Since I walked The Via De La Plata Camino in Spain three years ago, I feel constantly called back to the life of pilgrims and albergues. For various reasons I will not be heading back to Europe anytime soon. So when I read an article in the TC newspaper about the Vancouver Island portion of the The Great Trail, I was interested. Here I could get a similar Camino experience without traveling a long distance and without a many week commitment.
So June 2nd 2022, after a year of anticipation, my friend A and I set out on a 6 day walkabout from Langford to Ladysmith with a detour to Lake Cowichan. We followed The Great Trail which in places also doubles as the Cowichan Trail. Our first day was to be the most difficult at 28 kms over the Malahat to West Shawnigan Lake Rd. There, A's daughter in law will pick us up and drive us to their home in Duncan where we will sleep.
Not much training has taken place, A has been busy caring for her mother who suffered a health setback at Easter. We did manage a few evening walks but unfortunately my training did not include the added weight of a heavier than usual backpack. That would be my downfall.
Thankfully A's Mom is doing well enough now to allow A to get away for a few days. Also thankfully we are close enough to Victoria to be able to scoot home if required. Moms do trump hiking ...no contest!
I hope that this blog aids any fellow hikers that are considering this same adventure.
Day 1 Humpback Reservoir to Mc Gee Trestle 29 kms.
Well we did it, we hiked over The Malahat and it was so much easier than I/we expected. It helped that the weather was ideal, mostly cool and overcast with some sunny breaks.
My kind husband got up exceedingly early to drive us to the trailhead at Humpback Reservoir, after a pit stop at the loo we two got underway by 8:40. We had hiked the first couple of kilometers before and A had hiked the reverse of our direction a few years ago.
An example of the start of the trail.
Native Bleeding Hearts
Difficult to see but there is a stream in amongst the bushes.
Happy Happy, my feet are not yet blistered.
Inukshuk
It was impossible to get lost with a sign post whenever there was a choice of multiple routes. The first several kms are alongside the watershed. Being a Thursday we saw few hikers and bikers. An exception was near the start when we passed a large group of mainly young folk who were gathered round their indigenous teachers, very intent on their lesson. We also met 2 dayhikers in training for a long distance running competition in Colorado and about 3 bikers passed on by.
We were thankful that first day to not be biking, the loose gravel trail is very up and down ... not my idea of a fun bike ride.
Alongside the trail were wild strawberries, native blackberries, salmon berries...of course not yet ripe, also pretty columbines and native honeysuckle in bloom, daisies .. .also not yet in bloom and much more.
The trail is wide until just before midday when there is a choice of 2 routes, one for hikers, the other for bikes. The hiker route was lovely with steep uphill on a narrow path, my favourite hiking terrain. We stopped at the top for a delicious lunch in the sun, gazing at the view. We were almost at the top, quite a bit higher than the Malahat Hwy.
An example of the rougher trail.
It happened that the 1st week in June is the ideal time to walk for those that love to see wildflowers. The abundance of flowers added immensely to our enjoyment of the trail.
One lovely wildflower adjacent to our beautiful lunch stop.
We have no idea what this wildflower this is.
Thank you to my friend Joan M who believes that this might be "Death Camas", a poisonous plant, so glad we did not get too close.
Leaving Sooke Hills Wilderness Trail and entering Cowichan Valley Trail.
We are making good time.
Information maps are plentiful and gave us a sense of both our progress and the distances still to cover.
At Stubbings Rd
On indigenous land just to the north of Stubbings.
What a beautiful totem.
Our first view of Shawnigan Lk.
The rest of today is mostly downhill.
So many wild strawberry plants.
On one of the many trestles on our route.
Happy Hiker
We pushed on a little beyond our original plan to West Shawnigan Lk Rd at Rebecca. There is a small parking lot there where A's daughter in law met us to drive us to their home just outside of Duncan.
We enjoyed takeout Indian food for dinner and then collapsed early into bed. Our bodies were tired but felt good. All except...I have developed a large blister on the bottom of one heel. I couldn't believe it! After walking 2 months in Europe with no blisters, this was a shock. It took me down a peg or two in my "no blister smugness". Out with the Compeed and will hope for the best tomorrow.
Day 2 Rebecca Rd to Glenora Head Trail Park 20 km
This is why we walked further yesterday. We knew the rain was coming.
A's son dropped us off at Rebecca Rd very early, around 7:50AM, in a downpour!
At least it was not cold.
Heads down we set off at a good speed, at first my blistered foot was feeling pretty good. Very soon we arrived at the Renfrew Rd crossing.
Selling blackberry flowers?
Gortex jacket topped with ugly poncho, did the trick.
At 6.5 kms we arrived at the very impressive Kinsol Trestle. My first time viewing this feat of engineering. The rain eased slightly to add to our enjoyment.
Rain slicked hair, oh well.
