East Sooke Park

It was time to venture south and check out East Sooke park again. I had done the 10km coastal hike with a group a couple years back but had yet to go down with friends and cache along the many trails. We had planned our route to go first along the coast and nab a few caches and then loop back along the interior trail where there loads of caches to find. I had seen a picture on a hiking site that I really hoped to find while we were out on the trail. It was of a large outcropping of rock with a trail leading out to it. It reminded me so much of Scotland and looked like it would need exploring.  I hoped we could find it. 

It's funny over time how one can forget the ruggedness of a trail. I picked the trails closest to the farm as I remembered how beautiful the scenery was and "flat" the trail had seemed to be. We were having a girls day and the three of us set off with Cabin point as our goal. The trail was relatively flat as we headed out and we stopped fairly often to take in the beautiful views along the way. 

As we headed out to the point we passed this rock with a tree growing out of the top and there was a short trail down to it but I couldn't be bothered to go and explore so just carried on. It wouldn't be til later that night that I would realize that this was the place I had been looking for. The picture I had seen was taken from a different  point and therefore gave a whole different perspective on how large the rock was. Its a lot like life ...it all really just depends on your perspective. 

We managed to nab three of the four caches and knew it was time to get a move on. As the trail progressed we found ourselves doing lots of rock scrambling, a part of the trail I seem to have forgotten. 

We stopped and had lunch with a nice view looking out at the ocean 

and then carried on..

and on....

and on...

Somehow I had forgotten how steep parts of the trail were and how much it went up and back down again. We came to a trail and discussed our options...there was no way we could continue to cache and hike and still make it to Cabin point. We opted to hike and carry on. 

It was great and thankfully we were mostly in the trees as we climbed up and down through the small valleys. 










  














We didn't make it to Cabin point has I had wanted but turned back just before it. Then we cached all the way back to the parking lot arriving in perfect time. It was a great day and I will definitely have it on my list to go back and do a few more trails. It will take at least two more trips to cover all the trails and nab the rest of the caches. Something to really look forward to and hopefully it will happen within the year. East Sooke park is a beautiful beautiful place to hike!
Thanks Joan and Pat for a wonderful day!