Timberman Trail Hike

Vancouver Island, Victoria & Gulf Islands Backroad Mapbook (9th edition) Trailhead Coordinates: Page 4 (Sooke) E1.

Gowlland Tod Provincial Park is located on Vancouver Island, Saanich Peninsula, about 20 km Northwest of the City of Victoria. This park is situated on the bank of Saanich Inlet, and has a trail which goes South-North from Caleb Pike access point to McKenzie Bight access point. If you have two cars, it is possible to make it a one way hike via a car shuttle. Otherwise, it's a rather long-ish round trip hike of about 19 km long.

Yesterday, we started at the Caleb Pike access point, hiked to Jocelyn Hill lookout for just over 4.2 km one way, and went back. Today, we began at the McKenzie Bight access point, hiked to Malahat viewpoint and Squally Reach viewpoint via Cascade Trail and Timberman Trail, and returned to McKenzie Bight. We thus did not hike a few kilometers between Jocelyn Hill and Squally Reach, but, from what we understand, there isn't much to see there.

While this is, technically, one trail all the way from Caleb Pike to McKenzie Bight (with several parallel/loop trails), it is broken into several trails for naming purposes. Thus, at the beginning of Caleb Pike access the trail is called Holmes Peak Trail, then it becomes Ridge Trail, then Jocelyn Hill Trail, then Timberman Trail, and then Cascade Trail which ends at McKenzie Bight. For the sake of simplicity, we named the previous trip report "Ridge Trail Hike" (from Caleb Pike access point to Jocelyn Hill), and this trip report (where we hiked from McKenzie Bight to Malahat Viewpoint and Squally Reach) is called "Timberman Trail Hike", which takes 3.3 km to Malahat Viewpoint (it's a spur trail), and 3.5 km to Squally Reach.

If you can do only one of these two hikes, definitely go with the Caleb Pike access point hike, as it has much better views.

*All trail distances are based on a GPS odometer and are approximate.

1. Here is a Google Maps location of Gowlland Tod Provincial Park - McKenzie Bight access point (at the end of Mark Lane near Brentwood Bay).

2-3. We are on Vancouver Island, Saanich Peninsula, Northwest of Victoria, near Brentwood Bay, at the end of Mark Lane. Arriving to the parking lot for Gowlland Tod Provincial Park - McKenzie Bight access point. Coordinates: N 48⁰33.776' W 123⁰29.776'. Elevation: 45 meters.

4. From here, it's 1.2 km to McKenzie Bight via a road in the forest. At 130 meters from the parking lot.

5. Looking right at Saanich Inlet at 580 meters from the parking lot. See a weird structure on top of a mountain across the inlet?

6. Here it is with much zoom - Malahat Skywalk, accessible from Highway 1.

7. Continuing on the road through the forest. At 700 meters from the parking lot.

8. At 740 meters there is a T-junction. Turn right.

9. At 770 meters now.

10. At 1.2 km, we are at McKenzie Bight, which features the only pit toilet this side of Gowlland Tod Provincial Park.

11. Just past the toilet, there is a split.

12. To the right is a short trail to a fine view of McKenzie Bight.

13. To the left is the continuation of the road, which leads to Cascade Trail trailhead in 220 meters from the pit toilet. Looking right after we took the path on the left past the toilet.

14. Looking ahead now 40 meters past the toilet. This is where it gets a bit complicated, and one can get confused as to the direction of travel. Go in that general direction until...

15...you reach this bridge about 60 meters later. There is a path to the left of the bridge, and it leads to a trailhead off Ross Durance Road, as seen in the map below the photo. But to get to Cascade Trail trailhead, cross the bridge and keep going forward.

16. After crossing the bridge, about 50 meters later you will see this path going up. Take it to the Cascade Trail trailhead.

17. A sign will show no entry to the path along the bight, but the Cascade Trail is to the left of that path. The trail starts at the sign seen straight ahead, located about 220 meters from the pit toilet in photo #10. Coordinates: N 48⁰33.220' W 123⁰30.229'. Elevation: 40 meters.

18-19. Here is a map at the trailhead. We have indicated as follows: Red squares - Holmes Peak and Jocelyn Hill viewpoints, which we visited yesterday via Ridge Trail. Yellow squares - viewpoints we visited today - Saanich Inlet viewpoint (badly overgrown), Squally Reach viewpoint (mostly overgrown), and Malahat Viewpoint (a little overgrown). Yellow arrow - where we came from after parking at the end of Mark Lane. Red arrows - the top red arrow points at the access trail off Ross Durance Road (map below photo #16), and the bottom red arrow points to a parallel trail also off Ross Durance Road, and that trail is shown in map below photo #23.

20. Cascade Trail hike begins. At 200 meters.

21. At 400 meters, there is a bunch of stairs.

22. And, to the left, is a mostly obstructed view of a waterfall, which likely gave the name to this trail.

23. At 550 meters, Cascade Trail ends at a T-junction. To the right is the start of Timberman Trail. And, to the left, is another access trail off Ross Durance Road (lower red arrow in a map in photo #18). A Google Maps location of the beginning of that trail is shown below this photo.

24. After turning right - the beginning of Timberman Trail.

25. At 570 meters of Timberman Trail, a badly overgrown Saanich Inlet viewpoint.

26. At 1.09 km, a split. Coordinates: N 48⁰33.537' W 123⁰30.128'. Elevation: 250 meters. There is no sign here of any kind. To the left is continuation of Timberman Trail to Squally Reach, and, eventually, Caleb Pike access point. To the right is a 470 meter-long Malahat Viewpoint spur. We turned right.

27. At 370 meters of Malahat Viewpoint spur trail.

28. Arriving to Malahat Viewpoint 100 meters later. A quality see-saw was a pleasant surprise. Be advised that it is easier to get in than to get out of that see-saw.

29. Saanich Inlet view from Malahat Viewpoint.

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30. We then returned to Timberman Trail. Here it is at 1.59 km from the start of that trail (where Cascade Trail ends), and there is another split - turn right to get to Squally Reach. Coordinates: N 48⁰32.679' W 123⁰30.806'. Elevation: 285 meters. Again, no signs. We were helped by a GPS with Backroad Mapbook software.

31. A bridge at the 1.70 km mark.

32. Almost there at the 1.85 km mark. Need to go straight here.

33-34. At 40 meters and 70 meters past the sign in the photo above.

35. Another 40 meters, and here is Saanich Inlet as seen from Squally Reach.

36-37. Looking Right. Plain and zoomed.

After Squally Reach, there is an option to proceed to Jocelyn Hill viewpoint and beyond (all the way to Caleb Pike access point). That said, aside from McKenzie Bight, there isn't much to see on this end of Gowlland Tod Provincial Park.

    

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