Gowlland Tod Provincial Park, Vancouver Island, BC Canada

Park Accessibility	Easy
Trail Length	2km +/-
Time To hike	0.5-1.5 hours
Safety	Safe
Scenery	4/10
Camping	Not Legally
Swimming	Safe but dirty
Fires	Not alowed
Cycling	Yes
Climbing	No
Caving	No
Overall Rating	4/10

How to get there

Begin by driving to a place called Brentwood Bay. There is a ferry here from Mill Bay, and it is about 15 mins from Sydney and 15-20 mins from Victoria. When I lived there, bus #75 (Central saanich) went almost right to the park entrance (and also went to Butchart Gardens).

When in doubt, just ask how to get to Butchart Gardens, the park is literally RIGHT next door. Everyone knows the gardens, and busses go right there. If your taking the bus you can ask them to let you off at the stop right before butchart's "at the top of the hill". If you get out here, walk along the flat road (not up or down the hill: Down= Butcharts, up = Butterfly gardens) towards the trees, away from the houses. The trail entrance is maybe 100-200 meters past the road down to Butcharts. If you have houses on both sides of you, turn around and head for the treed area.

The Butcharts entrance (shorter) is located on the main road down to butcharts. Instead of turning right (you are already going downhill) go straight/left (it's a 2 way road but be careful!). You will see a house on the left at the end and a yellow gate. Thats the entrance, stay to the right at the beginning of the trail to go down to the water, left to go up to the other entrance.

The Trails

The trails in this park are fairly well used in the main area. From the main entrance (little longer walk) there is a main trail that follows a bit of a valley with a small river below. There are a few smaller trails going down there, and are worth checking out. In high school there were always various rumours of various creepy things going on there at nightv(ie. stanic rituals), but being there many times myself at night looking for frogs and other critters, the only people there are just getting high and or drunk...common in suburban parks it seems.

About 2/3 the way down, the park entrance from Butchart's Gardens meets up with the main one and winds down to a main area aa few hundred meters down. There is a nice big maple tree there (if you find the right spot there are places in it to sleep) and a few remnants of the old Chinese settlement where the workers from Bamberton lived. There is also a small inlet there where boats are often hanging out. Many boats, unfortunately, dump their dumps in the water. Although the water is safe as far as currents/tides and animals go, back stroking onto a turd is not cool.

Following the trail to the mouth of the inlet (if your looking at the ocean, thats on your right side) there are some picnic tables and a few more small trails up the hill behind them. You soon run into the fence that borders Butchart's Gardens (a place used to sneak into there when in school, shhh.). If you go towards the end of the inlet, trails will take you right down to the end where the river meets the ocean. You can cross the river and go up the small bank and find some more trails winding there small way through there (thats where we used to camp as kids sometimes, but your not suppose to). If your feeling a little adventurous, you can try to make your way through to goldstream, but between peoples houses, roads and steep mountain sides its not easy to do it. Easiest to follow the coast, but there is very little point.

Safety Concerns

Bears & Cougars are around. Although with continuous human expansion, they are less common (they are usually killed or relocated when seen, which is a common sad reality in British Columbia)

The park is generally well used during the day, has a very busy gardens next door and there is nothing really extra dangerous about anything. Safe for the entire family. In this regard it is an excellent park for getting youngsters interested in nature as its short, easy and clean. And not a huge busy playground where one can barely hear their partner.

The Beache

Itsarocky/concrete beach with boats and old pilings in the water. Not scenic and not good for swimming (although safe). Prettymuch its there to look at, boat in or throwsticks for dogs. I will say its nice & easy to canoe/kayak there!

Places of Interest Near Gowlland Tod Park

Butcharts Gardens

Butterfly Gardens