Oh and at least the rain was warm and there was no wind.
It is a long way down!
The fog was beautiful.
From the north side.
This is a very impressive structure, recently it was reinforced with steel beams.
We enjoyed a meal break at the nearby shelter where we could sit on dry benches.
A cyclist went by that advised me that she and her friends had stayed overnight in the very reasonably priced AirBnB called Cabin at the Trestle. So there is a good place to stay for those that do not have generous family willing to transport one to and from trail heads!
Some one was crafty.
The sun even came out for a bit.
The trail on this portion is straight on, passing isolated farms, logged treelots, intact 2nd growth forests and swampy areas.
A Periwinkle Grove.
Dilapidated outbuildings
We could hear a strange noise in the swampy bushes. A local advised us that we were hearing bullfrogs. The same thing happened on the Saanich Penninsula,, someone got the bright idea to market frog's legs, when the business failed, the huge bullfrogs were released to wreak havoc on local wildlife.
Once again it started pouring.
As I write this, at 10pm, outside my bedroom window, I can hear the rain again ...pouring.
Lovely farmland lays alongside today's route.
Everything is lush and green from our wet spring, so different from this time last year when we were about to undergo the infamous Heat Dome.
These 2 local dogs were making sure we did not dawdle.
But dawdle we did, places to sit are few and far between, we found some sitting rocks here and settled down to eat out lunch.
Only 8 more kilometres to go, feeling good.
And! The sun is out!
The ever present Columbines. Lovely.
Potential Thimbleberry I believe?
Common wildflowers although I do not know what they are called.
It appears that a few other pilgrims have passed by here.
Interesting Lichen
Every property has No Trespassing signs posted. I assume being on The Great Trail may not be so great for the neighbour's personal privacy and security.
Cattle, living in the moment.
Our stopping point, Glenora Trails Head Park was not signposted, we almost walked right by.
I was using the APP Outdooractive, not something I was great at ...I had planned the stages beforehand and plotted them on the app and saved them. I was able to share them with A and with my husband. Also My husband, my son and A's son were tracking us through our phone's location on Google Maps. We felt that if we got into any trouble that we would be rescued
Our hostess picked us up to drive us to their home, while we removed our boots and collapsed on the sunny deck, she split some firewood... ya, while we just watched.
Day 3 Glenora Trails Head to Lake Cowichan 22.4 kms plus various excursions of 5 kms for total 27.4 kms
A's daughter in law had dropped us off at Glenora Trails Head Park. Weather misty rain but not cold. To start our day we attempted to walk the more interesting Riverside Trail instead of the very straight and boring Great Trail but the lower trail was washed out in places, we then ended up back where we had started....and I thought that I was being such a great navigator, haha. Down another peg or two.
And talking about pegs, my right foot was very painful. Once I got going I was able to hobble along almost as fast as normal but it took several minutes to get going. Even stopping for a minute to take a photo would set me back to zero. BUT I was still having a good time. A is such good company and an excellent conversationalist which always make me forget about the pain.
We initially elected to take the Riverside Trail.
It was a lovely walk and well maintained.
But down at the riverside we had to remount the stairs, the trail was gone, gone with the November floods we assume.
Back to our starting location.
By the way, great washrooms here, always an important feature for hikers.
Most of the morning it was gently sprinkling.
We have seen native Bleeding Hearts every day.
A stream in the background, there were lots of those as a result of our very wet spring.
Every day brings us to new climate pockets and new wildflowers.
and fungi
There were Dogwood Trees in bloom all along the 6 day walk. Of course I am very familiar with Dogwoods in the city, I now understand why they are our provincial flower.
This is at the 66 Mile Trestle
Here we met 2 Ontario women who had just hiked from Skutz Falls. We had lunch with them at the picnic tables on the west side of the trestle. There is a parking lot nearby so suddenly there were many people around.
By now both of my feet were in agony. The straight and flat gravel path was aggravating the pain so we thought we would try the North Riverside Walk. We were very grateful to have done so, it was so incredibly beautiful walking alongside the Cowichan River with wildflowers blooming all along.
The walk took us a very long time as we stopped often to admire and to take photos.
Even the raindrops were beautiful!
After a short bit on the Great Trail we chose to return to the North Side Trail.
UH OH, this is the notorious and noxious Giant Hogweed.
We found that it is very common for kilometres around Duncan.
(At this point we were a short distance just south of Duncan.)
I call this Old Man's Beard
We loved the graceful curly tops on the ferns.
As we approached Skutz Falls we lingered at the riverside.
We were so delighted, at every turn it just got more and more gorgeous. We luckily timed our hike at peak Wildflower season.
Approaching the underwhelming Skutz Falls
But then who cares when we have flowers to enjoy?!
One last photo of the river, by this time we had enjoyably frittered away the afternoon and we still had 10 kms to walk the rest of the way to Lake Cowichan.
