Nanaimo District and the east coast of Vancouver Island

We are spending three weeks in Vancouver Island, British Columbia, Canada. The island is huge, nearly 300 miles long and 65 miles wide, surrounded by the ocean and interlaced with rivers, fjords, lakes and towering mountain peaks. With a population of only 865,000 (about half of which live in the Victoria metro area as the provincial capital), Vancouver Island offers vast sections with few roads and little population.

With a wealth of provincial and regional parks featuring rivers, falls, mountains reaching to 7,200 feet and marvelous hiking, biking, fishing and exploration opportunities, we have spent much of the last 14 days exploring this magical place. Our travels have ranged from towns of Ladysmith and Nanaimo and northwest along Highway 19 to Qualicum Beach and Port Alberni, with the picturesque Strait of Georgia paralleling our routes.

The Nanaimo District’s sheltered beaches, coves and offshore islands were settled by aboriginal peoples thousands of years ago, who found food, freshwater and shelter from winter storms among the inlets. European exploration began in 1592 by Spaniard Juan de Fuca, and the English appeared with Captain James Cook in 1778. In 1794, Captain George Vancouver negotiated British possession of the island, but it was not until 1843 that the British and Hudson Bay Company established Fort Victoria, their first island settlement.

It was the discovery of coal, black gold, that led to Hudson’s Bay Company’s commencement of mining in Fort Rupert on the northern tip of the island, and a few years later, the company brought miners to Nanaimo to work the coal seams in the area. See the Nanaimo website for several self-tours focused on both indigenous people’s history and coal mining history.

Nanaimo District parks include Hemer Provincial Park, Nanaimo River Provincial Park, Maffeo–Sutton Park, Pipers Lagoon Park, Neck Point Park, Rathtrevor Beach and Englishman River Falls Park.  Of all the district’s parks, Morden Colliery Provincial Park most dramatically relates to coal mining history. A colliery is both a coal mine and its related production facilities; the park contains remains of the 109 year-old facility, a huge 90 foot-tall concrete headframe and tipple structure, built in 1913 and only operated through 1921, when oil and gas reduced the need for coal. It’s near another Nanaimo coal mine where an explosion killed 150 miners, the second-deadliest mining disaster in Canada’s history.

Just miles away is beautiful Hemer Provincial Park connecting to other parks by old railroad right-of-way, now a rail trail for hikers and bikers. Forest along the trail is part of the Coastal Douglas-fir zone. Watchful trail users will often spot Pileated Woodpeckers or Barred Owls and Otters, Mink and Beavers in riverside-habitats.

Heading farther north up Highway 19, we headed west on Highway 4 to MacMillan Provincial Park featuring Cathedral Grove (old-growth Douglas firs, towering Cedars) at the west end of Cameron Lake. We continued on the highway to Port Port Alberni, an active lumber and fishing port connected by a 45 mile long “fiord-like” waterway to the island’s west coast. Possibly our best lunch meal was served at the Port’s  Bare Bones Fish and Smokery in an old church, serving up delightful fish tacos, fish bites and fish and chips, all featuring local fresh fish.

We are staying in Nanaimo, which is runs 20 miles along the Georgian Strait, The town offers the Great Trail along its waterfront, featuring about four miles of hiking and biking options passing by marinas, parkland, the edge of downtown and the ferry across to Gabriola Island.

On the trail, we met Frank Johnson, a Canadian from outside of the area, who raved about the hockey teams of Canada, noting he had “played some hockey last night and, as a 76-year-old, I’m feeling it today”. Frank suggested taking in a major-league hockey game in Vancouver, BC, or, locally, the Nanaimo Clippers, a Junior A team member of the British Columbia Hockey League.

Other day-trips from Nanaimo have included drives north to Qualicum Beach, with a pleasant downtown of art shops and restaurants and, as luck would have it for wandering travelers, a pleasant lunch on the waterfront at the Shady Rest Pub. Here lunch featuring dry-rub ribs and a tasty flatbread pizza overlooking the Strait made for another memorable afternoon.

Recently, we journeyed south to the small town of Crofton, where we took the ferry over to the Salt Springs Island Saturday Market, in the quaint town of Ganges. The market features 100 vendors offering Salt Springs Fudge, Salt Springs vodka, Salt Springs wine, organic produce, tie-dyed clothing, ceramics, photos and art. The market is bordered by the Ganges Harbor, complete with boats, sea planes, old tugboats and plenty of fishing and pleasure craft, large to small and several downtown restaurants.

Additional nearby destinations are the town of Ladysmith, a former coal and fishing center with an historic downtown, or taking the ferry from Nanaimo across to Gabriola Island (which we hope to still do). Don’t miss a side-trip to Englishman River Falls, where the river cascades through the Douglas-fir and cedar forest before dropping precipitously into a gaping granite cleft, before reaching the almost as impressive lower falls below. Believe me, this huge island offers so much to see and do, three weeks will only touch on the possibilities!

For more information: Nanaimo, tourismnanaimo.com; Vancouver Island, vancouverisland.travel; Victoria, BC, tourismvictoria.com.

Contact Tim Viall at, tviall@msn.com; Happy travels in Canada.

This article originally appeared on The Record: Things to do in Nanaimo District of Vancouver Island