Welcome to the PGOSA Hikers

We know you will enjoy meeting your fellow hikers and exploring many of the outstanding trails in our area with these hiking groups.

Presently there are three hikes each week. The Trail Hikers, going out on Thursdays, generally done on established trails on eastern mid Vancouver Island between the Comox and Cowichan Valleys at a leisurely pace.

The most challenging hikes are on Tuesdays with the Alpine Hikers. We usually summit a mountain, always with significant elevation gain (between 700-1400 m) and at a much quicker pace. We wear microspikes and snowshoes in late fall/winter. Tuesday hikes often return after 5:00 p.m.

On Fridays you can join the group Social Hikers.

    • Social Hikers General information: Our hikes are not planned more than a week in advance, so a long-range schedule is not available.
    • Those registered with us will get a notification by email on or before Wednesday indicating which hike we will be doing for the upcoming Friday. Information will include the expected time (typically 4 to 5 hrs), elevation gain (100 to 400m), and the length (12 to 15 km). We hike every Friday (weather permitting).
    • We use the app “AllTrails” and will always provide the trail name as it appears on the AllTrails app.
    • We do have fun on our walks and chit chat up a storm (gotta keep loud to keep the bears away, lol) we stop and always take in the view. 
    • Bring your lunch to eat on the trail.
    • Our start time will depend on the location of the trail head.  If it is close to Parksville we start at 9:30, but if it is further away you can expect a 10 am start time. We usually stay within an hour of Parksville.  Like all things; trails can be longer, higher elevation and take longer than expected.  We always start and finish as a group. 
    • The “we” is Wendy (usually in the lead) and Patrick (usually the sweep).


All hikes should be considered a full day’s outing. Because of expected weather conditions hikes may be moved to a different day of the week with advance notice. An email bulletin is sent out before each hike to announce its destination and particulars as to length and challenging features, specifying a meeting place and time.

Group Size Limitations
The hike leader has the right to limit the number of participants based on following:

Skill level – Taking into account distance, elevation and terrain
Safety – Minimum of four, maximum of ten hikers is usual, more hikers at the discretion of the leader.

* We ask that hikers refrain from wearing any perfumes or creams that give off ‘perfume-like’ odors as some members have allergic reactions to these smells.

For safety reasons, no dogs are allowed. At times the trails can be narrow and slippery, if dog and hiker are both trying to negotiate a difficult section an accident could happen.

For environmental reasons and because of limited parking at many trailheads, we carpool from our meeting places. All hikers are expected to share in the carpooling so that the same ones are not always driving. The carpool contribution ranges from $5 to $24 per person round trip depending on distance; the rate is posted on the weekly hike bulletin.

We require our hikers to carry an emergency information sheet in an outer pocket of their backpacks in case of an accident that may prevent a hiker from answering important questions about special medical conditions, allergies or who to contact.

Hiking with our groups requires you to be a member of PGOSA. If you have not already done so please complete a membership application.  There are three options for membership applications:

  1. Onlne Appllcation Form available here.
  2. PGOSA Membership Form
  3. The PGOSA Table - time available in the calendar.

The PGOSA membership fee covers the cost of insurance and pays for some supplies and is renewable each year by January 1.
Finally, but most importantly please see the attached copies of our PGOSA Hiking Guidelines.


Do not hesitate to contact the following activity managers should you require further information or have any questions.

Cynthia Robertson, Trail Hikers (Thursday) 250-468-9324
Lucy Goodbrand, Alpine Hikers (Tuesday) 250-468-1718
Pat and Wendy Shaw,Social Hikers (Fridays) 250-248-2606

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