Trans Canada Trail - from Sooke Lake Rd

(also known as Cowichan Valley Trail)

Park:

12.0 km one way.

Terrain:

Sooke Lake Rd trailhead for the Trans Canada Trail: (33 km from Saanich Hall, 1.4k on logging roads). Drive north from Victoria on the Trans Canada Highway (CA#1). Turn left at the South Shawnigan Lake turnoff and drive down to the bottom of the hills. Turn left on 5.6km down the hill to Sooke Lake Rd (if you come to the junction where the road divides to go around the east and west sides of Shawnigan Lake you've gone too far). Drive approximately 1.4km up the road from the junction with the South Shawnigan Lake Rd. Park on the side of the road so you are not obstructing traffic or in the access to the Trans Canada Trail.

Facilities available at the trailhead include:

Toilets and/or outhouses

Oland Road Trailhead: (alternate start, 40 km from Saanich Hall). From Saanich Hall go to north on highway 1 to the south entrance to Shawnigan Lake (approximately 26k). Turn left and take Shawnigan Lake Rd to the junction with West Shawnigan Lake Road (5.9km). Turn left of West Shawnigan Lake Rd and follow it for 7.8km to Oland Rd (beyond the fire hall). Turn left onto Oland Rd and find a wide area on the road to park. If conditions are icy you may want to drive to a straight section of the road.

Uses

Cross-country ski	Beginner.
Cycling (touring)	Unrated.	Suitable all year.
Dayhike	Easy day hike .	Suitable all year.
Horseback	Unrated.	Suitable all year.

Description

Depending on conditions you may want to park your vehicle just off Shawnigan Lake Road and walk or ski up the hill to the start of the trail. The climb is about 1.4 km in length, gaining perhaps 100m elevation.

This distance given was simply the distance we skied on the day we discovered this section of the trail. It goes much further (in fact you could go all across Canada on it). On another occasion we skied the trail all the way to the Kinsol Trestle (likely about 12km one way).

When there is sufficient snow this is an easy ski (although you may have to negotiate downed trees if the storm was bad). The trail is relatively level and quite wide.

Features

This trail features forests.

Trail-conditions

View trail condition reports for this trail.