Thetis Lake offers a huge variety of terrain and trails, as well as multiple swimming spots. The best trails at Thetis Lake take you into a back country rarely explored by locals, so relative solitude this close to downtown is virtually always assured.

The Lighthouse Trail or McKenzie Creek Trails take us to the trails of Scaife Hill and Stewart Mountain, which offer some good uphill grinds, fast, winding descents and world class views of the Sooke Hills, Greater Victoria and the Olympic Mountains. This is one of our favourite spots for early morning runs as the bluffs of Scaife Mountain offer one of the best places we have found to watch the sun rise. That you follow that with one of our favourite downhills doesn’t hurt!

Thetis Lake offers a huge variety of trail running options and durations for runners of all levels. For the thrill seeker, it is always fun to end a good Thetis Lake run with a leap off of one of its cliffs and a swim back to the beach. There is nothing quite like emerging from the water in full running gear with confused onlookers walking their dogs…