A Hike To Gowlland Tod

We had been frequent hikers to Gowlland Tod Provincial Park because of its location and amazing scenery. Last July 13, we did a 4.5-hour hike to 2 peaks, the Jocelyn Hill and Holmes Peak. This is our cross training for the Great Lake Ultra-marathon. Our training plans are alternate between a tough training week followed by an easy training week since a week before this we did our 40 KM run, so this is the easy cross training. The good thing about hiking is you don't have to keep pushing yourself all the time, because it is a variety of flat, uphill and downhills. It maybe difficult when climbing uphill but once you reached the top its either a flat or a downhill, so you get to relax after a long climb.

Gowlland Tod Trail Map and Elavation

We arrived at the park at about 6AM, we did not know that the parking area only opens at 9. So, we decided to park at a playground a few meters further the park. It was still a bit dark in the trail when we started our hike. I keep saying "I want sunshine",  but during our runs I always hated the sunshine, I even sprinted just to get to the shaded area as soon as I can.

The Runkin Man and I were wearing matching colored outfits, I wore my neon lime/green colored free technical T-shirt from the oak bay marathon, green hat and lime/green trail runners. The Runkin Man wore a lime/green colored shirt from MEC, a neon green Nike hat, a black and green running shorts and a men's version of my trail runners. When we were nearing the Jocelyn Hill we met this couple who started their run from the other end of the trail, they were wearing matching blue outfits too! On our way back, we met another trail runner couple's who were wearing matching red outfits as well. We thought we are the only couple who looks silly in our matching outfits, it turns out it has been a trend these days. We are planning to run our Great Lake Ultra-marathon in matching outfits too, but we are not sure yet on our color scheme.

When we do our hikes, I'm faster than the Runkin Man when going uphills. But when going down hills, it takes me a long time. Even if we did several hikes already I'm still scared of slipping downhill. My new Salomon Trail Runners is very good at gripping the surface compare to my New Balance walking shoes that I had been wearing on my previous hikes.

The view from the Holmes Peak. 

The Malahat as seen from the Holmes Peak

The Holmes Peak has a lot nicer view than the Jocelyn Hill. The Jocelyn is just overlooking at Victoria. On our next hike, we are planning to hike from end to end and back. 

The Runkin