Friday May 21, 2021 | HIGHLANDS, BC
by Molly Pearce for Island Social Trends
Mount Work Park within the District of Highlands has recently acquired new land totaling 13.8 hectares. CRD Regional Parks has announced that it has acquired two parcels of land from Waultraut Schnarr, steward and landowner of the forested land for over four decades. The new land will be a new addition to the public Mount Work Regional Park, but plans outlining the specific use of the new land have yet to be decided by the CRD.
The new land is just a part of significant additions that have been recently made to Mount Work Park, bringing the size to 743 hecatres. The park first opened in 1970 and now offers:
- Three freshwater lakes – Killarney, Durrance and Pease – for walking and swimming, and the latter two also for canoeing and fishing (Durrance Lake is stocked with catchable Rainbow Trout; the only motorized boats permitted on Durrance Lake are those with electric motors.)
- 11km of trails through forest to the summit (449m) of Mount Work
- Mount Work – Hartland, a separate area of multi-use trails open to mountain biking
- Accessible loop trail at Munn Road entrance
The CRD has added just under 26 hectares of land to the park in the past six months, all of which is now available to the public for recreational activities and to enjoy for its natural landscapes. Most of the land consists of second growth forest that is the habitat of a diversity of wildlife.
Mount Work Park is located on the Saanich Peninsula in the Highlands municipality of southern Vancouver Island. Following the Patricia Bay highway until West Saanich Road exit, the main entrance to the park is about a 40-minute drive from Victoria. There are also entrances at Durrance Lake, Hartland, and Munn Road.
Within the park are picnic and swimming areas including Durrance, Killarney, and Pease Lakes, as well as popular hiking trails, such as the Summit Trail. Mountain biking trails can be found throughout the Hartland area of the park. The park is open from sunrise to sunset and the CRD rates its trails as moderate to challenging.
Mount Work Park and its amenities are still open during the pandemic this summer. It is available for hiking, mountain biking, and swimming, or just for spending a bit of time in the outdoors during this particularly stressful time.
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Mount Work Regional Park (CRD regional park | maps & things to do)