I believe this is called the 70.2 mile Trestle.
The last stretch felt like a slog, the rain did not help.
But ... Still smiling!
We stayed at the Cowichan Lake Lodge which is steps from the Great Trail as it reverses direction to return back to Duncan, this time on the north side of the Cowichan River.
City of PickUp Trucks, every resident seems to own one.
After some deliberation we elected to eat dinner at the Riverside Restaurant (in the Riverside Inn) which turned out to be a great choice. The restaurant was noisy with the Edmonton Colorado Hockey finals so we escaped to eat outside on their large patio, even though it was raining. The propane heater was turned on and we both enjoyed a vegie burger in the cozy heat. We could see the river just to the left in the photo, what a lovely spot.
It was a 9 minute painful walk from and to our hotel. My feet were in agony, the last thing I wanted to do was to don my boots again but I was hungry!
Day 4 Lk Cowichan to Duncan 27.9 kms
For breakfast we walked the painful (for me, thankfully A's feet were in great shape) 9 minutes back to Riverside, this time to their cafe. Watching the rain while we enjoyed our breakfast, we were in no hurry to start out. Even though we had many kilometres to walk, our weather apps indicated that the rain was predicted to soon stop. Which it did. Good decision
.
We made a quick stop at Country Grocer to purchase food for lunch.
We were expecting this leg to be rather boring but as it backed onto farmland there was always something to look at. Also there were many other hikers, bikers and dog walkers all day.
Our destination.
Wild Dogwood
Lots of swampy land both this day and the previous day. The mosquitoes were bad in many places making it difficult to take any breaks. Consequently we made good time.
There are lily pads in this pond, unfortunately that photo did not turn out.
But this bench was not buggy!
One never knows what they may encounter during a pitstop into the trees.
More wild Honeysuckle
We also viewed several woodpeckers on this leg.
Also heard many gunshots, we assume from a gun range.
There were signs along the way warning of washout areas, this one was fine.
More artists at work.
At this point signs detoured us up to the busy highway. Luckily we saw a cyclist coming through who told us that it was passable... and it was.
A wee detour down, up and around the washout had been carved into the forest.
That November storm really did a number on our roads and paths.
As we passed the halfway point we were not seeing any rocks or logs to sit on while we ate our lunch, finally at Westwood and the busy Lake Cowichan Hwy we were able to stop to eat amongst the busy traffic noise.
My feet were in so much pain, I am reluctant to take any drugs, seldom do I resort to Tylenol but I was taking that and Ibuprofen night and day. To take my mind off the pain I began to listen to my audiobook, "The Genuis Of Birds" by Jennifer Ackerman. This worked just enough to enable me to keep going.
The community of Paldi ... consists of a Sikh Temple and nothing else that we could see.
The Chinese Cemetery was also marked on the map but all it was was bush. We considered those poor Chinese workers that gave up their lives to build Canada's Railroads. We were, after all, walking along an old rail bed.
As we approached the outskirts of Duncan we came across this charming library.
A. found a book that was interesting enough to add to her backpack.
Isn't it amazing what one can do with rebar and some old glass beauties.
The wild roses were everywhere.
and lovely farm land.
This is where the trail forks, tomorrow we take the north trail.
To finish today we walked to Sherman Rd where we scrambled up a cliff to the Cowichan River Hwy and then walked the short distance to the Cowichan District Hospital where we had arranged to be picked up by A's son and daughter in law. We treated them to another delicious dinner at the nearby Oak Pub.
Day 5 Duncan to Chemainus 19.3 kms
A with her son and daughter in law.
They were so kind to let us stay in their new home which is under extensive renovations.
We were driven back to the hospital where we found a more accessible trail back to our starting point.
The trail began like this but soon went through a subdivision.
Art is always a welcome distraction.
As the trail emerges north of Duncan we passed through lovely farmland.
The trail was very well used here.
Too soon we were finished with the trail and onto the beginning of a long day of roadwalking. Somenos Rd was lovely but the busy Cowichan Valley Highway is just ahead.
but first some farm life
and some wildlife
An Emu!
Approaching Hwy 1, so noisy with much truck traffic!
Then was a long stretch along the less busy Bell McKinnon Rd before the trail turned right onto Westholme Rd. This stretch was actually quite nice, quiet with farms on either side.
An attentive mama with her 2 wee ones.
Hi
Lovely road side honeysuckle.
OK sorry no one wants to see this but yikes my poor feet were sore!
We took a detour off of Westhome to Eves Provincial Park, trying to find a place to sit down to eat.
Then omg it got worse. (Today was the day I was prepared to not enjoy due to the many miles of road walking) As we walked through the Halalt Reserve land we ran into major road works. Of course that means large and loud trucks along with the dust. The construction zone went on for a long distance.
