Boulderwood Hill Park

Walk score: 51

Transit score: 51

Street parking: Deventer Drive, Boulderwood Rise, Cherry Tree Bend

Dogs permitted off-leash, MUST be on-leash through the Royal Oak Burial Park

Boulderwood Hill park is on the west side of McMinn and Grant Parks, all of which are connected via wooded trails through the Broadmead/Cordova Bay neighbourhood, and allow for a longer hike, and some spectacular vantages of the peninsula and city without having to go too far from town.  Its another great example of the ways in which the municipality of Saanich (Parks and Recreation) has been working to create connected greenspaces that promote walking within neighbourhoods.

Boulderwood Hill itself sits at the top of Amblewood Drive in Broadmead, and at its peak, looks out over the Royal Oak Burial Park, but there is also a  larger network of trails and parkland through the hill below, and surrounding the entire acreage of the Burial Park, with a wide range of forest streams, ponds, and up to rocky cliffs and garry oak meadows.

History

The Broadmead and Royal Oak neighbourhoods actually have a fairly long history in Victoria, despite being considered wild and inhospitable lands at the time.  The lands comprising much of North and South Saanich, were acquired by the Husdon's Bay Company in 1852 via a treaty between the Songhees Indians and Sir James Douglas. Seven years later, 899 acres, most of present-day Royal Oak and Broadmead was deeded to to Alexander Grant Dallas, subdivided only when the Pat Bay Highway was constructed, as it needed to pass directly through.  The larger portion on the east side, about 719 acres of what is currently Broadmead and Rithet's Bog was maintained by Alexander Dallas as "Dallas Farm", until his death in 1891, at which time R.P Rithet purchased the property.

About the same time as the larger acreage was deeded to Dallas, John Heal, one of the original settlers in the area, purchased 135 acres in the area and built a family home at 813 Royal Woods Place (interesting fact - this home also served as a post office in its early days). On his death, the land was divided up and passed to his sons Walter and Harry, and and a portion of this original parcel eventually became the current day burial park.

Walking the trails:

There area few trail loops that can be hiked easily within one to two hours within the larger park. Unfortunately, none of these trails are wheelchair accessible, and some have some quite steep and rocky terrain in spots.

If you are looking for vantages of the city and peninsula, you can go right to the top of Boulderwood Rise, and hike a loop that skirts the top of the hill.  There is a condominium complex right in the middle of the summit, with a wide buffer of parkland and trails on all sides.  There are clear, uninterrupted views out over Cordova Bay and Mount Doug on the east side of the hill, and on the west side, you have a bird's eye view of the cemetery and West Saanich.

Alternately, you can start at the bottom of the hill, from the trailhead at Deventer Drive.  This takes you through the lower forested areas, and up the hill skirting the backside of the sidestreets off Amblewood Drive.  If you follow the trails around towards the west, you will connect up with the trails that make their way into the Royal Oak Burial Park.

You can also make a full loop of the burial park, by starting at the end of Cherry Tree Bend, off Haliburton Road. There is a trail that heads due east, following the northern end of the parkland, where you will see glimpses of the backside of properties off the sidestreets off Haliburton Road, eventually connecting up with Boulderwood Hill park proper at the eastern edge of the park.  If you follow the trails around, to the south, you will find yourself heading back down the hill, through the woods to Deventer Drive, Royal Woods Place, and Falaise Road - some of your hike back will be on paved roads with sidewalk, but at the end of Falaise Drive, another trail picks up for a quieter stroll past the mausoleum and back to Cherry Tree Bend where you started.

On our last visit there, we found THIS curious tiny structure - shrine, memorial? or fairy hut? we're not sure, but it certainly had us stop and take notice.

Flora and Fauna

You will encounter a range of habitats while hiking these trails.  At the lower elevations, there are streams and wetlands filled with skunk cabbage, ferns and fast growing trees such as alder and poplar.  In the fall, you may even see patches of wild mushrooms!

Maples, hemlock, fir and cedar are abundant through the forested areas with their typical understory of salal, sword ferns and oregon grape.  These forests gradually transition to arbutus and garry oak meadows at the higher elevations.  Some areas are overgrown with ivy, but it appears they are slowing being rehabilitated, and spring wildflowers such as fawn lilies, shooting stars, and trilliums can be seen not far off the main trails.

