East Sooke Park

Had a lovely day hiking in East Sooke Park. Left the house around 9am for an hour & half drive to Aylard Farm where we parked the car to begin our exploration of the East Sooke coast. It rained quite heavily on our drive there but by the time we had our packs on our backs the sun had come out to ensure we had a wonderful day out walking. My sprained ankle experienced a few twinges but with the aid of a hiking pole I made it along quite well.

  

We did the Alyard Farm to Beechey Head loop (5.8km) which took us along forest trails and across rocky outcrops overlooking Juan de Fuca Straits. As we continued along we came across the sign pointing the way to the Coast Salish petroglyphs carved on some rocks high above the sea - they're not too clear now after decades of wear by wind, rain & salt but interesting to view. One definitely looked like a seal while the other looked like the artist was beginning an image of a dolphin but didn't finish it before moving on.

Further along the coast Bruce saw a whale blow so we stood for a while watching it, through binoculars, as it mosseyed along just off Race Rocks, and near our lunch spot we watched California sea lions duck & dive amongst the bull kelp searching for food while above us a huge number of seagulls swooped & glided round the headland.

Caroline looking for the whale's blow

Caroline, Bruce & Janet

 
I loved the trees along the way particularly the peeling red trunks of the Arbutus - there were some extraordinary shapes of these trees that my Tablet camera just couldn't do justice to. The other tree that caught our attention were the Quercus garryana - commonly called Garry Oaks - with their gnarly branches. Underneath them we often saw lichen & moss on the rocky outcrops, which made lovely colour combinations.

 

Our lunch spot was an outcrop just before Beechy Head where we enjoyed our sandwiches, slices & thermos tea before continuing on to Beechy Head. Beechy Head is Turning Point 10 of the 49th Parallel (A not so straight story) divide between the USA & Canada.


From there we made our way back to the car. On our drive home via the Royal Roads University waterfront, we stopped at a cafe in Sidney for warming hot chocolates as the days grow quite chilly once 4pm ticks by.