Swan Lake and Christmas Hill

Again, this walk is based off of John Crouch’s “Walk Victoria” book, however, we did not park where Mr. Crouch suggested, nor did we once look at the map provided…

Therefore, this week I cannot tell you an accurate distance for the walk we undertook as we embarked on a (mis) adventure.

It started out well. We (R, Ryuu-chan, Dragon-kun, and I) parked at the Saanich Municipal Hall and headed to the trail that circles Swan Lake.

We followed the trail clockwise, and on to the bridge like path over the lake where we spotted a Cormorant.

We continue up around to the Nature House (education centre) and through a residential area towards Christmas Hill.

Near the entrance of Christmas Hill there were beautiful flowers in bloom and lots of fern.

We then headed up a number of stairs to the top of the hill and enjoyed a fantastic view.

We headed down the hill and took a “detour” finding ourselves on Quadra Street and to our delight in front of a Filipino cafe and bakery. We obviously could not miss this opportunity for coffee and cakes.

After our little break, we headed back up to Christmas Hill and came across a vernal (seasonal) pond which was formed over 12,000 years ago. Apparently, there are rare and endangered species in this area that cannot be found anywhere else on the hill… or so the faded sign says.

This is the last photo I took… for after this we found ourselves walking in circles… and up and down the hill.

R. was a sport and said it was good training for her Camino trip later this year. But I was starting to panic and thought we would need to call in search and rescue to get us off the dang hill and back to Swan Lake. (We could have stopped and asked any number of people we came across on the hill… but THAT would be cheating!)

In the end we found our way back to Swan Lake walked the remainder of the circular route and ended up back at the car. The walk was around 8 km.

If you are in Victoria/Saanich and want to do this walk, there is parking by the Municipal Hall and there is also parking near the education centre just off of Ralph Road.