Uplands Park walk (NEW!)

Uplands Park in Oak Bay is a place of exceptional beauty. It consists of two parts - the south-eastern section bordering Haro Strait, which everyone just calls Cattle Point - and the main part of the park, all 26 hectares, across Beach Drive and stretching well into the Uplands community. The park is home to a rich variety of flora and fauna, and offers superb views of the sea, a truly varied landscape, and spectacular displays of flowering meadows.

At this time of the year, a small perennial plant called Camassia quamash, or just Camas for short, makes its annual appearance and covers the fields of Uplands Park in a blanket of blue-violet leaves, and on our next walk, we'll wander through the vast Camas meadows at Uplands Park, and see everything else that this wonderfully undeveloped sanctuary has to offer.

We'll meet at the North end of Scenic Drive. Scenic Drive is the 1/2-km route that takes you from Beach Drive to the Cattle Point boat launches. It's one-way. You'll enter at one end of Scenic Drive, and drive almost all the way around until you see me and my Victoria Small Dog Walk and Play Group signs and check-in table. There is plenty of parking.

Our walk starts by exiting Scenic Drive, and then heading down Beach Drive to Dorset Road. Heading up Dorset Road, we parallel the perimeter of Uplands Park, but we won't head into the park just yet. We'll stroll along Midland Road bordering the West side of the park, and then use the NW entrance to gain access to Uplands Park. I have a very specific route for us to take through the park which keeps up (mostly) on the main trails, while allowing for a few tangents to take us to the best Camas fields.

Along the way, our footing will range from hard-packed dirt trails to grassy meadows to rocky outcroppings. I don't think the rocky parts should really dissuade anyone from coming.
Fern - if you're coming, you might need a hand for half-a-dozen steps or so, or maybe you won't. It's not that hard. There are also a few very short sections (10 to 20 meters) where the trail narrows and your shoulders will brush against the brush. Again, not a big deal.

There's also a section where we'll get to use the new raised boardwalks Oak Bay has just installed in Uplands Park. While I'm all for keeping the park in its natural state, these boardwalks (and there's more to come) are greatly needed as during the wet season, many of the paths become so muddy, they're almost unwalkable. So this is a great addition.

We finish our walk by exiting Uplands Park, crossing Beach Drive, and walking along Scenic Drive to get back to our starting point.

I've attached a number of photos I've taken recently. As you can see, it's really beautiful.