Cycle Touring Cowichan Lake & SW Vancouver Island

Area Rides & Campgrounds

This is really 2 areas of South Vancouver Island that I've combined into one, as they are connected by a web of routes through the grand hinterland in between Cowichan Lake & the SW Coast. 

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Cowichan Lake is a hub for countless fantastic rides. From near Duncan on the Island Highway (about halfway between Nanaimo and Victoria), it's about 30kms, gradually climbing west up several hundred metres, to reach the town of Cowichan Lake and the east end of the lake. To get there you can either ride secondary Hwy 28, or (and this is totally brilliant!) several segments of the Cowichan Valley Trail (CVT), as the Trans Canada Trail is locally known. 

 

The lake is big: 75kms+ to ride around, paved only near the east end on both the south & north shores. There are all sorts of camping options: provincial campgrounds, a town campground, several private campgrounds and at least a half dozen Rec campsites. And there are lots of great backroads heading off north, west or south. 

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Ride the SW Coast, from Sooke (west of Victoria) west along the West Coast Road as far as Port Renfrew. There's drop dead gorgeous scenery, some great trails, top camping options, and lots of backroads (and one paved route) heading north towards Cowichan Lake. 

Pacheedaht 1st Nations Campground | outside Port Renfrew | cycle touring south Vancouver Island

The wonderful campground outside Port Renfrew - Pacheedaht 1st Nations Campground. It stretches for several kms along the seaside beach, and, even in busy season, can always accommodate another walk-in tenter. Facilities are rather basic in places, but there's a vibe to the place, popular in summer.

Small Long Lake (though there is some dispute whether this is really Long Lake). There's a tiny Rec Camp here (nice enough that I changed my plans to camp a night) as one follows the Koksilah River south via Bear Creek

Long Lake Rec camp | Koksilah River south of Cowichan Lake | bikepacking south Vancouver Island

Below is a summary map, with buttons for Cowichan Lake & SW Isle Fav rides and campgrounds. Look close and you'll see that the ride buttons are blue with blue shading, and the campground buttons are green with green shading. The map ropes together a lot of content:

 

Under the map, the rides and the campgrounds are listed alphabetically, with links to the pages or summaries for each. This gives you a geographic overview of southern options you'll find within this website, and links to follow if you wish. 

 
Routes & campgrounds Area Map | Cowichan Lake & SW Island | cycle touring Vancouver Island

Links for buttons in above map - click to jump to pages with more detailed information.

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Cowichan Lake & SW Isle Area Rides (blue buttons):

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Cowichan Lake & SW Isle Area Campgrounds (green buttons):

cycle touring West Coast Road | near Port Renfrew | cycle touring south Vancouver Island

Along the SW coast, east of Port Renfrew. Some gorgeous views.

Duncan, along the Hwy up the east side of the Island, is the major centre. Although it has a formal population of only ~5,000, it's the centre for the overall Cowichan Valley, with a population of over 80,000. It's also famous for ~80 totem poles throughout the town.

Duncan, centre of Cowichan Valley | city of totem poles | cycle touring Vancouver Island

Early in the 1900s, Lake Cowichan was a logging hub (see more on the town and nearby camping via the linked page below). The area has gone through challenges as mills close and forests dwindle. Today, the village of Lake Cowichan has a population of ~3,000. Youbou (north shore) - under 1,000. Port Renfrew along the SW coast - several hundred. Logging remains the main economic driver, but tourism and recreation (including cottages & retirement homes) are playing a growing role. Along the SW coast, towns such as Sooke increasingly serve as bedroom communities for nearby Victoria.  

Town of Cowichan Lake | cycle touring south Vancouver Island | bikepacking

Pics in the collage above are from the town of Cowichan Lake: top left from the lakeside park in front of the downtown museum & Tourist Centre. Top right - the 'Western Terminus' of the Cowichan Valley Trail. Lower left shows old St. Louis de Montfort Catholic Church. Bottom right shows a town park beside the downtown library. 

Cowichan Valley Trail | unicyclist | cycle touring Vancouver Island

One of the more close-in sections of the Cowichan Valley Trail, nearing Shawnigan Lake. I thought I was doing some tough riding, then this unicyclist comes along doing it all with one wheel and no hands!

Winding along the north stretches of the new Sooke Hills Wilderness Trail. There are some fabulous views. It's not a long trail (13 kms only), but it's tough, with many steep little hills if you're carrying a load on your bike. It now connects directly to the Cowichan Valley Trail SW of Shawnigan Lake.

Sooke Hills Wilderness Trail | cycle touring Cowichan Valley Trail | cycle touring Trans Canada Trail

In the summer, the Cowichan area is a swimmers' (and tubers') paradise. From the collage below: Top left - along the Cowichan River; top right - Bear Lake Park in Mesachie; bottom left - family beach at popular Gordon Bay Provincial campground; and, bottom right - more tubing along the Cowichan River, this time with the pic taken from the bridge right in town.

 

If you come this way in the hot summer, be sure to leave yourself time for some swimming. Or rent tubes in town. 

Cowichan Valley swimming & tubing | Cowichan Lake & Cowichan River | cycle touring Vancouver Island
 

Check out these linked pages for more local info

Sooke Hills Wilderness Trail

The link here is to the Blog page, where you'll find the post on this fabulous new Trail opened in summer 2017. The new Trail connects to the south end of the Cowichan Valley Trail (which includes another new trail segment managed by the local Malahat First Nation), SW of Shawnigan Lake, and takes cyclists south around the 'Malahat' to reach near Victoria. Caution - the degree of difficulty gets tough in a few steep stretches

Town of Cowichan Lake & Nearby Camping

Turns out the rides around Cowichan Lake are very popular, so I thought I'd link in a little more local info on the town of Cowichan Lake as well as nearby camping options I like. This page is linked off all the rides that pass along Cowichan Lake

Routes & trail to South Island ferries

This page gives details on the Lochside Regional Cycling Trail (including connections to the Galloping Goose) to get cyclists from Victoria to Swartz Bay ferry terminal. There's a 2nd section on the Mill Bay to Brentwood Bay ferry connector that allows cyclists coming down Island to take a short cut over to the Saanich Peninsula 

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The clip below is from Jordan River Regional Campground along the SW Coast (a favourite campground). I've been by there a few times now, including several times in winter. There's always a little colony of surfers, often out for big waves at first light. Basic campsite, but great place to camp and meet some interesting folks. 

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This was an experiment with video on my website. Not sure yet whether I'll plan to add more, but it's good to see the platform makes it possible.

 
North shore of Cowichan Lake | west of Youbou | cycle touring Cowichan Lake

A final pic. How time flies. My niece & nephew riding with me to camp west of Youbou, along the north shore of Cowichan Lake. This was a memorable trip as we were awoken in the night by a herd of big elk. 

I'm heavily loaded as I've got more than my own gear (we also had car support). These 2 are now a lot bigger & out in the working world (yikes!).

Caution - Safety First:

This website does not encourage anyone to undertake activities in the backwoods without considering fully issues of safety, access and readiness. There are no guarantees with any information provided in this website.  Please read  the FAQs, research further as appropriate, and use your judgement at all times.