Now on equally busy Chemainus Rd we are crossing the Chemainus River.
Of course logging trucks have been frequent since we began our walk, one really gets a sense of the immensity and importance of logging to our BC economy. Nuff said.
Oh boy were we happy to finally see this sign. At this point we were off the road and back on the trail.
We stayed at the Best Western Chemainus where I had stayed before.
We had dinner reservations at the popular Sawmill Pub but it was another 24 minutes walk from the hotel. My throbbing feet just could not do it so we reluctantly cancelled our reservation. Thank you A., for insisting that we eat at the less desirable pub across the street ... which ended up being fine. I enjoyed my Caesar Salad
Day 6 Chemainus to Ladysmith 12.9 kms
10.2 kms on Trail, 2.7 0n road
The wonderful thing about this particular Best Western Hotel is their extensive buffet breakfast. They have a long time employee who works very hard at making every thing fresh and available.
The day was sunny, FINALLY a sunny day and it stayed that way all the way to Ladysmith.
I had had a rough night, awake with foot pain but somehow my feet were feeling better as we began our day.
On the north end of Chemainus we noticed this art installation at the front gate of apparently what used to be an art retreat of some sort. A local advised us that it is now a gravel pit. What a shame, usually gravel pits become art, well I am obviously thinking of our beautiful Butchart Gardens.
The old E(squimalt) and N(anaimo) rail line is adjacent to the Great Trail here. There is an active group that wants to recreate this rail service. I am for it!
Meanwhile, we enjoy again more wildflowers.
At about 5 kms we passed Saltair Station House which hosts Ma Maison, a restaurant specializing in farm to table cuisine. It looked inviting but we walked on.
Sun and flowers, oh and friendly people. This leg of the trail is well used.
This place advertised itself as a bike hostel but I could not find any information on line, still another possible place to stay on the Great Trail.
Passing through more farmland. Lovely!
Highway 1 is just out of the photo on the left.
Beautiful trail with lots of up and down.
Days 2 through 6 were perfect terrain for those who prefer biking to walking.
Ever present deer
I do not know the name of this but the bees love it!
Another thank you to Joan M; this is "Comfrey".
Purple, yellow and green ... nature's spring palette.
I have to say this sign is very misleading! It may be only 5 km but oh boy Ladysmith, for a small town, is very very long! And we had to walk all the way to the north end. Of course my feet were again very sore.
At this point A. turned on some music, one of her selections was Beethoven's Ninth aka Ode to Joy. We were feeling it! The music, the sunshine, the walking, the companionship ... pure happiness. THIS is why we walk ... for the many moments such as this.
I am full of gratitude that I have such a great friend with whom I love to converse, walk, bike and hike.
We are celebrating but we are still a long way from our destination.
And we are now on the 2.7 kms (plus another couple of kms through town) Chemainus Road portion of the day.
Between the waterfront homes we caught a peek of the water.
Eventually we arrived at the mall located at the south end of Ladysmith where we nipped into Save On Foods to use the facilities. Then a short stretch along Highway 1.
Ah this is better, along city streets admiring the local gardens.
Through town looking for a place to eat, finding most places closed on Mondays and Tuesdays due to staffing issues.
We finally ended up at the 49th Parallel Grocery Store which is where we needed to be to catch the bus.
We had arrived in good time so had 30 minutes to spare between our healthy vegie wrap lunch and the bus departure to check out the awesome thrift store a short block away.
The bus to Victoria costs less than $20 and leaves 3 or 4 times a day, it is run by Vancouver Island Connector. We caught the 1:35pm bus which got us back to Victoria by 3:30.
My other hobby, I finished this small amount of stitching on the way to Victoria.
Home, back to our real lives.
It was a treat to undertake a walking holiday so close to home. It is important to me to keep my carbon footprint as low as possible. We accomplished that for the most part, however our Duncan hosts did quite a bit of driving (in their small fuel-efficient car) to pick us up three afternoons and then deliver us back for three mornings.
I don't think I would have the desire to walk this trail a second time but it was fantastic to do it once. Parts of it, well most of it, were beautiful and extremely enjoyable. Much of the road walking however was not that nice.
BUT!
As I mentioned, I was looking for a challenge, we laughed about the fact that I sure got what I wished for ... blistered feet certainly granted me my wish.
Back in Victoria I hobbled home from the bus while A energetically walked the 3.3 kms back to her home. I gave myself permission to stay off my feet for a few days. It turns out that Blog writing is the perfect sedentary activity.
It is now 3 days later and I can happily walk again.
I hope this blog helps you plan your own Vancouver Island Camino.
I am happy to answer any questions, just email me at vicquilter@gmail.com.
Buen Camino
PS I have heard from several readers that they are unable to leave comments.
I can be reached at vicquilter@gmail.com if you would like to comment or ask questions.
