Hiking Mt Finlayson near Victoria

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Yesterday I took an early ferry (7am..omg that’s early but great sunrise) to Vancouver Island to visit friends in Victoria. Luckily they are outdoorsy types so we took advantage of the warm, sunny day and dragged the kids on a hike up the backside of Mt. Finlayson in Goldstream Park.

You can scramble up the front side which is the most popular way to scale the 420m elevation but the last bit is steep and you have to cling to the cliff to make the last 100m. Not a good idea for anyone with a fear of heights. The backside doesn’t have the views but you get there just the same. Its 2km so not a big hike but perfect for families or occasional hikers. We did have in our group a foreign student from Shanghai who made the trek but not happily. We loved the hike but for her it was a slog. Apparently, they don’t have hills in Shanghai.

We also stopped a few times on the way up the mountain to geocache. This is basically looking for treasure that other geocachers have hidden. The treasure isn’t really treasure but it gets you off the trail and because sometimes you have to follow clever rules to find the cache it gets the brain going too.

You will notice in the photo with the BC Parks sign board there also is a bright yellow sign saying a cougar is in the area. I’m happy to report we didn’t see one.