Hiking on the Gulf Islands has a long season – from March through November.   We traveled to Cortes Island in the summer, paddling and hiking for a week.   The island is too big to do in one week, so we contented ourselves with first doing the easy access routes.   We were more than surprised to find that Kw’as Park by itself was one of our highlights.

Kw’as Park is 70 hectares of mature forest (cedar and Douglas fir) with many trails winding over bluffs and around lakes.   They also can be linked into other trail systems.    The core trail system has 12km of trails.   Our favorites were the Summit and Old Growth Trails, but all of the trails are well-maintained and interesting.    View of both lakes are frequent and rewarding.   We were surprised by  the variety of micro-ecosystems at various points.

It was a hot day, so we contoured around to Swim Rock, a sloping shelf into the lake and enjoyed the warm waters of Hague Lake.

A linking trail adds another 9km return to Easter Bluffs.   This hike winds along creeks, through mixed forests, past meadows, then climbs through bluffs to a viewpoint looking south:

Trails can also be used to connect over to Manson Landing trails.

This is one of our favorites!