  

You will also see and hear a wide variety of birds on your hike - on our visits we've encountered flickers and pileated woodpeckers, ravens, and even owls!  You will also see and hear many smaller birds such as nuthatches, finches, and wrens.

As with much of suburban Greater Victoria, this park also shelters semi-wild animals such as deer and racoons, which you may hear, but not see in the denser underbrush.  If you are hiking with your dogs, while they are permitted off-leash on the trails, if they are prone to wandering and getting into trouble, you may want to keep them on-leash to avoid any nasty altercations.

Links: 

Saanich Parks info on Boulderwood Hill Park\
The history of a Pioneer Family: the Heals of Royal Oak
Goyette Family History (compiled by Rene Carroll, 1999)
An Eclectic History of Broadmead, Valerie Green for the BARA Bugle, 2006
"Broadmead was owned by the Hudson's Bay Company", except from the Broadmead Story, BARA, 2010

All images © 2014 Janice Mansfield

Vantreight Park and Ferndale Forest

Walk to score: 13

Transit to score: 36

Parking:on Vantreight Dr.

Crushed gravel trails are wheelchair accessible

Dogs: permitted off leash (dogs mush be on-leash in the upper playground area)

Gordon Head is steeped in agricultural history, and parks such as Vantreight park are reminders of the many homesteading families that farmed the land in this part of the city in the early days of Victoria.

We spend a lot of time at Vantreight Park, as it is just down the hill from us and on the regular dog-walk route. It is also part of a set of interconnected greenspaces throughout Gordon Head, where one can walk partly through trails and partly through lower-traffic neigbourhoods, right from Arbutus Cove, through to Glencoe Cove, to Vantreight Park, to Margaret's Bay and on towards Mount Doug Park.

History 

In 1884, John Vantreight purchased a fair chunk of Gordon Head - a farm stretching inland from the bluff of Glencove Cove (also called Deadman's Cliff, or North Bay) - as far inland as Tyndall Road behind the large family home that still stands today.

Vantreight Farm at North Bay circa 1890, Saanich Archives

Through the years, this property has gone through a few bouts of development, and during the subdivision of what is now Leyns Road, this piece of parkland was deeded to the municipality.

Through the 1970's and 1980's it contained some playground equipment - swings, and teeter totters - and had baseball diamonds set up where a local baseball league practiced.  As the neighbourhood evolved, baseball was moved to Lambrick Park and Majestic Park, and the diamonds removed leaving the large level field on the lower level of the park.

Park highlights

Today, the park has new playground equipment installed at the upper level, and has a few strategically placed trees and a picnic table.  It remains a popular gathering spot for larger parties looking for a quiet picnic spot, or families looking for a space to kick the soccer ball around.

The lower field is a popular off-leash space for neighbourhood dog owners looking for a place for their pooches to stretch their legs and play.  During warm summer evenings, you can hear bats flitting about, and see swallows swooping and diving across the field, and occasionally see the eagles that nest further down the beach at Margaret's Bay.

Beyond the playground on the upper level of the park, there is a stretch of small forested area, containing Douglas Fir and other native species.  There have been a few fir seedlings planted in this area, to replace a few larger, older trees that have gone down in recent windstorms.  Across Vantreight Road, you step into the more heavily forested area known now as Ferndale Forest.

A few years ago, the municipality created a wheelchair-accessible pathway on one side of Vantreight Park, leading past the playground and onto Leyns Road at the other end. This has become a popular walking route in the neighbourhood year-round.

Kimiko loves to birdwatch in the forest

The Forest portion of this park is currently undergoing rehabilitation and re-wilding.  Volunteer crews working with Saanich Parks staff, are spending time pulling ivy and other invasive species in order to allow the native understory plants to re-establish themselves.  As you walk through the forest, despite the strangling influence of the ivy, you can still see thimbleberries, chokecherries, red huckleberries, wild rose, salmonberries, spirea, trailing blackberries, salal and the occasional saskatoon bush. Expect to see these burgeoning in the next 1-2 years as the volunteer crews work their way through this stretch.

Saanich Parks info on Vantreight Park
History of land ownership in Gordon Head, Saanich Archives http://www.saanich.ca/discover/artsheritagearc/heritage/pdf/ttwalkingtourweb.pdf


All images © 2014 Janice Mansfield

Bow Park

Walk-to score: 67

Transit-to score: 49

Parking on street

Wheelchair accessible trails in Bow Park area, steeper gravel trails towards Mackenzie Avenue

Dogs permitted: on leash

You might have driven down Mackenzie Avenue around Braefoot Park and idly wondered about that pedestrian overpass - wondering why anyone would put an overhead walkway to seemingly nowhere.

