If you are looking for an outdoor adventure on Salt Spring Island, consider mystical Mount Erskine. In addition to offering a fabulous hike through a coastal Douglas-fir forest, the trails in Mount Erskine Provincial Park pass through a landscape filled with quaint faerie doors. On an early spring day, when Salt Spring Island is socked in with fog and rain, the park is a true Brigadoon experience.
Choose Your Challenge: Accessing Mount Erskine Provincial Park Trails
BC Parks recommends that hikers access the provincial park via the Capital Regional District (CRD) Trustees Trail and Mount Erskine Upper Access Park Reserve. However, hikers who want a workout with significant vertical gain should consider the access point in the Lower Mount Erskine Nature Reserve. This trailhead on Collins Road is easier to miss, but worth the effort. Look for a bit of a pullout parking area with cars parked alongside the road. If you reach Mount Erskine Road, coming from Ganges/Vesuvius, you’ve gone too far.
The initial climb from Collins Road is steep and continuous. The trail works its way through coastal Douglas-fir forest with a mix of Douglas-fir and western Hemlock. Salal is a common forest floor ground-cover and moss covers every surface. Keep an eye out for well designed and thoughtfully placed faerie doors along Trail #1 as you gain elevation—they can be hard to find. Stopping to enjoy the doors provides a good opportunity to catch your breath!
Changing Landscape: Coastal Douglas-fir to Mixed Arbutus
The landscape does have a feeling of strangeness, especially when the weather is foggy and wet. One can easily imagine fairies living in this forest of twisted arbutus, deeply furrowed Douglas-fir and moss covered rocks. The trails are well marked and there is a sign-post at each junction point. For hikers accessing the park from Collins Road, follow Trail #1 until you reach the Trail #3 junction. Trail #3 makes its way through easier terrain to a series of viewpoints looking out towards Crofton and Vancouver Island. Be careful of the cliff edges in this section of the park.
The open bluffs and view points of Trail #3 are where the coastal Douglas-fir forest gives way to a drier, southwest facing Garry oak ecosystem. This landscape is dominated by arbutus and shrubby hairy manzanita (Arctostaphylos columbiana). On a clear day, you get great views. On a foggy, rainy day, the focus shifts to native plant communities. The ecosystems here are similar to what you would find on the western view points of nearby Mount Maxwell.
Looping Back Through an Enchanted Forest
From the summit, there are a number of different trail options to return. Trail #1 provides a shorter loop than following Trail #2. It passes through Douglas-fir forest and eventually connects up with the steep trail that descends to Collins Road. Salal and dull Oregon-grape are common ground-cover in this section of the park. Rocky outcrops alongside the trail are covered in a thick carpet of moss.
In addition to the moody forest, this is also a good place to look for more fairy doors. Keep an eye open for creatively hidden doors and others that are more obvious. While the origin of the Mount Erskine doors is lost in time (maybe they’ve always been there?) some say that Salt Spring Island’s fairy door man, Roger Brunt, had a hand in their construction. Regardless, they are fun to search for and can be great motivation for hikers with groups of small children!
Following the Trail Deeper into the Forest
Douglas-fir is the main tree species in this provincial park and becomes more common the farther you get from the open view point. Trail #1 moves deeper into the center of Mount Erskine Provincial Park, leaving the open forest on the edge of the bluff and gradually making its way downhill. The trail is muddy in places in early spring and winter with rainfall.
This trail can be a peaceful walk in the off-season when wet weather reduces the number of people hiking. At the height of summer, the Vancouver Island rain shadow kicks in and the forest can be very dry. The cooler days of spring and winter are enjoyable and make the steep climb and long descent pleasant. It seems more likely that any faeries in the forest would enjoy this weather as well!
Photographing the Forest of Mount Erskine
Forest photography is challenging on bright days when sunlight creates areas of high dynamic range. High levels of contrast between bright openings in the forest and dark sections of shadow make good exposures difficult. On an overcast day, lower light levels are a problem. However, the fog creates a “soft box” effect and the muted, diffuse lighting makes balanced exposures possible. Photographers can compensate by shooting at a higher ISO and/or using a tripod. Just remember that carrying a tripod is going to be extra weight on that initial steep section of Trail #1.
Most of the photographs in this post were taken at ISO 400 with a Fujifilm X-T2 using the 16mm XF f/1.4 lens. It is a great option for low light photography and doubles as a reliable lens for close-up botanical work. The lens is a nice focal length that creates a sense of openness while also constraining the scene.
Need to Know
Mount Erskine Provincial Park on Salt Spring Island is a great hiking destination for so many reasons. You can plan your visit to search for faerie doors, enjoy the viewpoints, look for native plants and ecosystems, photograph the landscape, or simply enjoy a hike in the coastal Douglas-fir forest. Make sure to bring enough water, especially during the hotter and drier summer months. Hiking boots are a good idea, but not required. If you want to avoid the long climb up from Collins Road, think about accessing the park from the Trustees Trail which has less elevation gain. We took our time and spent close to 2.5 hours to hike the 4km West Trail loop. Elevation gain was 360m.
Getting To Mount Erskine Provincial Park
From the Vesuvius Bay ferry, head towards Ganges on the Vesuvius Bay Road. Turn right onto Lower Ganges Road. Look for a sharp right onto Booth Canal Road. Follow Booth Canal Road and continue straight onto Rainbow Road. Turn left onto Collins Road and continue to 106-370 Collins Road. The parking area and trailhead are easy to miss unless there are cars already parked there. Parking is on the right side of the road. If you reach the Mount Erskine Drive intersection you have gone too far.
From Ganges, you can follow Lower Ganges Road towards the Vesuvius ferry terminal. Turn left onto Booth Canal Road and then follow the directions above. Alternatively, you can follow Rainbow Road directly from Ganges until it connects with Collins Road.
