Mount Finlayson

February 5, 2024

419m

Victoria, BC

Mt. Finlayson is one of the popular hikes in the Greater Victoria area on the very southern tip of Vancouver Island. There are multiple trails to the summit and the locals often use this peak as a daily exercise. The summit offers bluffs with excellent views to the south. I had noticed this peak years ago while exploring the maps but it’s hard to justify taking the expensive ferries to the island just to do peaklets like this. My solution was then to tag it on the return day of a bigger mission. I normally wouldn’t need to be back home until 3 pm for work and I could take the 11 am ferry departing Schwartz Bay with plenty of contingency. Kate and I joined Raphael in the previous day for two objectives on the northern island and I proposed that we should at least tag Mt. Finlayson before heading home. I then drove us 4 hours southwards to the SW side of Mt. Finlayson. The actual trail-head had at least 10 “no parking” signs so we had to drive back to the main road where there’s a small lot. There was unfortunately one vehicle already parked and one dude came out smoking weed. I did not feel safe to be around that homeless guy, so changed the plan for the northern approach. That trail-head was fortunately neat and quiet. It was midnight where we finally parked and settled for the night.

Mt. Finlayson via the north trail. GPX DL

There wasn’t a lot worth noting about the hike itself as it’s on a well-maintained trail. Sometimes the trail was on an old and deactivated logging road and wherever that’s the case, the trail bed had lots of loose rocks. The entire hike was done in some thick woods but the summit offered nice views towards south. The weather was unfortunately mostly cloudy so we quickly visited a few bluffs, took some photos and got ourselves ready for the return.

Sometimes the trail was rather an old road

Skirt Mountain to the south of us and the city of Langford

Kate exploring the summit area checking out a few high points

Me on one of the few high points that we visited

The descent was uneventful but this hike was a bit longer than I thought. Our round trip time was over 1 hour and we were moving fairly quickly throughout. I still wanted another objective to be squeezed in and my original plan was Mt. Work as it boasts over 300 m prominence, but we were running short on time. The alternative option was the P100m Lone Tree Hill. I estimated that the hike would take no more than half an hour round trip and that should give us plenty of time to catch the 11 AM ferry ride.