Malahat Bypass – Alternate Route to the Trans Canada Trail for Touring Cyclists – Victoria and Cowichan Valley
Distance

DISTANCE

41km
GPS

GPS DOWNLOADS

Distance

MAP

About the Journey

This route is an ideal route to bypass the Sooke Hills Wilderness Trail which connects the Trans Canada Trail between Capital Regional District and the Cowichan Valley Regional District.

Although the Sooke Hills Wilderness Trail is open and operational, it can be a challenging route for cyclists hauling trailers or carrying panniers – particularly those travelling from north to south. In the past, many TCT users have simply used the Trans Canada Highway from Langford to Shawnigan Lake to travel over the Malahat, but this route is quite dangerous and downright unpleasant, as highway traffic whizzes by your shoulder at speeds over 100 km/h.

Instead, for these touring cyclist users, we highly recommend this alternate route to bypass the Malahat; it is our favourite because it is an equally hiking and biking-friendly route. On the southern end it connects to the Galloping Goose nearby the Switch Bridge at the northern end of Victoria. It immediately joins with forested urban trails, such as the Colquitz River Trail, Glendale Trail and the Centennial Rail Trail north to Wallace Drive. A short section of quiet rural road takes users to Brentwood Bay.

From Brentwood Bay, a ferry (approx $8 per passenger + $2 per bicycle) can take travellers to Mill Bay, located north of the Malahat. From here, it’s almost all roadway connections to the Cowichan Valley Trail, except a shortcut that bypasses a section of the Trans Canada Highway which is quite pleasant.

Shortly after passing the north shore of Shawnigan Lake, the roadway will cross the Cowichan Valley Trail where users can continue their adventure further north along the TCT. Unfortunately, this bypass does miss a great deal of operational Trans Canada Trail along the Galloping Goose and the west shore of Shawnigan Lake, but it is most likely the safest, flattest and most effective ways of bypassing the Malahat.

An alternative to this route is to follow the Lochside Trail north to Island View Road. East Saanich Road and Stelly’s Cross Road will provide the connection to the Brentwood Bay ferry. This route uses slightly less distance on roadways and is easier to navigate, but does involve climbing over the “hump”: of the Saanich Peninsula as well as a stretch of road that is less bike friendly between the trail and Brentwood Bay. A third bypass method is travelling to Salt Spring Island (via Swartz Bay) to Crofton, but this bypasses the entire Cowichan Valley.




Staging Areas:

GPS INFORMATION:

  • KML/KMZ files can be opened in Google Earth, and many smartphone apps.
  • GPX files can be opened by most GPS software apps when KMZ cannot. Note, GPX files do not contain custom colours and icons that we use on our maps; all tracks and icons will appear the same colour and styles. We recommend using KMZ instead of GPX if possible.

The files below include data for only this specific area. For all of our Trans Canada Trail data for the entire province (including features, campsites and alternate routes), download our BC.kmz master file (1.2 MB) Visit our GPS & Navigation page for instructions of how to use your smartphone as a GPS device (even when outside of data coverage) or how to import data to your Garmin unit.


GPS DOWNLOAD (KMZ FILE)
GPS DOWNLOAD (GPX FILE)
DOWNLOAD INFORMATION SHEET

Staging Areas:

Washrooms:

Route Highlights:


DOWNLOAD INFORMATION SHEET

Shopping:

The Red Barn market is located at the northern end of the rail trail, just south of Wallace Drive and is an ideal place to stock up on lunch items and drinks. A pleasant picnic area is located behind the market.

Accomodations:

Transportation: