Crossing the 'hat

“The Malahat is the term commonly applied to the Malahat Drive — a 25 km portion of Highway 1 running along the west side of Saanich Inlet — and to the region surrounding it. The Malahat begins in Goldstream Provincial Park, just north of Langford, and takes a famously winding and steep route over the 352 m (1,155 ft) Malahat Summit to end just south of Mill Bay.”


This weekend Kirsten and I made our first trek over the Malahat (by pedal power that is). I’m not sure why - considering I drive the thing every day and know that countless others ride it every day - but I’ve always found the idea of riding the ‘hat a little daunting. In my mind I suppose I had it built it up as this almost insurmountable climb. Thankfully this was not the case and I came away from the ride feeling incredibly encouraged and excited.

We headed out from my parent’s place in Colwood fairly early on Saturday morning – partly in order to get the ride out of the way early enough to not eat up the entire day, and partly to get the majority of the ride done before traffic got too heavy.

Soon enough we were making our way through Goldstream Park and beginning our ascent of tunnel hill. I found I was a little nervous at first, especially when the big trucks went whizzing by, but as we got farther along into the ride I started to feel more at ease. As we crested the summit for the first time, I couldn’t help but feel a small victory.


[I also had to commemorate the moment with a photo-op... although it's not the best photo is it? haha]

After a brief stop at the summit, we then made the descent into Mill Bay and carried on our way up to Crofton before turning around and heading back toward Victoria. The shoulder along Highway 1 is really great and the ride flew by. It seemed like before I knew it we were back in Mill Bay, making a quick pit stop at the Petro Can for some Gatorade and a pee break, then we were on our way again. I knew the climb out of Mill Bay back to the summit was going to be a bit tougher than tunnel hill and I wasn’t wrong, but I found a nice gear and just went at it, slow and steady. I’m definitely not going to win any races at the speed I was climbing, but I made it to the top yet again, the “Malahat Summit” sign shining back at me.

With the final descent back into Langford behind us, we carried on back to my parent’s place. Our first Malahat crossing in the books.