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East Sooke Park (Full coast)
Park: East Sooke Regional Park, Sooke
MapSooke: 92B/5
10.8 km point to point.
Terrain: Rough
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Approximate Elevations (in meters) |
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| Start | End | Minimum | Maximum | Gain |
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| 30 | 10 | 0 | 50 | 50 |
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Pike Road Trailhead: (44 km from Saanich Hall). Take highway 1 west from Victoria, take the Colwood exit (exit 10 - 5.7km) and follow Sooke Road to Metchosin Road. Follow this to Happy Valley Road. A short drive on Happy Valley will bring you to Rocky Point Road, turn left and follow this to ??. Turn left and follow this road to Pike Road (approx 43 km from the start). Turn left and drive to the parking lot at the end of the road.
Facilities available at the trailhead include:
Alyard Farm Trailhead: (32 km from Saanich Hall). Take the Trans Canada Highway (CA#1) west from Victoria, take the Colwood exit (exit 10 - 5.7km) and follow Sooke Road to Metchosin Road. Follow this to Happy Valley Road. A short drive on Happy Valley will bring you to Rocky Point Road, turn left and follow this to Becher Bay Road (on your left, somewhat difficult to spot as you come upon it while rounding a corner which turns away from the road). Follow Becher Bay Road to the Aylard Farm parking lot.
Facilities available at the trailhead include:
- Toilets and/or outhouses
- Picnic tables
- Toilets and/or outhouses
Uses
| Dayhike | 3 boot (moderate). | 5.5 hours one way. | Suitable all year. |
Description
This trail can be done in either direction, starting from Alyard Farm will involve hiking west along the coast while starting from Pike Road the hiker will travel from west to east. Sun and wind should be taken into consideration when selecting the direction to hike. It is strongly advised to do a car shuttle between the trailheads (allow 30 minutes plus). If only one vehicle is available a bicycle can be locked at one of the trailheads.
When hiking the trail west to east (from Pike Road to Alyard Farm) there is a section with poor marking. It occurs as you're descending from the bluffs above Cabin Point. Look carefully on your right hand side for the trail, beginning in an open, rocky area. It descends into the gully separating you from Cabin Point but many people have continued straight at this point creating a much more distinct route. If you come to a point where the trail starts to peter out or you notice that you haven't seen a trail marker in awhile retrace your steps to the last marker and look down and to the right. The trail marker is easily seen coming from the other direction, but not immediately visible heading towards Cabin Point.
Approximate timings:
- Alyard Farm to Beechy Head: 1:15
- Beechy Head to Beach Access 1:00
Features
This trail features beaches, birds (Bald eagle, Turkey vulture), flowers (Blue camas, Calypso orchid, Death camas, Ground cone, Red columbine, Tall bluebell and White fawn lily), forests (Arbutus, Douglas fir and Western red cedar), fruits (Wild strawberry), historical artifacts (Petroglyphs at Beachy Head), marine mammals (Orca), meadows and views.
Hazards
- route-finding skills are required
- some scrambling is required
View trail condition reports for this trail.