Blinkhorn Nature Park

Blinkhorn Nature Park in Metchosin features a peaceful lakeside trail, set on land rich with pioneer and gold rush history

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Location

About

Blinkhorn Lake was originally going to be a water reservoir for the area
The Capital Regional District decided to get its water from Sooke so the land was designated parkland in 1998
A 1.1 km trail runs around Blinkhorn Lake
The lake (and adjacent Mount Blinkhorn) was named after Thomas Blinkhorn, who arrived from England in 1851
He partnered with James Cooper and managed Bilston farm, which is now where Metchosin Golf Course and Witty’s Lagoon are located
Blinkhorn became the colony’s first chief magistrate and justice of the peace for the Metchosin district in 1853
The park is located on Kangaroo Road which is part of Kangaroo Trail between Metchosin and Sooke
Newcomers would stake claims for settlement on this trail with the hopes of gold rush riches
When sites would become abandoned, others would ‘jump’ in and take over
Land registry officials exclaimed, 'You fellows are a bunch of kangaroos’, which explains the name, Kangaroo Road

Lands

Metchosin is on the ancestral territory of the Sc'ianew (Beecher Bay) First Nation. It also shares this territory with the neighbouring communities of the Ts'ouke (Sooke) and the Lekwungen peoples.

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