Showing posts with label Nanaimo. Show all posts
Hemer Park Trail
Hemer Park Trail at EveryTrail
Hemer Provincial Park is south of Nanaimo in the community of Cedar. The trail is very well marked, and there is great signage throughout to help you know where you are, although it is not that complicated. It is a series of very large loops with trails that go between, so you can choose how big of a loop you do. The trail follows Holden Lake, which is quite marshy and sometimes swampy.
Hemer Provincial Park is south of Nanaimo in the community of Cedar. The trail is very well marked, and there is great signage throughout to help you know where you are, although it is not that complicated. It is a series of very large loops with trails that go between, so you can choose how big of a loop you do. The trail follows Holden Lake, which is quite marshy and sometimes swampy.
Pipers Lagoon Trail
Pipers Lagoon at EveryTrail
After getting muddied up at the Chase River Estuary we headed to Pipers Lagoon in Nanaimo with hopes that we could wash his feet in the water, plus "lagoon" sounds exotic! Trailhead: At the end Place RD in Nanaimo. We didn't stay for long, half hour to be exact, you can see from our trail that we walked we avoided going around the peninsula, and just headed back across the lagoon at low tide. The lagoon was full of crabs, oysters, clams, snails and sea ants, I assume.
After getting muddied up at the Chase River Estuary we headed to Pipers Lagoon in Nanaimo with hopes that we could wash his feet in the water, plus "lagoon" sounds exotic! Trailhead: At the end Place RD in Nanaimo. We didn't stay for long, half hour to be exact, you can see from our trail that we walked we avoided going around the peninsula, and just headed back across the lagoon at low tide. The lagoon was full of crabs, oysters, clams, snails and sea ants, I assume.
Chase River Estuary
Chase River Estuary at EveryTrail
Trailhead: Haliburton Street There is an exit there if you are taking the #1 North, you just have to be quick about it.
In the 1850's police were searching for two men who murdered a shepherd in this area of Nanaimo, they were able to track their steps along the river and catch the murderers. We also left some footprints in the mud as we ventured off trail to check out the Estuary, we immediately regretted our decision. Archer had a ball in the mud, as we were searching for the least muddiest area to walk Archer just ran through the mud like it wasn't a problem that he got himself terribly muddy.
Beyond the mud, this trail had a really nice boardwalk that went through the groomed portion of the estuary, that walk only lasted about 15 minutes, so we headed towards the "River walk" trail. This led us offtrail, and ultimately we reached a railway overpass, we didn't really want to find out how the dog would react to walking over a highway, he fell into a gap within the first couple rails, so we turned around and went back to the trail head, still muddy.
Trailhead: Haliburton Street There is an exit there if you are taking the #1 North, you just have to be quick about it.
In the 1850's police were searching for two men who murdered a shepherd in this area of Nanaimo, they were able to track their steps along the river and catch the murderers. We also left some footprints in the mud as we ventured off trail to check out the Estuary, we immediately regretted our decision. Archer had a ball in the mud, as we were searching for the least muddiest area to walk Archer just ran through the mud like it wasn't a problem that he got himself terribly muddy.
Beyond the mud, this trail had a really nice boardwalk that went through the groomed portion of the estuary, that walk only lasted about 15 minutes, so we headed towards the "River walk" trail. This led us offtrail, and ultimately we reached a railway overpass, we didn't really want to find out how the dog would react to walking over a highway, he fell into a gap within the first couple rails, so we turned around and went back to the trail head, still muddy.
Newcastle Island Trail
Newcastle Island at EveryTrail
To get to Newcastle Island you have to take a ferry, you can catch it at Maffeo Sutton Park in Nanaimo. The Ferry costs a toonie and within Minutes you've reached Newcastle Island. Make sure you are aware of the return times, last thing you want to do is maroon yourself.
This walk was a great combination of Beach & Forest walk. There was a board that mentioned the wildlife that you see in the area, but we forgot to take a picture of it. Archer did however sniff out some kids smoking weed in the forest, they looked paranoid and guilty but we just chuckled to ourselves, waved at the kids and moved on.
The Island is close to Nanaimo, so you can watch the city. There is good signage, in all we walked 8K in two and half hours.
To get to Newcastle Island you have to take a ferry, you can catch it at Maffeo Sutton Park in Nanaimo. The Ferry costs a toonie and within Minutes you've reached Newcastle Island. Make sure you are aware of the return times, last thing you want to do is maroon yourself.
This walk was a great combination of Beach & Forest walk. There was a board that mentioned the wildlife that you see in the area, but we forgot to take a picture of it. Archer did however sniff out some kids smoking weed in the forest, they looked paranoid and guilty but we just chuckled to ourselves, waved at the kids and moved on.
The Island is close to Nanaimo, so you can watch the city. There is good signage, in all we walked 8K in two and half hours.
Colliery Dam Park
The Colliery Dam is within the City of Nanaimo, the trailhead is easily found at the corner of Sixth and Wakesiah. It was a busy trail being in town and all, but there seemed to be a lot of different avenues that you could take, there was a quaint pond in the middle and some bridges that went over streams. We were able to do a 3K loop in just under an hour.
