The CRD is zipped up pretty tight for offroading unfortunately. Anything in the Sooke Lake water shed is absolutely out of the question.
The nearest publicly accessible trails west of Langford I know of are in Jordan River and the closest decent place I can think of northward that you can always get in to is Mt Prevost/Mt Sicker just past Duncan.
Once you are further west than Jordon River or North of Mill Bay/Shawnigan Lake things start to open up a bit more but since the vast majority of our wilderness lands on Vancouver Island are "privately owned" by Timber West and Island Timberlands, they like to put up gates on all the access roads and trench traps on the trails. They rarely allow any public access unless you buy a firewood license or are a member of an organized outdoor club on a scheduled excursion that was cleared months in advance and only after providing proof of liability insurance and signing waivers.
Sometimes they have to keep areas open to the public though because there are public parks or land reserves within them or if those lands are still on the crown TFL's. The one way a member of the public can have lawful right of way in private timber lands is by way of an old law granting miners right of way to prospect and access their claims. If you want a legal way in to privately owned lands then get yourself placer miner certificate and buy a junk claim where you want to go for the price of the registration fee and you get a couple years of legal right of way to access to it provided you meet your legal obligations to inform the land owner prior to going out. Not worth the hassle IMO but at least you can avoid trespassing charges simply for being in the wilderness.
If you're willing to go further up island there's lots of places to go, just meet up with the right folks who know the area and the best in and out points. Also check out the routes and destinations section of the forum, There are a few places posted there, but you will find the best places by going out on trail runs with people and most of the time it's organized privately between members.
Welcome to the community! I'm new here as well and there's about 4-5 of us that are still running stock rigs. As out4arip said, most of the South Island is gated. However if your willing to take a trip to Campbell River Friday night there's some nice trails and sights I found up there a couple weeks ago camping.
I only say to drive up Friday because it will give you all of Saturday to explore and most of Sunday.
Hopefully you make some friends here, at some point we need to organise another meet...
thanks! for the reply! that could be a plan......and my rig is not that stock tho ! compare to some everyday offroader rigs only....rock crawler,etc....that are illegal on the streets, yes its a bit stock compare to those lol, but i have Icon adjustable 2" to 4", reservoir add a leaf suspension, total chaos arm controls,33" open country toyo tires, TRD supercharged 7 psi boost,short throw shifter,titanium coated crankshaft,cold air intake, racing chip, winch, bush bar, light bars, tire rack ,bed rack,I have around 380hp and about 420 ft/lbs of torque! rear locker anytime even on 2 wheel drive! abs kill switch,etc.... my truck is 2015 TRD pro from the US and the only difference is the speedometer that was change for km/h other then mp/h and still pretty new, only 25000 km on it lol, I just don't want to bushwack my way in trails and tree's lol ,and scatch the truck lol just want to have good time offroading without destroying my truck lol! let me know when you guys want to explore I'm in anytime! because last time I did a long time ago we end up on the front page of a news paper because we got stuck in goldstream river lol ,had to be pull out the Tacoma of my buddy with a helicopter lol... very expensive bill and trip lol .....a bit different here offroading on the island compare to were I'm from N-B ,less private land and people let you play in gravel pits and don't mind you go on there land more laidback too,you pretty much can go everywhere there trails or roads and no gates all over the place lol, like I said let me know if you guys do a trip and I'm in! thanks again for the reply!
Langford is getting pretty built up kind of like 4x4 in Victoria..Lots of places to go up the Island Mt Sicker is just one of many many places around Cowichan Valley ..Look here easy one won't scratch your truck https://www.vioffroad.com/forum/general-chatter/mount-bolduc-ventura-cra... on route you will find enough roads to keep you busy for some time ............
The plane crash is a pretty cool place. I was up there this winter, but didn't actually get to see the crash due to snow cover. Road is still in very good shape up to it, and the snowpack should have receded far enough by now.
The CRD is zipped up pretty tight for offroading unfortunately. Anything in the Sooke Lake water shed is absolutely out of the question.
