Snow Day at PKOLS (Mount Douglas Park)
Tuesday February 4, 2025. -2 degrees, blue skies and sunny with occasional gusts of wind.
PKOLS (Mount Douglas Park) is a peak within the Gowlland range of southern Vancouver. More of a hill than a mountain, PKOLS is 229m in height, with 118m in prominence. The peak has been known as PKOLS to the WSANEC first nations people since time immemorial, this name in SENĆOŦEN translates literally to ‘white head’ or ‘white rock’ in reference to one of the nations creation stories.
The temperate climate of Southern Vancouver Island offers lush green winters, with usually once annual snowfall, which never fails to shut the entire region down, due to a lack of municipal resources to deal with the snow. The current arctic cold-front brought us about 10cm of snow overnight, and PKOLS was living up to its name, with its white summit-block towering over my neighbourhood in Saanich.
The park offers a number of trails, along the Douglas Creek, down to Cordova Bay, around Pkols with trails leading up its sub-peak ‘Little Mount Douglas’ and the main peak of PKOLS itself. Today I chose to do the perimeter trails of the park.
Beginning from the gated parking-lot, I followed Norn and Irvine trails to the Whittaker trail, the track offered a stark beauty in contrast to the typical evergreen nature of the park. A number of people also were taking advantage of the snow day, with evidence of cross country ski tracks along the path I had chosen. I followed the Whittaker trail back to Norn, and opted to take Norn across the north segment of the park. This section of trail is less visited, notorious for its poor drainage and mud in winter months. Having hoped the cold snap stiffened up the mud, this was aspirational, and I quickly found myself post-holing through snow into sloppy mud-puddles hidden beneath the blanket of snow.
Despite Norn’s best efforts, my feet stayed dry with significant help from my trekking poles for footing. Merging with Whittaker, I climbed up Little Mount Douglas through deep snowdrifts, unsure of footing, while receiving blasts of cold air off of cordova bay. The summit was short and sweet, before I got it over with and began an controlled glissade down the south-face of the peak. Departing Whittaker, I got onto Mercer and Maddock, and continued the perimeter until returning to Whittaker until I returned to the parking lot.
Some things to note about PKOLS: Dog walking (on-leash) is permitted at the park, so prepare yourself for a number of encounters with dogs on and off leash. Mud; the park is frequently used and in the winter the trails deteriorate into really mucky conditions, especially on the north and south side of the park. There is the Churchill Drive route which is the road leading to the summit of PKOLS, this along with the pathway to the summit are paved and are the most accessible routes. When the trails are in good condition also expect a number of trail runners, certain local run-clubs meet at PKOLS such as the Arc’teryx Run club who follow the same perimeter route I walked. PKOLS has a variety of trails for beginners and more seasoned hikers, with hiking difficulty ratings ranging from Green, to blue, and black. PKOLS is unique in that it’s one of the more accessible parks via transit in greater Victoria, with Bus stops inside of the park that service the park hourly (dependent on condition and time). The park has a number of tables and washrooms at the lower parking lot, along with beach access to cordova bay, making for a scenic spot to take lunch or visit with friends.
