East Sooke Park 49/3 weeks

A cold and tired dog, Mowgli

This hike was a rare occasion when we were joined by our youngest son, Dane. He is at the age of doing very little with us as a family; in fact the only reason he came on this jaunt was because of Hillary.

We decided to give East Sooke Park a go since we have not hiked this place in years. This is also the only week of our 52 week challenge that we land in Sooke. Having already hiked here before we chose to go on the Coast trail because it was new to us and we also wanted to be on the water.

Sounds 'coastal', doesn't it?

Sometimes these maps can be slightly misleading.

Mowgli is so happy to be hiking with Dane.

East Sooke Park is a gorgeous example of what Vancouver Island has to offer when it comes to being outdoors, hiking and parks. You could be days hiking this one place and never travel the same path twice. The forest is wet and the air is thick with mist; just like one would imagine a coastal park to be.

The problem with this one trail is that it didn't run along the coast as we thought it would. We were all chomping at the bit to get ourselves near water and after over an hour on the trail and three or four false alarms we finally turned around and headed back to the parking lot. Yes, East Sooke Park was the first trail of the year that we bailed out on. Had we continued along our path we would have ended up at a trail head that looked out onto the beautiful Juan De Fuca strait and the Washington mountains beyond. Unfortunately, we would have even had the chance to see ancient rock paintings at the water's edge. But it was the water's edge we were after; we wanted a trail that wound around the water and kept it in our sights for most of the hike. Being the spoiled rotten brats we are, we decided to give it up and head back.

An idea of how thick this forest is...

I usually snap pics of the reishi-like fungus but I doubt this park allows for  the dry variety.

Hillary taking a break and Dane looking like the Sasquatch film.

So after over two hours on the trail we crossed the road from the parking lot and got ourselves into proximity to the water just like we wanted. And just as the heavy rain began.

The view of the bay.