One of my favourite places on the Island, Cumberland is known for their community forest, world-class mountain biking, extensive trail network and huge glacier-fed lake. We drove up pretty early through dramatic Island weather; one minute pouring rain, next minute sunny. Cumberland Lake Park is a popular spot in the summer, full of campers and …
Drove out to Cedar for a flat walk along Morden Colliery Regional Trail to Hemer Park. As you can see, there were lots of crunchy fall leaves along the trail. So many, in fact, the regional district sent out a couple of leaf blowers, to blow the leaves off the path. This was weird and …
This is a beautiful park in between Duncan and Chemainus. Trails through a gorgeous forest, along a creek, over rock faces, along a short old railway track. Eves Provincial park is also home to the oldest Maple tree in Canada and I forgot to take a photo. It was very pretty – use your imagination.
This is a neat little park along a stream in Nanaimo. It’s accessed behind a plaza and I never would’ve guessed there was a forest here. Walk along the park and you pop out at Departure Bay – there’s a beach and access to ferry parking lot. Who knew? Lots of stairs.
Open Air Classroom & Watt’s Walk This is a short loop along a boardwalk over a marsh area in Duncan. Lots of benches and bird viewing spots. I wish it was a bit longer, I just kept lapping around. It was very warm and sunny.
It’s great having meetings out of town when you end up close to a new mountain. I packed my boots, shorts and t-shirt and after the meeting drove to Cobble Hill Mountain. This is a gorgeous park with 26km worth of well-marked trails up the mountain, each represented by a different animal icon, rated easy, …
The hike to “The Abyss” is about 15 minutes along Extension Ridge Trail from the trailhead at Harewood Mines Rd, but the trail continues much farther. Climb up the stairs, over exposed bedrock and through a clear-cut area. The Abyss is a large crack in the ground (about 16”) caused by an earthquake. Continue on …
Witchcraft Lake Regional Trail crosses the lake, runs along the lake for short stretch, then up a steep trail up Mt Benson through City land, the Crown woodlot to Mount Benson Regional Park. This trail was developed to provide public access to Mount Benson Regional Park as there is no public road access. If climbing is not …