Otter Point (Greater Victoria)
Encyclopedia
Otter Point is a rural neighbourhood of Sooke, British Columbia
. It references the immediate area around Otter Point Road, a 10 km crescent-shaped thoroughfare beginning and terminating on West Coast Road. The neighbourhood itself is generally considered to begin past the extensive residential subdivisions of Broom Hill
, past Helgesen Road.
The character of the neighbourhood is predominantly rural, with many small hobby farm
s and pockets of forest. The housing ranges from small, modest cottage
-type structures and mobile home
s to more extensive, upscale residences. Most of the lots are large, consisting of 1 acres (4,046.9 m²) or more.
No commercial facilities exist in the neighbourhood; however, there is some light industry, typically operated from area residences. There are no public facilities, with the exception of a volunteer fire department
building on the corner of Otter Point and Kemp Lake Roads.
, gabbro
and sandstone
. Much of it is forested by arbutus
(at its western limit), bigleaf maple
, alder
, and conifers such as shore pine
, western red cedar, western hemlock
and Douglas-fir
. There are many ponds, as well as two substantial lakes — Kemp Lake and Young Lake (the latter being the site of a Boy Scout
camp). There are numerous unofficial trails that locals use for walking or riding horses. To the north and east of the neighbourhood is working forest land, much of it licensed for harvesting to Western Forest Products
http://www.westernforest.com/. The areas around the logging roads there are popular with outdoor recreationalists.
Sooke, British Columbia
Sooke is a district municipality situated on the southern tip of Vancouver Island, Canada. About a 45 minute drive from the city of Victoria , Sooke is considered the westernmost of the Greater Victoria region's "Western Communities." It is situated to the north and west of the Sooke...
. It references the immediate area around Otter Point Road, a 10 km crescent-shaped thoroughfare beginning and terminating on West Coast Road. The neighbourhood itself is generally considered to begin past the extensive residential subdivisions of Broom Hill
Broom Hill (Greater Victoria)
Broom Hill is a hill and eponymous rural neighbourhood in Sooke, British Columbia. Its residential subdivisions surround Broom Hill proper, which is composed of gabbro which rises to an elevation of 283 metres . Above the subdivisions, most of the terrain has a forest cover dominated by Douglas-fir....
, past Helgesen Road.
The character of the neighbourhood is predominantly rural, with many small hobby farm
Hobby farm
A hobby farm is a smallholding or small farm that is maintained without expectation of being a primary source of income. Some are merely to provide some recreational land, and perhaps a few horses for the family's children...
s and pockets of forest. The housing ranges from small, modest cottage
Cottage
__toc__In modern usage, a cottage is usually a modest, often cozy dwelling, typically in a rural or semi-rural location. However there are cottage-style dwellings in cities, and in places such as Canada the term exists with no connotations of size at all...
-type structures and mobile home
Mobile home
Mobile homes or static caravans are prefabricated homes built in factories, rather than on site, and then taken to the place where they will be occupied...
s to more extensive, upscale residences. Most of the lots are large, consisting of 1 acres (4,046.9 m²) or more.
No commercial facilities exist in the neighbourhood; however, there is some light industry, typically operated from area residences. There are no public facilities, with the exception of a volunteer fire department
Volunteer fire department
See also the Firefighter article and its respective sections regarding VFDs in other countries.A volunteer fire department is a fire department composed of volunteers who perform fire suppression and other related emergency services for a local jurisdiction.The first organized force of...
building on the corner of Otter Point and Kemp Lake Roads.
Geography
The landscape is rocky with basaltBasalt
Basalt is a common extrusive volcanic rock. It is usually grey to black and fine-grained due to rapid cooling of lava at the surface of a planet. It may be porphyritic containing larger crystals in a fine matrix, or vesicular, or frothy scoria. Unweathered basalt is black or grey...
, gabbro
Gabbro
Gabbro refers to a large group of dark, coarse-grained, intrusive mafic igneous rocks chemically equivalent to basalt. The rocks are plutonic, formed when molten magma is trapped beneath the Earth's surface and cools into a crystalline mass....
and sandstone
Sandstone
Sandstone is a sedimentary rock composed mainly of sand-sized minerals or rock grains.Most sandstone is composed of quartz and/or feldspar because these are the most common minerals in the Earth's crust. Like sand, sandstone may be any colour, but the most common colours are tan, brown, yellow,...
. Much of it is forested by arbutus
Arbutus
Arbutus is a genus of at least 14 species of flowering plants in the family Ericaceae, native to warm temperate regions of the Mediterranean, western Europe, and North America.-Description:...
(at its western limit), bigleaf maple
Bigleaf Maple
Acer macrophyllum is a large deciduous tree in the genus Acer.It can grow to be up to 35 m tall, but more commonly grows 15 m to 20 m tall. It is native to western North America, mostly near the Pacific coast, from southernmost Alaska to southern California...
, alder
Alder
Alder is the common name of a genus of flowering plants belonging to the birch family . The genus comprises about 30 species of monoecious trees and shrubs, few reaching large size, distributed throughout the North Temperate Zone and in the Americas along the Andes southwards to...
, and conifers such as shore pine
Lodgepole Pine
Lodgepole Pine, Pinus contorta, also known as Shore Pine, is a common tree in western North America. Like all pines, it is evergreen.-Subspecies:...
, western red cedar, western hemlock
Western Hemlock
Tsuga heterophylla. the Western Hemlock, is a species of hemlock native to the west coast of North America, with its northwestern limit on the Kenai Peninsula, Alaska, and its southeastern limit in northern Sonoma County, California.-Habitat:...
and Douglas-fir
Douglas-fir
Douglas-fir is one of the English common names for evergreen coniferous trees of the genus Pseudotsuga in the family Pinaceae. Other common names include Douglas tree, and Oregon pine. There are five species, two in western North America, one in Mexico, and two in eastern Asia...
. There are many ponds, as well as two substantial lakes — Kemp Lake and Young Lake (the latter being the site of a Boy Scout
Scouts Canada
Scouts Canada is a Canadian Scouting association that, in affiliation with the French-language Association des Scouts du Canada, is a member of the World Organization of the Scout Movement...
camp). There are numerous unofficial trails that locals use for walking or riding horses. To the north and east of the neighbourhood is working forest land, much of it licensed for harvesting to Western Forest Products
Western Forest Products
Western Forest Products Inc. is a Canadian lumber company based in Vancouver in British Columbia, Canada.-History:Doman Singh bought a sawmill near Duncan in 1905...
http://www.westernforest.com/. The areas around the logging roads there are popular with outdoor recreationalists.
External links
- Hybrid image of the Otter Point Road area from Google Images - The yellow, crescent-shaped road to the north of Hwy. 14 is Otter Point Rd. Kemp Lake can be seen to the south of Otter Point Road, Young Lake and McKenzie Lake to the northeast.