Blog: I Think It's This Way » Wednesday Hike – Elk Lake / Bear Hill – Victoria, BC

Wednesday Hike – Elk Lake / Bear Hill – Victoria, BC

Kris — Thu, 20 Jan 2011 06:43:57 +0000

Note to self, be careful where you park in the winter. Did a good hike tonight at Bear Hill; there was a bit of Elk Lake trail as well… the water is pretty high right now… rain, rain, rain. Bear Hill is not gigantic, but it takes some effort to get up. As you might expect, there is a decent view of the north end of the Saanich Peninsula from the top. A full moon and somewhat clear skies tonight made the view even better. Oh yeah, so the parking thing… some public parks around here have signs posted indicating that they are open sunrise to sunset; some of these parks also have parking lots with gates that may or may not be locked at sunset. We finished up our hike tonight with about 0 minutes to go before the gates were to be locked… phew, that was close. Be careful where you park. I’d be interested to know what the exact reasons for the sunrise to sunset park hours are; I’m pretty sure it’s not to protect people from vampires.

GPS Data: 5.6km – 1h23m – GPS Route

A 5.6km hike at Elk/Beaver Lake and Bear Hill near Victoria, BC. Click on the map to see details on the Garmin website.

Wednesday Hike – Elk / Beaver Lake – Victoria, BC – Mud Bog’in

Kris — Thu, 28 Jan 2010 05:26:50 +0000

I think I have thought on occasion over the past month or two, that I was surprised at the lack of mud on some of the trails I have been hiking and running on around Victoria. Mud always seems to be lurking somewhere on Vancouver Island in the winter, go figure. To be honest, I was not expecting much mud tonight on my hike with co-workers, friends, and Michelle at Beaver Lake. While it could have been worse — it can always be worse right? — I’m pretty sure that the first couple kilometres of tonight’s hike were the muddiest so far this winter.

We started at the south end of Elk/Beaver Lake park and headed north, parallel to the highway, through what I believe could be described as the dog exercise area. Apparently, this area holds water pretty well and as a result most of us ended up with mud foot. No one ended up on their butt thankfully.

GPS Data: 7.7km – 1h36m – GPS Route

Wednesday hike route at Elk / Beaver Lake near Victoria, BC. Click on the map to view GPS details on the Garmin website.

Run for the Bacon – Victoria, BC – Elk / Beaver Lake

Kris — Mon, 07 Dec 2009 07:40:04 +0000

Some weekends are just weekends, and others are more… more travel, more food, more everything. This weekend fell into the “more” category. In my previous post I mentioned an excursion to Burnaby Mountain; this was followed by a hurried Richmond (Greater Vancouver’s Chinese area) shopping effort (‘puter parts and some Ikea junk), and a somewhat miraculous drive to the Tsawwassen Ferry Terminal to catch a ride back to Vancouver Island. The drive was miraculous in that we pretty much drove right onto the ferry, which never seems to happen; there is always a wait of some sort. Good times in the big city as Michelle and I got to visit with friends, do fun things, and eat good food (some mediocre food was consumed as well – see next paragraph).

Today, back in Victoria, the “more” continued in the form of a run at Elk/Beaver Lake. The conditions for the run were cold, like the rest of the weekend, but things went well for the most part. Admittedly, my reckless abandon at the previous night’s Pacific Buffet (a BC Ferries offering) did have some undesirable side-effects, which manifested themselves during the run, but things worked out just fine in the end.

I realize you are probably not terribly interested in my gastro-intestinal issues, so onto the photos we go.

Map of my run route at Elk/Beaver Lake near Victoria, BC (10.2km - 1h02m). Click on the map to see GPS data on the Garmin website.

Sunny, but seriously cold for Victoria. This photo was taken at the north end of Elk Lake near Hamsterly Road.

Some scenery at the north end of Elk Lake near Victoria, BC.

Even the geese seemed less than impressed with the cool temperatures. Ok, that's crap, I have no idea what the geese were thinking.

Michelle and Steph finishing up the 'Run for the Bacon 10K' at Elk/Beaver Lake. We ate bacon after the run, hence my stupid invented race name.