Thetis Lake Regional Park – Langford

With a mountain, several hills and three lakes connected by a couple of creeks all united by several kilometers of trails, Thetis Lake Regional Park has amenities for those who enjoy exploring outdoors. Continued protection from development since the early eighteen hundreds makes about one hundred and sixty hectares of Thetis Lake Regional Park a unique area in the Victoria area. Thetis Lake Regional Park is a diverse eight hundred and thirty four hectares, although only about six hundred and thirty-five hectares remains as a second growth forest. While most of Thetis Lake parkland lies within the borders of View Royal, B.C., about sixty eight hectares of park are part of Langford. Several trails from Langford’s streets connect with the trails on the western side of Thetis Lake Park.

The park can be entered from the ends of Peacock Place, Bellamy Road, Haley Rae Place and Gourman Place. Pathways from along Phelps Road, Nicki Place and Avery Place connect to the Upper Thetis Lake Trail. The trails at Thetis Lake are popular with hikers, runners and dog walkers.

Both Peacock and Bellamy trails connect with the Swamp Bypass and Westoby Road trails that lead northward to Scafe Hill and Stewart Mountain. The western side of the park has groves of Douglas-fir and Garry oak trees, as well as big-leaf maple and arbutus trees. Peacock Trail is a single track footpath while Bellamy Trail is a wide trail as it was part of the fire access route into this area of the park.

Phelps Road Trail is a wide fire road initially. The trail gradually slopes down toward the lake. Enjoy the large tall cedar trees and seasonal creek that follows the trail. This pathway branches to connect with Upper Thetis Lake Trail, Bellamy Trail, Peacock Trail and Scafe Hill Trail. The wooden boardwalk and three staircases that lead down to the lakeside trail make short work of the steep slope in this section. A few meters along the Scafe Hill Trail, a pathway heads up to the steep hill to connect with Gourman Place, via a seven concrete stairs and long gravel switch back pathway. Slightly further along is a rough dirt pathway to the left that leads up a gravel trail to Haley Ray Place.

The connector trail that leads to Thetis Lake from near Avery Place and Nicki Place is about thirteen hundred meters long. The Avery Place Trail starts near the junction of Avery Place with Phelps Avenue. The gravel trail was through a second growth forest along the north side of the Trans Canada Highway. It is a good way to reach the parking area at the end of Thetis Lake Parkway. There are several groves of arbutus trees as well as Douglas fir and Garry oak trees along the route. A housing development was underway in May of twenty fifteen has clear cut all the trees along the connector trail from Avery Place to Nicki Place. The Nicki Place Trail is a concrete pathway that leads to the Connector Trail of Thetis Lake Park. The thirty meter long concrete pathway has black chain-link fencing along the property lines of 2297 and 2296 Nicki Place. A rough dirt about another thirty meters curves around a few large stumps and cedar trees to reach the gravel Connector Trail.

See Thetis Lake Regional Park for more information on the main trails of the park.

Geographic location N48° 27’47” W123°28’3” for main parking lot

Thetis Lake Park can be reached from the Trans Canada Highway also called Hwy1. Turn at Six-Mile Road and continue to the main pay parking area. Thetis Lake Parkway, a tapered road, passes by this parking area and continues about a hundred meters further into a turnabout with parking for visitors with limited mobility. A further seven hundred meters along the narrow road leads to a small parking area, also payment required, with washrooms and boat ramp. Locally known as the dog beach, this area is heavily used by dogs and, less frequently, by horses and as a boat launch site.   The park can also be reached from Highland Road from Watkiss Way. To reach the trailhead located at the very end of Bellamy Road, take Millstream Road exit and turn right on Treanor Avenue. Then turn left on Bellamy Road and continue up the hill to the turnabout where there is limited parking. There are several other streets in Langford, B.C., that border on the park and have access trails including Gourman Place, Peacock Place, Haley Rae Place, along Phelps Avenue, Nicki Place and Avery Court. City buses travel along Treanor Avenue and Phelps Avenue in Langford.

For a map of the hiking trails in Thetis Lake Regional Park, see the CRD Parks brochure. There are numerous books and reports written about this park as well as few maps.