On weekends we are often thinking through the myriad of places we have to go for a walk and one of the easy ones to choose is Francis / King Regional Park.

This park is perhaps one of the only places I can think of in the city where you can actually go and explore a bit of nature while in a wheelchair. The main part of the park, just next to the parking lot, has the Elsie King Trail that is a fully accessible loop trail. There is so much more to this park though.

The oddly named park comes from two individuals. The CRD has an excellent history of the park that can be read in detail here. The Francis name comes from James and Thomas Francis, a father and son. James Francis owned the land since the mid 1850’s to the east of Munn road where the Elsie King Trail, nature house and the caretakers cabin is. The land was donated to the public in 1961 when his son, Thomas Francis died. The King name comes from a friend of Thomas Francis, Freeman King. He was a long time Victoria nature lover. Thomas Francis had actually wanted to give the land to King, but King convinced him to leave it to the public. I strongly encourage reading the longer history as it is very interesting.

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The park as a whole is 107 hectares and has 11 kilometres of trails. The Elsie King Trail that is most used is just 800 metres of that length. Getting to Francis / King is almost half the adventure. The best route from downtown is head along West Burnside past Helmcken Road and the turning onto Prospect Lake Road to Munn Road. The parking lot for the park is just about 400 metres after turning onto Munn. The main entrance onto the Elsie King trail is at the eastern end of the parking lot. You will see the nature house and the washrooms just next to an information sign about the park.

While the Elsie King Trail is not going to be challenging for anyone that likes to break a sweat while hiking, it is well worth the loop for those visiting the park for the first time. There are a series of informational signs along the path providing some insights into some of the features of the forest. Even if you are not a plaque person, the signs provide info that is useful in pretty much any forest at least around the island. My kids favourite was always the ant hill which at least in the summer can be seen completely crawling with ants. If you have kids, the nature house is also worth stopping into, it has some more information on the park and the plants and animals that live there. At some point I will have to do a post on all of the nature centres around the city because there are quite a few and when you get to know about them you realise both what an amazing, but fragile resource they are.

Our last visit to the park we went onto the Shooting Star Trail which loops further to the north almost back to Prospect Lake Road. It is a little trickier than the main trail but it also gets you more into the forest more and more away from civilization. The trees were beautiful, tall and there was a calm green over almost everything.

If you go onto the extensive trails on the west side of Munn Road you will find a grove of old growth Douglas Fir that are at least 500 years old. When you are walking around the park, you feel very lucky that we have such easy access to the wilderness and is truly due people like Thomas Francis and Freeman King. If you are looking for a walk in the rain this week, you will find a little bit of shelter walking around Francis / King Regional Park. Let me know in the comments what your favourite trail here is.