On October 9, 2026, the Capital Regional District lifted the blue-green algae advisory for the main beach at Lower Thetis Lake, taking down the warning on the busiest swimming beach on the Westshore. Three weeks earlier, on September 15, the CRD's seasonal rule keeping dogs off Thetis main beach had also run out for the year.
Both summer restrictions are now gone, and they lifted just as the water around Colwood and View Royal starts filling up with other visitors. Coho head up Craigflower Creek and waterfowl settle on Esquimalt Lagoon. For anyone who lives within a short drive of Thetis or the lagoon, mid-October starts an outdoor season with its own calendar, and it stays busy for the rest of the year.
What changed at Thetis between September 15 and October 9
The status of the park has shifted in several ways at once, and some restrictions are still in place:
- The main beach is clear. The CRD's algae advisory update says water samples came back "below detection limit" for cyanotoxins.
- Prior Lake is not. Prior Lake sits inside Thetis Lake Regional Park and is still under an active advisory. So are the Brookleigh Boat Launch at Elk Lake and Beaver Lake.
- Dogs can be on the beach again. From June 1 to September 15, dogs are not allowed in the designated beach and picnic areas at Thetis main beach or the Prior Lake beach and dock area, except to pass through on a leash without stopping. Outside those dates the beach ban doesn't apply. Under the CRD's Pets in Parks rules, dogs still need to be under control or on a leash year-round, and leashed right away around horses.
The CRD explains how it decided the bloom was finished:
"The extended absence of blue-green scum combined with test results are good indicators that the bloom is over."
The same notice warns that blooms are unpredictable and that toxins can be present even when you can't see a bloom. The CRD also notes that cyanotoxins can cause lethal liver damage in dogs. With dogs now allowed on the main beach, that's the main reason to keep them out of Prior Lake while its advisory stands.
The parking catch for the next few weeks
The beach reopened just as the CRD scheduled work on the roads leading to it. A temporary closure alert, last updated October 8, says the West Beach parking lot and the Main Beach parking lot access road will close in mid-October for drainage improvements and asphalt repair and replacement. Dates will be added once they're confirmed. Until then, the CRD is directing visitors to the large Main Beach parking lot.
If you get to Thetis by bike, another closure may affect you. A CRD alert says a stretch of the Galloping Goose Regional Trail of roughly 350 metres, between the Island Highway and Watkiss Way, would close for the Highway 1 bus-on-shoulder project, with a detour via Watkiss Way. That alert expected the trail to reopen in mid-October, but its last update was August 14. Check the live Galloping Goose alert before you plan a route through there.
Five trails, by the numbers
When you're not swimming, Thetis is mostly a place to walk. The CRD's Thetis Lake page lists more than 40 km of trails. Its suggested hikes include routes around Upper and Lower Thetis Lakes and the harder climbs up Seymour and Scafe Hills, with views over the lakes and hills. The park map gives lengths for the named trails:
| Trail | Length | Character |
|---|---|---|
| Trillium Trail | 0.9 km | Shortest of these five |
| Seymour Hill Trail | 1.2 km | Hill route, one of the park's more challenging hikes |
| Craigflower Creek Trail | 1.8 km | Follows the creek the coho return to |
| Lower Thetis Lake Trail | 2.2 km | Circles the lake with the reopened main beach |
| Upper Thetis Lake Trail | 2.6 km | Longest of the named lake trails |
The Craigflower Creek Trail is where the park joins up with the rest of the area's fall story, because the creek it follows is one of the places the coho come back to each October.
The water shifts to fish and birds
The Craigflower Creek Coalition says the creek supports coho salmon and coastal cutthroat trout. The coalition runs a fish fence each fall to assess the salmon and trout coming through, and it also does restoration work and monitors flow and habitat. The Esquimalt Anglers' Association also describes counting adult coho at a Craigflower Creek counting fence in the fall and returning them to the creek. Neither group publishes public viewing arrangements at the fence, so treat the fence as a monitoring station, not a viewing platform.
Nearby Millstream Creek gets the same kind of fall attention. Peninsula Streams Society says its fishways are prepared each late summer and that returning salmon are monitored with a camera. The society's stewardship page describes the Friends of Millstream Watershed, a community group it formed in 2022 to protect and improve the watershed.
Esquimalt Lagoon on the Colwood waterfront fills up on almost the same schedule. The federal Esquimalt Lagoon Migratory Bird Sanctuary page says the lagoon's shallow tidal waters support thousands of waterfowl from October through May. Species listed include coot, mallard, pintail, teal, wigeon, mergansers and herons. The same page says where to look:
- Shallow margins and the northeast end for waterfowl
- The north side for diving ducks
Those dates line up with the Thetis rules. The lagoon's waterfowl season opens in October, a few weeks after the September 15 dog-beach date, and it runs until May, just before the June 1 restriction starts again. A walk along the lagoon in the coming months will also pass the planned route of Colwood's waterfront multi-use path. The City of Colwood has scheduled Phase 1 construction for later in 2026 between Lagoon Road and The Beachlands, with Phase 2 between Lagoon Road and Lagoon Bridge in spring 2027 and completion planned for the end of 2027.
Fall dates through December
The trails and shorelines are free to use any day. These are the dated events in Colwood and View Royal between now and the holidays:
- Saturday, October 17: Colwood's free branch drop-off at the Public Works Yard, 3300 Wishart Road, 8:30 a.m. to 4 p.m. It returns October 24, November 7, 14, 21 and 28, and December 5 and 19.
- Sunday, October 18: A habitat-restoration work party at Massey Place Protected Area in View Royal, 9:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m.
- Tuesday, October 20: Royal Roads' Fall Mushroom Walk in the campus forests, noon to 1 p.m. The event page says registration is already over capacity.
- Saturday, October 24: A second Massey Place work party, 9:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m.
- Saturday, October 31, morning: A joint Habitat Restoration and Greater Victoria Green Team work party at Massey Place, 9:45 a.m. to 1 p.m.
- Saturday, October 31, evening: Halloween at the View Royal Public Safety Building, 333 Island Highway, 6 to 9 p.m. The View Royal Firefighters Association hosts a haunted house with free hot dogs, hot chocolate and treats.
- Sunday, November 1: Colwood's third annual Pumpkin Smash at City Hall, 3300 Wishart Road, 1 to 3 p.m., with pumpkin smashing, food and hot drinks, family activities and wildlife-safety education.
October 31 is the one day you can do both of View Royal's events, a morning work party at Massey Place and the fire hall haunted house that evening. The Pumpkin Smash the next afternoon gives the jack-o'-lanterns a place to go. The wildlife-safety education at the Pumpkin Smash fits a season when the region's parks are filling up with spawning fish and wintering birds.
If you'd like to know which streets in Colwood or View Royal are near the Thetis trailheads, Craigflower Creek or the lagoon shoreline, Amanda Young knows this side of the Westshore well. Let's talk about your next move. Get a free home valuation or a personalized market consult.