Pack your picnic basket and head out to a Saanich Peninsula park for an afternoon of hiking, beachcombing, or relaxing. Island View Beach is ideal for wading, beachcombing, and bird watching. Coles Bay Regional Park is another coastal park with beach access and walking trails. John Dean Provincial Park is a large wilderness park with hiking trails and a picnic area. One of the area’s most popular day trips begins with a ride on a passenger ferry (May to October) to Sidney Spit Marine Park, a great park with sandy beaches, forest trails, and extensive tidal flats.
In Victoria, enjoy the beauty of the city’s nature escapes, such as Mount Douglas Park, where a road leads to a panoramic viewpoint, and Swan Lake/Christmas Hill Nature Sanctuary, which has a floating boardwalk. Established in 1862, Beacon Hill Park features acres of flowers, a petting zoo, and a 100-year-old cricket pitch. Thetis Lake Park in View Royal is loved for its beach and hiking trails.
The West Shore Communities have some magnificent parks. In Langford, Goldstream Provincial Park has massive old-growth trees, a picturesque waterfall, a river that meanders to the ocean, and nature displays. This park is especially popular in the fall when thousands of salmon swim upstream to their birthplace to spawn. Families love Witty’s Lagoon Regional Park; easy trails, some that are wheelchair accessible, lead through the forest and along a stream to a lagoon. Gowlland Tod Provincial Park is a 1200-hectare park that protects the forests and meadows of Gowlland Range, the coastlines and uplands of Tod Inlet, and the waters of Finlayson Arm. Hikers can explore the park (on 25
kilometers of trails, and scuba divers can dive into the rich marine environment of Finlayson Arm and the Saanich Inlet. Mount Work Park is another haven for
hikers with a choice of trails, one of which leads to a 446-metre summit. Durrance Lake is within park boundaries and features a hiking
loop, beach, and boat launch.
The Sooke Region is a hiking paradise.
East Sooke Regional Park is a favorite and
offers more than 50 kilometers of trails.
The Sooke section of the Galloping Goose
Trail winds its way through the forests and farmlands to Leechtown, the former site of a mining town. The Juan de Fuca Marine Trail, west of the Sooke townsite, offers 47
kilometers of coastal hiking trails between China Beach and Botanical Beach. Because there are several access points, you can hike a portion of the trail as a day trip or tackle the whole route in about three or four days. If you are interested in the sights along the way, which are also easily reached by car, see Beaches section.
Port Renfrew is one of the trailheads of the world-renowned West Coast Trail, part of Pacific Rim National Park Reserve. The trail is a week-long, skill-testing trek along the coastline to Bamfield in the Pacific Rim region.
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