Pike access point) near Victoria, BC

Trailhead location: On Vancouver Island, near Victoria, North of Langford, off Caleb Pike Road.

Liked: Saanich Inlet - Finlayson Arm views, hills views, remote mountains, numerous arbutus trees, shade in the forest, no bugs.

Of Note: Steep unbarricaded drop-offs at viewpoints, remote traffic noise for most of the trail, some parts of the trail are shared with bikers and horse riders, easy to moderately difficult trail, hiking poles and boots are recommended.

Vancouver Island, Victoria & Gulf Islands Backroad Mapbook (9th edition) Trailhead Coordinates: Page 4 (Sooke) E2.

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Gowlland Tod Provincial Park is located on Vancouver Island, Saanich Peninsula, about 20 km Northwest of the City of Victoria. This park is situated on the bank of Saanich Inlet, and has a trail which goes South-North from Caleb Pike access point to McKenzie Bight access point. If you have two cars, it is possible to make it a one way hike via a car shuttle. Otherwise, it's a rather long-ish round trip hike of about 19 km long.

Today, we started at the Caleb Pike access point, hiked to Jocelyn Hill lookout for just over 4.2 km one way, and went back. The next day, we began at the McKenzie Bight access point, hiked to Malahat viewpoint and Squally Reach viewpoint, and returned to McKenzie Bight. We thus did not hike a few kilometers between Jocelyn Hill and Squally Reach viewpoints, but, from what we understand, there isn't much to see there.

While this is, technically, one trail all the way from Caleb Pike to McKenzie Bight (with several parallel/loop trails), it is broken into several trails for naming purposes. Thus, at the beginning of Caleb Pike access the trail is called Holmes Peak Trail, then it becomes Ridge Trail, then Jocelyn Hill Trail, then Timberman Trail, and then Cascade Trail which ends at McKenzie Bight. For the sake of simplicity, we named the whole thing "Ridge Trail Hike" from Caleb Pike access point to Jocelyn Hill, and the next trip report (where we hiked from McKenzie Bight to Squally Reach and Malahat Viewpoint) is called "Timberman Trail Hike", which takes 3.3 km to Malahat Viewpoint (it's a spur trail), and 3.5 km to Squally Reach.

If you can do only one of these two hikes, definitely go with the Caleb Pike access point hike, as it has much better views.

*All trail distances are based on a GPS odometer and are approximate.

1. Here is a Google Maps location of Gowlland Tod Provincial Park - Caleb Pike access point.

2. We are on Caleb Pike Road, as the entrance to Gowlland Tod Provincial Park - Caleb Pike access point.

Caleb Pike Road near Victoria BC

3. There is a very large and long parking lot.

Parking lot for Gowlland Tod Provincial Park - Caleb Pike access point

Here is our video of driving on Caleb Pike Road and arriving to this parking lot.

4. An information board is located at the far end of the parking lot.

Caleb Pike access for Gowlland Tod Provincial Park near Victoria British Columbia Canada

5. Just behind it is a trail sign. Coordinates: N 48⁰30.529' W 123⁰31.962'. Elevation: 230 meters. If you want to do a Roundtree Loop, head straight ahead. But we turned right to hike Ridge Trail.

Trail sign at Gowlland Tod Provincial Park - Caleb Pike access point

6. Here is a trail map under the sign. Ridge Trail goes North (via Homes Peak Trail).

Gowlland Tod Provincial Park Trail Map

7. The hike begins. As mentioned at the beginning of the trip report, even thought it's one trail, it has different names for its parts. At first, it's Holmes Peak Trail, then Ridge Trail, then Jocelyn Hill Trail, but we will count it as one Ridge Trail. At 15 meters here.

Holmes Peak Trail in Gowlland Tod Provincial Park Vancouver Island, BC

8-9. At 105 meters, another Roundtree Loop intersection. We are heading to Holmes Peak.

