Leechtown is a gold-rush ghost town at the northwest end of the Galloping Goose Regional Trail, about 7 km past Sooke Potholes near Kapoor Regional Park. It marks the far turnaround of the Goose, so most people who reach it are cyclists or walkers finishing the trail rather than drive-up sightseers.
There is no road in, and the real draw is the history under your wheels: this quiet patch of forest was once a town of thousands during the 1864 Leech River gold rush.
Leechtown sits at the meeting of the Leech River and the Sooke River on southern Vancouver Island, at the inland end of the Galloping Goose Regional Trail. No buildings survive from the gold-rush era, so what you reach today is a forested clearing with a memorial cairn rather than a preserved town site.
There is no vehicle access, so you reach it on foot or by bike. The trail ends at Kapoor Regional Park, where a 2014 cairn marks the gold rush, and an older cairn sits across the Sooke River, reachable only by wading over in the low water of summer.
- Distance: About 7.3 km one way from Sooke Potholes (roughly 15 km return)
- Time to allow: Half day on foot, or 1.5 to 2 hours return by bike
- Cost: Free
- Dogs: On leash at all times (active bear, cougar and wolf habitat)
- Access: Bike or walk only, no vehicle access to the site
- At the end: Accessible pit toilet and picnic area, no food or drinking water
- Terrain: Flat, hard-packed former rail trail the whole way
- Best for: Cyclists finishing the Galloping Goose and history-minded walkers
This one suits you if you like long, flat rail-trail rides with a bit of history at the turnaround. It is less ideal if you are expecting a restored ghost town with buildings to walk through, because almost nothing above ground remains.
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The Leech River Gold Rush
The Leech River gold rush began in 1864, when Lieutenant Peter Leech of the Vancouver Island Exploring Expedition found gold where the Sooke River meets a western tributary now named the Leech. The find set off what became British Columbia’s third gold rush, and the expedition that made it was guided by a T’Sou-ke packer, Louis Lazzar.
Word reached Victoria within weeks and goldseekers poured in. At its peak Leechtown drew about 3,000 people, briefly a larger population than Victoria at the time, with general stores, hotels, and saloons strung along the river.
The boom did not last. More than $100,000 in gold was recovered, but no large strikes were made, the rush ran only about three years, and the town was soon abandoned. Logging kept a small community in the area into the 1950s.
Leechtown’s bigger modern story is water. Sooke Lake, just to the north, is now the main drinking-water reservoir for Greater Victoria, and from 1915 to 1970 the Sooke Flowline began near here and ran 44 km south to carry that water toward the city. The Kapoor Tunnel took over the job in 1970, and the same supply is why the land around the old townsite is now protected.
What’s Left of Leechtown Today
No standing structures remain at Leechtown, so the honest answer is that there is not much to see on the ground. What you will find is a memorial cairn and old mining and logging equipment scattered through the trees.
The easiest marker to find is the 2014 Leechtown 150 Years plaque, set on a granite boulder at Kapoor Regional Park near the end of the trail. The Vancouver Island Placer Miners Association placed it to mark the 150th anniversary of the gold rush. Earlier cairns had a rougher history, with vandals wrecking the original 1928 cairn and a 1980s replacement faring no better.
An older cairn still stands on the near side of the red gate, but reaching it means fording the Sooke River. That is really only practical in the summer months, when the water drops low enough to wade across.
The trail itself ends at a fence marking the Greater Victoria Water Supply Area, which is closed to the public. The old mining and logging equipment people come to find is mostly tucked along the side trails near the end rather than gathered in one tidy spot.
The land here holds historic and ongoing significance for local First Nations, including the T’Sou-ke Nation, who continue to access the area for traditional use. The park itself is named for the Kapoor family, who ran one of British Columbia’s first sawmills nearby from 1929 and donated the land to the Capital Regional District in 2000, with part of their old logging rail line now forming the final stretch of the Galloping Goose.
How to Get to Leechtown
You reach Leechtown on foot or by bike, since there is no vehicle access to the site. The usual approach is from Sooke Potholes Regional Park, where you can park at parking lot 2 or 3 and then follow the Galloping Goose Regional Trail north for about 7.3 km one way.
The trail is hard-packed and very gently graded the whole way, which makes it an easy ride and a long but undemanding walk. The climb toward Leechtown is so gradual you barely notice it on the way up, but you feel it as a steady, easy downhill on the way back, so the return tends to be noticeably quicker.
By bike, the return from Sooke Potholes takes most people 1.5 to 2 hours plus stops. On foot, plan for a half day return and bring water, since the Kapoor end has an accessible pit toilet and a picnic spot but no food or drinking water. Parking Lot 3 at Sooke Potholes is the handiest place to leave a vehicle and start riding.
From Sooke, the drive up Sooke River Road to the upper Sooke Potholes parking area takes about 20 minutes. Cyclists riding the full Galloping Goose from Victoria reach Leechtown as the inland terminus, roughly 55 km from the city end.
This is active wildlife country. The forest around Kapoor Regional Park is foraging ground for black bears, cougars, and wolves, so keep dogs leashed, make noise on blind corners, and stay alert, especially at quiet times of day.
What to See Along the Way
The ride or walk to Leechtown passes several stops worth slowing down for, which is part of why the out-and-back beats the destination on its own.
Between the Potholes and Leechtown the trail hugs the Sooke River, with quiet pull-offs to watch the water and the occasional calm swimming hole in summer. On one ride we also came across an old homestead site just off the trail, where a stone fireplace still stands in the trees.
The Sooke Potholes themselves are worth a stop on the way back for a swim in warm weather. Further south along the same corridor, Roche Cove Regional Park adds old-growth pockets and quiet side trails.
If you want the human story behind the gold rush, the Sooke Region Museum back in town fills in the history the cairn only hints at.
This is a remote stretch of the Sooke Hills, and both black bears and cougars use this corridor. Our Vancouver Island wildlife safety guide has the specifics.
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