The nearest publicly accessible trails west of Langford I know of are in Jordan River and the closest decent place I can think of northward that you can always get in to is Mt Prevost/Mt Sicker just past Duncan.
Once you are further west than Jordon River or North of Mill Bay/Shawnigan Lake things start to open up a bit more but since the vast majority of our wilderness lands on Vancouver Island are "privately owned" by Timber West and Island Timberlands, they like to put up gates on all the access roads and trench traps on the trails. They rarely allow any public access unless you buy a firewood license or are a member of an organized outdoor club on a scheduled excursion that was cleared months in advance and only after providing proof of liability insurance and signing waivers.
Sometimes they have to keep areas open to the public though because there are public parks or land reserves within them or if those lands are still on the crown TFL's. The one way a member of the public can have lawful right of way in private timber lands is by way of an old law granting miners right of way to prospect and access their claims. If you want a legal way in to privately owned lands then get yourself placer miner certificate and buy a junk claim where you want to go for the price of the registration fee and you get a couple years of legal right of way to access to it provided you meet your legal obligations to inform the land owner prior to going out. Not worth the hassle IMO but at least you can avoid trespassing charges simply for being in the wilderness.
If you're willing to go further up island there's lots of places to go, just meet up with the right folks who know the area and the best in and out points. Also check out the routes and destinations section of the forum, There are a few places posted there, but you will find the best places by going out on trail runs with people and most of the time it's organized privately between members.
Welcome to the community! I'm new here as well and there's about 4-5 of us that are still running stock rigs. As out4arip said, most of the South Island is gated. However if your willing to take a trip to Campbell River Friday night there's some nice trails and sights I found up there a couple weeks ago camping.
I only say to drive up Friday because it will give you all of Saturday to explore and most of Sunday.
Hopefully you make some friends here, at some point we need to organise another meet...
thanks! for the reply! that could be a plan......and my rig is not that stock tho ! compare to some everyday offroader rigs only....rock crawler,etc....that are illegal on the streets, yes its a bit stock compare to those lol, but i have Icon adjustable 2" to 4", reservoir add a leaf suspension, total chaos arm controls,33" open country toyo tires, TRD supercharged 7 psi boost,short throw shifter,titanium coated crankshaft,cold air intake, racing chip, winch, bush bar, light bars, tire rack ,bed rack,I have around 380hp and about 420 ft/lbs of torque! rear locker anytime even on 2 wheel drive! abs kill switch,etc.... my truck is 2015 TRD pro from the US and the only difference is the speedometer that was change for km/h other then mp/h and still pretty new, only 25000 km on it lol, I just don't want to bushwack my way in trails and tree's lol ,and scatch the truck lol just want to have good time offroading without destroying my truck lol! let me know when you guys want to explore I'm in anytime! because last time I did a long time ago we end up on the front page of a news paper because we got stuck in goldstream river lol ,had to be pull out the Tacoma of my buddy with a helicopter lol... very expensive bill and trip lol .....a bit different here offroading on the island compare to were I'm from N-B ,less private land and people let you play in gravel pits and don't mind you go on there land more laidback too,you pretty much can go everywhere there trails or roads and no gates all over the place lol, like I said let me know if you guys do a trip and I'm in! thanks again for the reply!
Pat!
Langford is getting pretty built up kind of like 4x4 in Victoria..Lots of places to go up the Island Mt Sicker is just one of many many places around Cowichan Valley ..Look here easy one won't scratch your truck https://www.vioffroad.com/forum/general-chatter/mount-bolduc-ventura-cra... on route you will find enough roads to keep you busy for some time ............
The plane crash is a pretty cool place. I was up there this winter, but didn't actually get to see the crash due to snow cover. Road is still in very good shape up to it, and the snowpack should have receded far enough by now.
if ya like a small hike easy to get to there this one also ...........https://www.pacificwrecks.com/aircraft/b-24/KH108.html and there is more never seen a locked gate yet well maybe fire season....
I would be shocked if you could not make it now
I usually head out to hill 60 off highway 18. Then take it from there.