Blog: I Think It's This Way » Wednesday Hike – Francis King Park – Victoria, BC

Wednesday Hike – Francis King Park – Victoria, BC

Kris — Thu, 04 Aug 2011 06:28:47 +0000

Kind of hot today by Victoria standards. I can usually tell by the amount of sweat I generate on the bike commute home from work, or in the case of today the walk from the bus stop home. There was some sweat today. On the schedule for today was a Wednesday hike at Francis King Park, which I expected might offer a bit of a break from my imagined heat; this is because of the tall trees and general shady nature of the park.

Feeling some need to avoid repeating the one of the same routes we’ve done in the past at Francis King, I pretty much went with whatever seemed good whenever we encountered an intersection. Generally, it was north from the nature house to the high point of the park, then west, then south, then… wait where am I? Oh, just look at the map. we did cover a good portion of the trails in the park when all was said and done.

GPS Data: 5.5km – 1h18m – Garmin Website – GPX (right click to download)

Wednesday Hike – Francis King Park – Victoria, BC

Kris — Thu, 31 Mar 2011 06:50:57 +0000

Tonight’s hike location… Francis King Park. I kind of thought it was going to rain, but aside from some barely noticeable drops here and there it was fine. Let’s see, there was some sweet trail, there was skunk cabbage, there was slippery rock, there was a cave for Bill to hide in, there was a pretty big, hollowed out cedar tree that appears to have been cut down after some burn damage, and there was near darkness as we wrapped up our hike. All good by my standards. Oh yeah, there was also some good post-hike eats at the Fernwood Inn Pub.

GPS Data: 4.9km – 1h31m – GPS route

A 4.9km hike at Francis King Park near Victoria, BC. Click on the map to see details on the Garmin website.

Rainforest greenery looks awesome to the naked eye even if it's cloudy and grey. Too bad photos don't always convey the awesomeness.

Ahhh, the fine scent of skunk cabbage. If you scratch your screen you'll be able to smell it too.

Wednesday Hike – Francis King Park – Victoria, BC

Kris — Thu, 17 Jun 2010 06:40:19 +0000

The Wednesday hike this week was an outing at Francis King Park. After some recent urban-oriented hikes it was nice to get back to some forest action and all the trappings associated with the non-urban action (dirt, rock, ferns, creeks, slugs, deer, etc.) Hmmm, next week, who know where we’ll end up.

GPS Data: 5.2km – 1h15m – GPS route

A 5.2km hike at Francis King Park near Victoria, BC. Click on the map to see GPS details on the Garmin website.

Most trails in Francis King are pretty smooth like this section near the Elsie King loop.

Hike – Francis King Park – Victoria, BC

Kris — Mon, 05 Apr 2010 06:17:33 +0000

In my last blog post I mentioned a pre-turkey feast hike. This time I shall describe the day’s pre-ham hike. I really should have sucked it up and gone for a bike ride today, but alas I did not. Does it count that I thought about it? No, it doesn’t. An alternative to bike riding, as always, is hiking. Michelle, Shauna, and I did just that at Francis King Park this afternoon.

Having been to Francis King recently and with my somewhat low threshold for doing the same thing all the time, I led us around some of the same trails we did about a week and a half ago on a Wednesday night, but in reverse. For additional freshness, we roamed slightly outside of the Francis King boundaries into Thetis Lake park. I’m still building a map in my brain of the trails in these two parks so it was a good exercise to explore the some of both. Next time will involve going a bit deeper into Thetis Lake Park. Francis King trails included: part of Elsie King, Shooting Star, Grand Fir, Centennial, and High Ridge.

GPS Data: 5.4km – 1h15m – GPS Route

A hike in Francis King Park and a bit of Thetis Lake Park near Victoria, BC. Click on the map to see detailed GPS data on the Garmin website.

Wednesday Hike – Francis King Park – Victoria, BC

Kris — Thu, 25 Mar 2010 05:42:40 +0000

Hot damn, says I with an attempt at a southern drawl. Why, you ask? No reason, I respond, other than the fact that the temperature for this week’s Wednesday night hike was noticeably warmer than in previous weeks. With mild trepidation, I suggested Francis King Park for the weekly hike. My trepidation was based on a misguided suspicion that there might be some serious wet spots in the Francis King forest. For me this park has always given off a very rain-foresty vibe; rain-foresty = wet, right? The vibe was there tonight, but the trails were quite dry overall. This might have been only about the fifth time I have every been to this park, which is a bit of a shame because it’s really nice, if you’re into rain-forest action and a general, away-from-civilization feel.

Five of us started out from the Francis King Nature House on Munn Road in the direction of the High Ridge Trail, about a two kilometer loop. No owls this time, but we did see a Llama in someone’s yard, or maybe it was an Alpaca? Next, we went north on Centennial Trail, then across Munn Road to Grand Fir Trail, and then, and then, and then… oops, brain skipping. I think it was Shooting Star Trail and part of the Elsie King Trail to finish things off. All told, about 5km of fine, green, nature-smelling, hiking.

GPS Data: 4.6km – 1h08m – GPS Route

A 4.6km Wednesday night hike at Francis King Park near Victoria, BC. Click on the map to see detailed GPS data on the Garmin website.

I knew the hike was going to be good right from the start. To be able to capture the majesty of this garbage can in it's natural environment was an incredible privilege.

I'm not sure if this golf course has a name or is even open yet, but it seems to have made some progress since last summer when it more closely resembled a gravel pit. This is somewhere along the east side of the High Ridge Loop.

As a fluke-tographer, I am often left with photos that I had higher hopes for; in this case I did not luck out and get something that looks decent. Need to figure out how to use the camera better in less than ideal lighting.

A rather large tree near the south end of the High Ridge Trail. There are quite a few large conjoined trees in this area, which this is not, but I wonder what prompted the two significant appendages.

Another grey-light special photo. Skunk Cabbage is going strong right now in some of the wetter spots.

For some reason Michelle felt that it was important for me to go pose in this hollowed-out tree trunk. So I did.

It's not really evident from this photo, but some of the signage around Francis King Park is a bit confusing. I don't really care too much since I figure if people want to use the trails they should be prepared to invest some time in learning to navigate the trails without signs. Additionally, I don't think I'd like the idea of there being signs all over the place.

For my personal satisfaction I'll take a stab at naming this feature on the Elsie King Trail, even though it probably already has a name... Gateway of the Slug; Busted Tree; The Gnome's Doorway; ... ok, I quit, that's dumb. Next time I'll just pay closer attention to the signage.