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Vancouver Island

Vancouver Island is the largest and most populated island on the west coast of the Americas. Half of this popuation lives in the Greater Victoria area in the south and most of the rest lives in towns and cities along the east coast of the island. The center and the west coast are sparsley populated and many areas completely inaccesible or only accessible via logging roads. This makes the island an outdoor adventurers paradise. The island is also a temperate rainforest which leads to amazing forest with grounds often covered with ferns, tall trees often covered with moss and amazing waterfalls. 

Nanaimo Hikes

We have been spending time in Nanaimo, the islands second largest city. It is about 1/3 the way up the east coast of the island being 2 hours from Victoria, 2 hours from Tofino on the west coast, and 4 hours to the north of the island making it a perfect location for exploring the island. I will begin by showing some hikes that are basically in the city itself. Although surrounded by homes, you are completely surrounded by nature.

 

This first hike, Linley Valley, is 5 minutes from where we are staying. You will see the ground is carpeted with ferns, the trees are covered with moss, and there is a small stream running through the middle. It takes about 40 minutes to walk from the entrance to the end of the valley and back.

The Second hike to highlight is Highwood Falls hike. This is also 5 minutes from where we were staying and almost in the center f the city. It takes about 20 minutes from the trailhead to Departure Bay and back. If you only want to see the waterfall it is only minutes from the trail head.

The third hike to highlight is Millstone River Falls trail. This is again a short but senic hike, 20 minutes to the end and back, again right in the city itself . It has 2 main falls and a series of cascades as you walk along it.

The fourth hike to highlight is Collery Park/Granny Falls trail. This hike goes around 2 small lakes created by dams on the chase river. If you go to the west end of the second lake there is a trail that goes under the highway to Granny Falls. Here you can see how the water flow is much bigger in Fall/winter. True of most island waterfalls.

The last hike to highlight is Ammonite Falls trail.  Although just outside of the city limits these falls are a 15 minute drive from the center of Nanaimo so included here. There are 2 ways to hike to these falls, one is much easier the second much harder with ups and downs. We have done both and if you are able I would definitely recommend the more difficult trail as it is much more scenic.

Hikes near Nanaimo

Here I will highlight some of the hikes available near Nanaimo. There are many more but these are some nice ones.

 

This first hike highlighted here is Christie Falls  about 30 minutes south of Nanaimo on the edge of Ladysmith. The trail to these falls begins at the Bush Creek Fish Hatchery. To get here you must park at the entrance and walk about 25 minutes down the road to the hatchery. From there you hike up the creek where there are two main waterfalls but many more "cascades" on the walk up to the falls. The trail up I would call moderate as reasonably steep and very rocky just not very long. The longest part of the hike is the walk in and out on the road.

The next hike to highlight is Little Qualicum Falls trail.  The Little Qualicum River runs fairly fast year round and there is a parking lot right at the falls so little walking is required to see the falls. We did a loop from the falls to the campground where a bridge crosses the river. From there we hike back to the falls parking lot. Total time is about 30 minutes. Here are some of the images.

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