But the fact is, that overpass does lead somewhere! Right off the overpass, you find yourself on Ferndale Trail, heading up the hill towards to Bow Park, a superb example of how the hard work of volunteers working with the municipality can help preserve and restore natural ecosystems in suburban Victoria in a very short space of time!

Bow Park is also accessible off of Cedar Hill Road via Hopesmore Drive, and with Brodick Park is a habitat reclamation area smack-dab in the middle of a residential area that has rise up around it over the years. Its somewhat unique in that its Garry Oak groves sit in the midst of a boggier area, rather than the rocky, camass-covered outcroppings we typically see. There is small pond right in the middle of Bow Park (complete with ducks and frogs!), surrounded by Cottonwood, and the the understory of this Park is largely chokecherry, salmonberry and some Rosa Nutkana.

Park Highlights:

The stroll around the pond itself is a lovely walk, with benches placed strategically at a couple of spots.  If you go in late spring/early summer, you might be able to spy a nesting duck, or ducklings sunning themselves by the edge of the pond.  A number of residences back right onto the park by the pond, and then the trails make their way deeper into the forest, which is teeming with birds.

History:

Brodick and Bow Parks were first established around the time of the first round of subdivisions in the area.  One end of Bow Park opens up onto Brodick which is an open field area, with a small playground with an "old school" slide and swings.

More recently though, with its commitment to connected greenspaces, Saanich began more intensive work on the parks in this area, including Bow Park.

"In the spring of 2011 Saanich Parks began a project to reduce the grade of a connector trail that travels through Feltham Park and Bow Park to connect Mckenzie Avenue with Cedar Hill Road. Throughout the summer and early fall, Saanich Park staff along with Pulling Together volunteers, removed invasive species such as Himalayan Blackberry and English Ivy within a stand of Garry Oak, Bitter Cherry, Indian Plum, and Black Hawthorn trees. On Tree Appreciation Day Saanich staff and more than 50 community volunteers planted hundreds of native trees and shrubs along the portion of the trail from Livingstone Avenue to Bow Road. This area will be an ongoing restoration area and support from the community for maintenance is required." Our Backyard, a Newsletter on the Natural Environment in Saanich, Vol 11 Issue 4, 2011, pg 5

You can see signs throughout the park highlighting the areas where trees have been planted, and can see evidence of the invasive species removal crews at work.  It is amazing to see the effects that just 3 years of focussed work has had to move this area to a more naturally balanced mix of flora.  In the lower parts of the trail that connect to Mackenzie Avenue, you can see the return of horsetail, skunk cabbage and wetlands species in the understory of the cottonwoods and alder, and in the upper areas closer to the pond, the chokecherries and salmonberries are thriving.

Final note: If you take the time to stroll through the park on a warm evening, make sure you come armed with mosquito repellent!





Links:
Saanich Parks info on Bow Park
Our Backyard, A Newsletter on the Natural Environment in Saanich, Volume 11, Issue 4

All images © 2014 Janice Mansfield

Phyllis Park

Walk-to score: 22

Transit-to score: 32

Dogs permitted - on leash

Accessibility - not wheelchair accessible at all, somewhat steep, rough trails down to the shore.

Phyllis Park is one of those spots you probably wouldn't know about unless you lived in the neighbourhood. It provides some of the best uninterrupted views over the San Juan Islands to Mount Baker that you will find around Victoria, in the midst of a Garry Oak and Arbutus grove.

Keep going!!! There's more trails

Phyllis Park is one of a number of loosely connected small parks at the very south end of Arbutus Road, where the road heads up the hill to some rather expansive homes that were part of a 1980's development of the area.  If you are tromping through the park, you will find some of the park trails at the South end connect up with Mount Baker View Road and Phyllis Road in Ten Mile Point at the lower level, and there are a number of other parks on the other side of Arbutus Rd. near the top of the hill, including Viewpoint Park, Wedgewood Park, Wedgepoint Park and Benson Park,

The main park entrance, off Arbutus Road has prominent signage, with on-street parking.  You go directly up a few stairs to access the lookout deck (with the only bench in the park!).  There is some fencing to discourage the more adventurous from slipping and falling over some of the steeper sections of the rocky outcropping at the top.  And if you stopped at the top you might be fooled into thinking the lookout and moss-covered rocks and scattering of Garry Oaks and Arbutus trees was all this park had to offer.

