Regional Park Sooke Hills Wilderness

A Great Wilderness Experience

One of the largest parks in the region, Sooke Hills Wilderness Regional Park provides a buffer to the Sooke Hills Wilderness Greater Victoria Water Supply Area. The Sooke Regional Park Hills Wilderness Trail within the park forms part of The Great Trail route, a network of multiuse Sooke Hills Wilderness Trail trails that stretches across Canada.

(part of The Great Trail) Trail Rating: Challenging Size: 4090 ha Location: Langford and Juan de Fuca Electoral Area Established: 2017 Hours: Sunrise to Sunset

Features The Sooke Hills Wilderness Trail provides an • Sooke Hills Wilderness Trail opportunity to connect with nature and to • Goldstream River suspension bridge experience the beauty of this natural landscape. • Peaceful forest scenes and hilltop vistas The trail travels through both open areas and sheltered woodlands. Things to Do Note: The trail is challenging and is not an all ages Sooke Hills Wilderness Trail offers hiking and and abilities route. It has steep grades up to 16%, cycling, and in some sections, horseback narrow sections, and rocky, gravel and uneven riding. The 13 km unpaved trail offers a unique surfaces along the route. Hike and ride within your This expansive wilderness park wilderness experience as it travels through limits. This is a shared-use trail; please watch for features a challenging remote areas and wildlife habitat. The trail lies other users and travel at safe speeds. between the Humpback Reservoir in Sooke Rest at the viewing platform, 2.5 km from 13 kilometre trail across rivers, Hills Wilderness Regional Park and the Capital the Humpback trailhead, to take in the sights through forests and over hilltops. Regional District-Cowichan Valley Regional and sounds of Waugh Creek Falls, which flows District boundary. Sooke Hills Wilderness Trail www.crd.bc.ca/parks forcefully in the winter and spring. From there, provides part of both The Great Trail and the it is 0.5 km to the suspension bridge across the Vancouver Island Spine Trail routes. Goldstream River. How to Get There Victoria to south trailhead Victoria to south trailhead Follow the Trans- Canada Highway from Victoria, and turn left on West Shore Parkway. At the roundabout, continue straight to stay on Westshore Pkwy. Turn right onto Meridian Ave. Turn left onto Irwin Rd, stay left at Humpback Rd. Destination is on the right. Shawnigan Lake to north trailhead There is no CRD parking lot at the north trail What is The Great Trail? head. A Cowichan Valley Regional District parking lot for the Cowichan Valley Trail is located on Are you up for a 24,000 km hike? The Great Stebbings Road in Shawnigan Lake. Follow the Trail is one of the world’s longest networks of trail south for 4.5 km where it joins to the Sooke multi-use recreational trails, linking Canadians in Hills Wilderness Trail north trailhead. nearly 1,000 communities. On Vancouver Island, By bike or foot from Victoria The Great Trail runs from Nanaimo through the Follow the Galloping Goose Regional Trail Cowichan Valley to Victoria. that begins at Harbour Road in Victoria for approximately 15 km. Follow The Great Trail See videos of the trail and Within the CRD, 40 km of the trail run between signage in the City of Langford to Sooke Hills time-lapse construction of the the CRD-Cowichan Valley Regional District (CVRD) Wilderness Regional Park on Humpback Road. suspension bridge at boundary and Clover Point in Victoria. Different By bike or foot from Shawnigan Lake www.crd.bc.ca/parks. sections of the route have been developed and Follow the Cowichan Valley Trail – Malahat are managed by the CRD, the City of Langford, Connector south from the Sooke Lake Road The hilltop vistas of the surrounding mountains and the City of Victoria. The CRD provides two entrance for approximately 9 km, where and Finlayson Arm are spectacular in the sections of the route. One section is along a it joins Sooke Hills Wilderness Trail north northern section. There are wide open views of portion of the Galloping Goose Regional Trail trailhead. Greater Victoria in the distance. The views are (15 km) from the Selkirk Trestle in Victoria to the reward for the effort made to reach the top! Veterans Memorial Way/Kelly Road in Langford.

Equestrians are permitted on the north end of Much of this section is relatively flat with only a the trail, from the Cowichan Valley Regional few hills along the route. The second section is District-Capital Regional District boundary the Sooke Hills Wilderness Trail. southwards for 4 km.

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s c P a e s a r k Please Conserve our Parks • Do not approach or feed wildlife. Keep a minimum viewing distance of 100 m from bears, cougars, and wolves and 30 m from other • Motorized vehicles, camping, open fires, smoking, and alcohol are animals. prohibited. • Dogs must be kept on leash at all times to reduce the risk of • Stay on the designated trail. encounters with large carnivores. • Public access to the Drinking Water Protection Zone and The Greater • Do not leave children or pets unattended. Victoria Water Supply Area is not permitted. Please respect the no public access areas within the park to help safeguard this vital resource. Contact Information • Dogs must be on leash at all times. • Cell phone coverage is limited. Do not rely on your cell phone for • Pick up after your pet. emergency assistance. Turn off your phone when not in use to • Pack out all garbage. conserve the battery.

• In case of emergency call 911, if you have cell phone coverage.

Trail Habits • Report wildlife-human interactions where the public may be at risk to • Keep right and anticipate other users along the trail. the BC Conservation Officer Service at1.877.952.7277.

• Slow down when around other trail users. • Report a wildfire to 1.800.663.5555 or *5555 from a mobile phone.

• Alert others of your approach. • Report park violations or animal control issues to 250.478.3344.

• Cyclists must yield to others.

This Place is Wild: Use Caution

You are sharing this natural area with large carnivores such as bears, cougars, and wolves, that depend on this park for survival. Capital Regional District | Regional Parks • Stay alert. Wildlife may be in the area. Watch for signs such as tracks, 490 Atkins Avenue tel: 250:478.3344 claw marks on trees and scat. Victoria, BC email: [email protected] Canada V9B 2Z8 www.crd.bc.ca/parks • Make noise to avoid surprise encounters, especially around blind corners and areas with dense vegetation.