Before it was transformed into a resort community and golf course, Bear Mountain was a rugged, heavily forested wilderness known to locals as Skirt Mountain. The mountain was an undeveloped playground for hikers, dirt and mountain bikers, and anyone who enjoyed untouched, rocky terrain blanketed in thick woods and populated with local wildlife. While much of that wild backcountry is gone now, fortunately some of it still exists, and on Saturday June 13th, the Victoria Small Dog HIKING Group will head off into the untamed outdoors.
Our hike will start at Bear Mountain Village. You'll go up Bear Mountain Parkway to the large gravel public parking lot at approximately 2003 Bear Mountain Parkway. Look for my Small Dog Group signs. Please be on time as we have a 6 km hike ahead of us that we're aiming to get done by Noon.
From our parking spot, we'll walk through Bear Mountain Village, out past the Bear Mountain Activity Centre to the signs pointing to Mt. Finlayson. Our elevation at this point is 217m. A gravel trail winds slightly uphill for about 100m, just enough to give us a great view of the golf course and beyond. A small sign indicates the beginning of the Canada Cup Trail, which is a 1.84 km singletrack forest trail travelling beside and above the golf practice area, and the 1st and 2nd holes. The trail is rocky and rooty in places, climbing and falling as we make our way to about the 1.5 km point. Here we get a scrambly downhill taking us sharply right and over to the back of the 3rd green. The terrain continues in an overall downhill direction as we make our way to the lowest point of the Canada Cup Trail just past the 4th hole. Our elevation here is 158m. A short 325m further along the trail, we conclude the Canada Cup trail and start on the Canada Cup Connect Trail.
This gently rising 526m trail connects us to the Mt Finlayson Trail, and we'll walk up to the trailhead at Finlayson Arm Road. Our elevation here is 204m which means we will have gained 46m since we started the CC Connect Trail. We'll rest here for a few minutes as we're going to need a breather before we start heading back on the Mt. Finlayson Trail.
Travelling downhill for about 450m, we reach the lowest point of our return route at an elevation of 168m. We're now on the flanks of Mt. Finlayson, and it's uphill, uphill, and more uphill for the next 750m, topping out at 221m. It's a significant grind, so pace yourself and maybe think about bringing your hiking pole for this section. Just when you think your legs will give out, we take a sharp left and start heading downhill, negotiating a rocky spillway and connecting with the CC trail again.
Back on a familiar trail, we'll simply retrace our steps back to the beginning of the CC trail, and then ultimately back to our parking spot.
Tidbit generally does well on this trail. She can jump over, or scramble under most impediments on the trail, like fallen trees or large rocks. She wilts a bit on the Mt. Finlayson uphill portion, so I generally toss her in her doggie backpack for that section. She loves being off-leash, and those little 12.5 yr old legs don't seem to have an issue taking on a 6km hike.
By maintaining an average speend of 3.3 kph, Tidbit and I were able to do the walk today (June 3rd) in 1 hr 50 minutes. Add in two 5 minute breaks, and you have a 2 hr walk, which is what I'm aiming for with the group. 3.3 kph isn't super fast, but it doesn't leave room for stragglers, so be sure you can keep up before you sign up. Unlike the Victoria Small Dog WALK AND PLAY Group, the HIKING group doesn't use trail markers, so everyone has to stay together.
Maps of the route are posted in the Photos section of this event. Here is the link to AllTrails so you can run the preview and the photo tour.
https://www.alltrails.com/explore/custom-routes/custom-route-0a06df5?req=1