Take a turn to the right, before you go up the stairs, however, and there is a whole trail network that takes you over the rocks, and into the forest below, and ultimately right to the rocky shoreline - the park covers more than 5 hectares in total! The trails are fairly steep in spots, and minimally tended (there were piles of dry broom in spots, indicating crews come through periodically to remove invasive species), so make sure you wear comfortable shoes, and have at least one hand free for easier going.

As you make your way down the trail, you will see many species of plants typical in the Garry Oak habitat - lots of grasses, Camassia Quamash, some Elegant White Death Camas (this one IS poisonous, don't eat it!!!), yarrow and plantain.  Further down the slope, the trail winds its way into a more forested zone, with Douglas Fir cover, and lots of Rosa Nutkana, trailing blackberries and wild honeysuckle.  The trail goes right down to the shoreline, where you can scramble down to a rocky beach area, or follow the shoreline along the rocky cliffs.  On a late spring day, there was evidence of otters, so be careful depending on the time of year - if they are nesting, they can be quite protective!

Some of the trails loop around, and straight up the cliff if you are feeling adventurous, but I recommend heading up the way you came down, as you need a sharp eye to make out where the trails pick up in spots.


Link: Saanich Parks info for Phyllis Park

All images © 2014 Janice Mansfield

Outerbridge Park

Walk-to score: 25

Transit-to score: 39

Parking, Wheelchair accessible trails

Dogs: on leash 

The first thing thay hits you when you get out of your car in the parking lot at Outerbridge Park on a late May day, is the smell of cottonwoods! That sweet smell that fills the air along with the fluff from the cottonwood seeds.

Outerbridge Park is one of Saanich's more recent park acquisitions, having been deeded to the municipality in 2005, and is a sanctuary of quiet serenity steps away from one of suburban Victoria's busier arterial roadways.  The park is approximately 3.8 hectares in size, with a main entrance off of Royal Oak Drive, and a secondary entrance off Blenkinsop Road.

The history

Joan Outerbridge began creating a bird sanctuary about 20 years ago, and we first encountered the property when my daughter Nicole was riding, and took over a "freelease" of a thoroughbred who was living in the barn on the Outerbridge Property (those of you with horse experience know I use the word "free" somewhat liberally ;)).

At that time, the area where the barn stands had some paddocks for the horses, but was well and truly fenced and gated off from the rest of the property - ostensibly to keep the deer out! The gate between the two sections of the property was only opened on those occasions when the gardeners helping Mrs. Outerbridge with the property came to fetch barrow-loads of composted horse manure.  All we knew at that time was that Mrs. Outerbridge was creating a bird sanctuary by buying up parcels of adjoining land as they came available, and was crazy about maintaining the flora to support bird habitat.  We were told leaving the gate open was a grave offense indeed!

Since those years it has been wonderful to see this little oasis turned into parkland accessible to the community at large.  The cultivated areas of the garden are being restored and enhanced through a contract with the Horticulture Centre of the Pacific, and with each year, the gardens become a little more complete.  What has been especially fantastic about this space, is that Joan Outerbridge was able to see much of this progress.  She passed away a few months ago (February 2014), leaving a legion of people whose lives she touched through this little park.

Park highlights

Within the park, there is a figure 8 pathway that is wheelchair accessible through the more formal plantings, with a water feature, a small bridge over the pond, and some more formally planted beds. Towards the eastern side of the park, the landscape becomes more naturalized, with cottonwood trees, fir and some meadow that is being replanted with Garry Oak and Camas. Nesting boxes for birds are strategically placed throughout the park, and even on a rainy day, there are plenty of birds to see and hear.

The old barn structure still stands in the same location, but has been refurbished on the inside as a space for volunteers who help maintain the gardens.  The pathways continue through to the barn, but become a little steeper and rougher towards the Blenkinsop end of the park.

Dogs are welcome (on leash, and please pick up after them!), and on most days, you are likely to encounter a few other people taking a break and soaking in a little serenity.

(map location is approximate, there is clear signage to the parking lot and entrance)
 
Links:
Saanich Parks info for Outerbridge Park
Gardens at HCP, Outerbridge Park Memorial Walk

All images © 2014 Janice Mansfield