Devonian Regional Park is a 16-hectare coastal park in Metchosin, about 35 minutes southwest of Victoria, where a short forest trail leads down to Taylor Beach on Parry Bay.
The main Beach Trail runs 910 metres through the woods, past Sherwood Creek and Sherwood Pond, before opening onto a long cobble shoreline that looks across the water to Washington’s Olympic Mountains.
It works best as a two-part outing: a quiet walk under the trees, then a stretch of open beach to explore or just sit and take in the salt air.
Devonian Regional Park is a Capital Regional District park in Metchosin on southern Vancouver Island. A handful of easy woodland trails, the main one being the 910-metre Beach Trail, all lead to Taylor Beach, a roughly 1.25-kilometre cobble-and-sand beach facing the Juan de Fuca Strait.
Two parking lots about a kilometre apart both reach the same beach, and dogs are welcome year-round as long as they stay under control.
- Trail: Beach Trail 910 m each way, plus shorter connecting trails that all reach the beach
- Time: 1 to 2 hours for the walk and some beach time
- Cost: Free
- Dogs: Welcome year-round, under control, with no seasonal beach ban
- Parking: Two free access points about 1 km apart by road: the Devonian Regional Park main parking lot off William Head Road, and the Taylor Beach access point at the end of Taylor Road
- Accessibility: Accessible toilets and picnic areas at the main lot; the beach itself is loose cobble and harder underfoot
- Best for: Forest-and-beach walks, dog walkers, birdwatching, and quiet picnics
It is a great fit for families, dog walkers, and anyone after a calm forest-to-beach stroll. It is less ideal if you are after sandy swimming or an even surface underfoot, since the beach is loose rock that takes some care to walk on.
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Two ways in: the forest trail or straight to the beach
Devonian Regional Park has two access points, and which one you choose changes the visit. The Devonian Regional Park main parking lot, off William Head Road, is where the Beach Trail starts. From here you walk down through the woods to reach Taylor Beach, which is the classic two-part outing: forest first, then the open coast.
The Taylor Beach access point sits at the end of Taylor Road, about a kilometre away by road, and puts you almost straight onto the sand. Both reach the same 1.25-kilometre beach, so it comes down to whether you want the woodland walk on the way in or just a quick stroll to the water.
There is more than one trail through the park, and they all end up at the beach, which makes it easy to loop rather than backtrack. The main Beach Trail is the most direct route, and the connecting paths let you take a slightly different way back.
On the Beach Trail to the coast
The Beach Trail winds through woodland and follows Sherwood Creek, which runs clear through the trees and is home to native fish like threespine stickleback and cutthroat trout. Near the shore the trail passes Sherwood Pond, where red-winged blackbirds call back and forth across the water.
The walking is mostly gentle, with a few uneven, narrow spots. which is part of why it suits families and dog walkers.
I have done it in two very different seasons: once in the winter months when the trail was thick with moss, and the creek was running, and again in early summer on a clear, blue-sky day. Both were good, in different ways.
Taylor Beach: what to expect
Taylor Beach is a long cobble shoreline rather than a soft sand beach. The rounded stones were left by ancient glaciers and worn smooth over thousands of years by wind and waves, and they make up most of the beach you walk on.
That loose rock is worth knowing about before you go. Walking the length of the beach to explore takes some care, since the cobble shifts underfoot. The easy reward is to find a piece of driftwood, sit down, and take in the salt air and the sound of the waves. It is another amazing spot on this stretch of coast to simply slow down for a while.
The beach faces Parry Bay and looks south and southeast across the Juan de Fuca Strait to the Olympic Mountains. That makes it a strong spot for daytime and morning light and big mountain views, rather than a sunset-over-the-water beach, since the sun drops behind the land to the northwest.
At lower tides more of the beach opens up for exploring along the shore. As with any open-coast beach on the strait, the water stays cold year-round and conditions can change, so keep an eye on younger kids near the waterline.
Dogs and park rules
Dogs are welcome at Devonian Regional Park year-round and can be off-leash as long as they are under control, which the park signs define as returning when called, staying in clear sight, and not disturbing people, wildlife, or other dogs. You are asked to pick up after your dog and keep pets on the trail to protect Sherwood Creek’s water quality.
That year-round access is worth noting because nearby Witty’s Lagoon closes its beach to dogs from June 1 to September 15. Taylor Beach doesn’t have a seasonal ban, which makes it a reliable summer option for dog owners. For more spots like it, see our dog-friendly Victoria beaches and trails map.
Most of the park is for hiking, and the Helgesen Bridle Trail is also open to horseback riding. Bikes, motorized vehicles, camping, campfires, smoking, and alcohol are prohibited, so it stays quiet and natural.
Parking, washrooms and getting there
Devonian Regional Park is about a 35-minute drive southwest of Victoria, and parking is free.
The Devonian Regional Park main parking lot off William Head Road has the park’s amenities: accessible toilets, accessible and grassy picnic areas, a bicycle rack, and the information boards at the trailhead.
The Taylor Beach access point at the end of Taylor Road, about a kilometre away, has no facilities, just parking, a bench and a short walk to the sand.
The lots are not large, so on warm summer weekends they can fill up. Arriving earlier in the day is the safest bet for a spot.
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