Note: The Witty's Lagoon Nature Centre has been permanently closed.
This seashore park features a diverse landscape that includes woodlands, a freshwater creek, salt marshes, sandy beaches, and rocky headlands, creating habitats for a wide variety of plants and animals. With its forest trails, sandy beach, and abundant birdlife, it’s a perfect destination for the whole family.
Sitting Lady Falls
From the main parking lot, the trail slopes downhill alongside Bilston Creek, which flows toward a waterfall known as Sitting Lady Falls. In summer, it’s a gentle trickle, while in winter, it becomes a thunderous cascade. There’s a wooden viewing platform where you can rest and take photos.
Lagoon
The narrow trail, which can be uneven and muddy after rain, leads to the lagoon where fresh water meets salt water. This calm, nutrient-rich area is warm and shallow, serving as a nursery for animals that thrive in both types of water and feed on the abundant microscopic life.
Salt Marsh
Continuing along the uneven and muddy dirt path, you’ll reach the salt marsh, a tidal zone next to the lagoon. The plants here are vital for wintering waterfowl that rely on this habitat for food.
Birdwatching
Witty's Lagoon is a paradise for birdwatchers, with over 160 species documented in the park. Listen for the rattle call of the belted kingfisher and the songs of orange-crowned warblers and dark-eyed juncos. Bring your binoculars but remember to respect the habitat and the birds.
Beach
From the main park entrance, a 1.2 km moderate forest trail leads to a spacious beach, one of the few sandy beaches with significant tides on southern Vancouver Island. The trail can be uneven and narrow, becoming muddy after rain. The beach, formed by eroding bluffs, is home to sensitive sand-dwelling plants and animals adapted to the shifting sands and changing tides.
Tower Point
You can access the rocky shore at Tower Point from the beach at low tide or via the Tower Point entrance. In this intertidal zone, you'll find a variety of fascinating plants and animals that thrive in the harsh tidal environment. Look for harbor seals playing in kelp beds and sea lions migrating by in the spring.
Tower Point User-Friendly Trail
Follow the 500-meter flat trail with mixed gravel and dirt surfaces for beautiful ocean and mountain views. Be cautious, as the trail can be muddy and slippery during the rainy season. There are also side trails leading to picnic areas in the field.
Please help conserve our parks by staying on designated trails. Do not remove or disturb animals or plants, and keep your dog under control and on leash where required. Leave no trace - pick up dog dropping and carry out litter. Smoking is prohibited in all CRD regional parks and on all CRD regional trails.
Bicycles and motorized vehicles are prohibited.
Camping, open fires and alcohol are prohibited.
Dogs are not allowed to be on a designated beach or picnic area between June 1 and September 15, except to pass through on a leash, without stopping. The seasonal prohibition zone applies to the beach areas above the natural boundary of the sea, except Tower Point. Read more on our pets in parks page.
To help preserve the park:
Amenities
- Teaching shelter
- Accessible toilets at Tower Point. Pit toilets at the beach, Whitney Griffiths Point and near Sitting Lady Falls
- Picnic areas, Tower Point and the beach
- Main entrance paved parking lot has parking for 55+ vehicles, room for full-size buses,
- Tower Point gravel parking lot provides parking for 15 vehicles, plus grassed area for overflow parking (June-Sept)
- Information kiosks at the main entrance, beach and beach parking lot and Tower Point
- Bike rack at main entrance
How to Get There
Main Entrance
Follow the Trans-Canada Highway from Victoria, and take the View Royal/Colwood #10 exit. Continue on to Old Island Highway, which turns into Sooke Road, Highway 14. Turn left on Metchosin Road and drive 7 kilometres to the park entrance on the left.
Tower Point Entrance
Follow the main entrance directions to Metchosin Road. From Metchosin Road, drive 5.8 kilometres and turn left on Duke Road, drive 650 metres and turn right on Olympic View Drive, which leads to the park entrance on the left.
Public Transportation
Take BC Transit bus #50 from Victoria to the Langford Exchange. Transfer to #54 or #55 to Metchosin Road at Pears Road, near the main park entrance. Contact BC Transit for schedule information.