Gowlland Tod Provincial Park Holmes Peak Trail at Roundtree Loop Intersection

10. At 185 meters now. It's a fairly easy trail, with a few moderately challenging short stretches.

Hiking in Victoria BC area - Holmes Peak Trail - Gowlland Tod Provincial Park

11. Now at 390 meters from the trailhead.

Holmes Peak Trail Hike near Victoria British Columbia Canada

12. At 780 meters of the trail.

Holmes Peak Trail

13. At the 1.00 km mark, Holmes Peak bypass is on the right side. We kept left.

Holmes Peak Trail Hike on Vancouver Island BC Canada

Trail Map for Gowlland Tod Provincial Park British Columbia

14. At 1.28 km, we are getting close to Holmes Peak.

Gowlland Tod Provincial Park

15. Here it is. The view is much obstructed, but it appeared most hikers (we've met about twenty people in 5-6 different groups) stopped here and went back, while the best view is still ahead.

View from Holmes Peak in Gowlland Tod Provincial Park

16. Looking the other way.

Holmes Peak in Gowlland Tod Peak Provincial Park

17. Here is Gowlland Tod Park trail map showing our current location at Holmes Peak. This is where the actual Ridge Trail begins.

Holmes Peak Map Location in Gowlland Tod Provincial Park

18. Ridge Trail in Gowlland Tod Provincial Park - 2.68 km from the trailhead.

Ridge Trail - Gowlland Tod Provincial Park - Vancouver Island

19. At 2.91 km, we are almost at the best view of the hike.

Gowlland Tod Provincial Park on Vancouver Island BC

20. And here is the best view of Ridge Trail in Gowlland Tod Provincial Park, at 2.94 km of the hike. Finlayson Arm of Saanich Inlet is below us. Coordinates: N 48⁰31.688' W 123⁰31.767'. Elevation: 335 meters.

Saanich Inlet - Finlayson Arm - view from Ridge Trail in Gowlland Tod Provincial Park

Here is our video of the views from from this location.

21. So neat. At 3.01 km of Ridge Trail.

Ridge Trail Hike near Victoria British Columbia Canada

22. 30 meters later.

Hiking in Victoria BC area - Gowlland Tod Park - Ridge Trail

23. At 3.14 km of Ridge Trail.

Hiking in British Columbia Canada - Ridge Trail on Vancouver Island

24. Saanich Inlet view 20 meters later.

Saanich Inlet

25. Hiking through a forest again at the 3.54 km mark.

Gowlland Tod Provincial Park - Ridge Trail - British Columbia Canada

26. Hiking in the open at 3.61 km.

Ridge Trail - Gowlland Tod Provincial Park

27. Just a bit further, another Saanich Inlet view.

View of Saanich Inlet from Ridge Trail in Gowlland Tod Provincial Park

28. A tree by the trail at 3.65 km.

Canada Hiking - Gowlland Tod Park - Vancouver Island

29. Looking back at the 3.68 km mark of the hike.

Gowlland Tod Park British Columbia

30. Ridge Trail has many arbutus trees.

Arbutus Tree - Vancouver Island - British Columbia

31. A fine view at the 3.82 km mark.

Saanich Inlet - Vancouver Island BC

32. At 4.20 km of Ridge Trail, which is, technically, Jocelyn Hill Trail at this point.

Jocelyn Hill Trail

33. At 4.22 km, we have reached the end of today's hike at Jocelyn Hill. The trail continues for another 5 km or so to McKenzie Bight access point of Gowlland Tod Provincial Park.

Jocelyn Hill in Gowlland Tod Provincial Park near Victoria British Columbia Canada

34. Looking back from Jocelyn Hill, here is another look at Finlayson Arm of Saanich Inlet. Coordinates: N 48⁰32.224' W 123⁰31.824'. Elevation: 420 meters (190 meters elevation gain from the trailhead for an average grade of 4.5%).