Esquimalt Lagoon RatingEsquimalt Lagoon is a wonderful stretch of beach that extends two kilometres, separating the lagoon from the ocean.  The beach is made up of wonderful, powdery sand and driftwood logs.  Looking out from the beach you as you sit on a massive and ancient, driftwood tree, with weathering that makes it dry, smooth, gleaming white.  A perfect seat to take in the view.

  • Tofino Clayoquot Hiking Trail ProEasy access, idyllic beach
  • Tofino Clayoquot Hiking Trail ProOften serenely quiet
  • Tofino Clayoquot Hiking Trail ProScuba dive steps from your car!
  • Tofino Clayoquot Hiking Trail ProLong beach with scenic driftwood
  • Tofino Clayoquot Hiking Trail ProParadise on a sunny day!
  • Tofino Clayoquot Hiking Trail ProNext to Fort Rodd Hill
  • Tofino Clayoquot Hiking Trail ProBeach view is sensational
  • Tofino Clayoquot Hiking Trail ProLook across to the United States
  • Tofino Clayoquot Hiking ConBeach fires not allowed
  • Tofino Clayoquot Hiking ConNo pub or cafe nearby

Victoria Hiking Trails

  Steep, Dog Friendly TrailAvatar Grove  Steep, Dog Friendly TrailBear Hill  Easy Hiking TrailEast Sooke Park  Victoria Hiking TrailElk/Beaver Lake  Victoria Hiking TrailEsquimalt Lagoon  Easy Pay Hiking Trail VictoriaFort Rodd Hill  Easy Hiking TrailFrancis/King  Victoria Hiking TrailGalloping Goose  Easy Hiking TrailGoldstream Park  Easy Hiking TrailGowlland Tod  Easy Hiking TrailGrass Lake  Steep, Dog Friendly TrailJohn Dean Park  Steep, Dog Friendly TrailJuan de Fuca Trail  Steep, Dog Friendly TrailLone Tree Hill  Steep, Dog Friendly TrailMill Hill  Steep, Dog Friendly TrailMount Douglas  Easy Hiking TrailMount Tolmie  Easy Hiking TrailSooke Potholes  Victoria Hiking TrailSpectacle Lake  Easy Hiking TrailThetis Lake  Victoria Hiking TrailWitty's Lagoon

The view you see is a perfect stretch of sand, littered with improbably idyllic driftwood logs.  In the unexpectedly close distance you see the United States.  Snowy mountain peaks of the Olympic Range in the fuzzy distance.  Partway between these mountains in the US and the Lagoon where you sit, a jut of land stretches out similar to the distant mountains, but dark coloured, instead of fuzzy grey.  The few kilometres greys the view, whereas the three or so kilometres to the jut of land at the end of the beach does not.  It contrasts with the distant mountains in a hypnotizing way.  The Lagoon is officially called the Esquimalt Lagoon Migratory Bird Sanctuary.  But for those of us that grew up in the area, it is simply the Lagoon.  A place where you surreptitiously went to drink beers with your friends when you were 16.  Or a decade earlier, watch your dad scuba dive from this same ancient driftwood log seat.  He would walk into the ocean and disappear.  We would trace the smooth, dark surface for 15 minutes until finally a ripple in the surface down the beach.  He would back out of the water to the beach and the yellow, mesh bag full of sea creatures.  When you are 6 years old and a Dungeness Crab is pulled from the ocean and set in front of you on the sand it is something you never forget.  Like a giant, armored spider, its claws extend menacingly toward you.  It crab walks back to the ocean, all the time facing you with those giant claws.  More crabs come out of the bag, and bright purple starfish.  Occasionally dad would return with monstrous Lingcod he savagely speared with his speargun.  What a marvel of creatures live just beyond view, under the surface.

The Lagoon, you soon discover growing up here, is not the only one.  Further down the beach, about 4 kilometres away is another similarly beautiful bit of paradise, Albert Head Lagoon Regional Park.  Albert Head, the large finger of land that stretches out into the ocean has another lagoon just beyond it.  Witty's Lagoon is another hidden bit of serenity.  A hidden wilderness world that somehow managed to survive development and become a park.  A wonderful park, hidden well inside Metchosin, a rural suburb of Victoria.

Esquimalt Lagoon Map

Esquimalt Lagoon Hike Victoria

Esquimalt Lagoon Hike Victoria

Esquimalt Lagoon Directions Map

Explore Esquimalt Lagoon at HikeInVictoria.com

Hike in Victoria

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