Hiking the trails at Piper's Lagoon in Nanaimo

 by Keith and Heather Nicol

   After checking out Neck Point Park (see blog -  https://keithnicol.blogspot.com/2026/03/exploring-neck-point-park-in-nanaimo.html) earlier in the day (Friday, March 27) we headed down the road a short distance to explore another ocean front park - Piper's Lagoon. This was also enroute to our daughter's drop off point at BC Ferries terminal at Departure Bay and it proved to be another perfect place to do a short walk. 

 Piper's Lagoon Park offers quite a different coastal experience than Neck Point Park and the first section follows a tombolo (a sort of spit) which connects the mainland to a rocky island. This part of the trail has benches and is an easy to walk gravel trail. But once you reach the rocky island the trail becomes much more rugged and anyone with mobility issues will likely want to turn around at this point. But for everyone else the walk around the island is a fun short hike with lots of ocean views to islands and back toward Nanaimo. Looking south you can see the BC Ferries coming in or doing out just a short distance away in Departure Bay and looking north you can actually see back to Neck Point Park. One of the highlights at this time of year were the abundant spring flowers - especially the Fawn Lilies (see picture below) They carpeted the edge of the trail just about the whole way around . The island has many Garry Oak and arbutus trees which are likely due to the dry rocky nature of this location. Over all the trail was about 2 km and took less than 40 minutes. It is is another hidden gem in Nanaimo that we are not sure how we missed for all these years.Check it out.

 

If you go- We used google maps to navigate to the Park- simply put in Piper's Lagoon Park and it will lead to a large parking lot. We also used AllTrails to confirm the trail and it might be useful to download but is certainly not necessary since the trail around the island is easy to follow.  

 

Exploring Neck Point Park in Nanaimo

 by Keith and Heather Nicol

On Friday, March 27 we decided to check out some new trails in Nanaimo before dropping our daughter off at the ferry to return to Vancouver . Our first stop was Neck Point Park which seemed to have lots of easy trails criss crossing the park and some very scenic shoreline with beaches and even some off shore islands. What we didn't expect was the large number of sea lions that were there as well. We started out walking counter clockwise around the coastal trail from the medium size parking lot. The gravel trail is wide and well marked with several lookouts along the way. There are stair cases in places and as we made our way along the coast we could see several people on a rocky island. 

 The rocky island is connected to the mainland by a narrow gravel spit and once there we could see what all the interest was. All around the waters edge were sea lions either in the water or hauled out on the rocks. There were dozens of barking sea lions and was fascinating watching them diving into the water and "posing" on the rocks with their necks and heads stuck up in the air. After taking many pictures we decided to cut our hike along the coast short since we were getting hungry and headed back to the car to get our lunch. There are several picnic tables near the car park in the sun and they made a perfect spot for a picnic snack. We vowed to come back to check out the other trails in this scenic park on another visit and we wondered it had taken so long to explore this Nanaimo gem.  

 If you go- We used google maps and used the Morningside Drive access to get to the Neck Point Park parking lot. We happened to get the last spot since it was obvious that this is a popular park - particularly now with the sea lions close at hand. If you find the parking lot full - the nearby school might have parking spots available. We downloaded the full walking route on AllTrails which was useful. The tide was 3.4 meters which we were there.At higher tides the island with the sea lions is not accessible. 

Sea Lions getting ready for the annual herring run

 by Keith and Heather Nicol

After coming back from xc skiing on Tuesday March 3 we had heard on social media

that lots of sea lions had hauled out at the spit in Deep Bay just south of Fanny Bay opposite Denman Island. But despite the wind and rain we decided to check it out! Sea Lions usually haul out on log booms and other more protected locations like isolated islands but not this time. For some reason they selected the beach at the end of Deep Bay Drive. They are getting ready for the annual herring run so who knows how long they will be there but it is unusual for them to seek out this sort of location. If you go be sure to obey the rope fence and of course do not feed or interact with the sea lions. And leave your dog at home. Parking is limited and be mindful of local resident's driveways so you may have to park some distance away. It is well worth checking out.  

 

 

Temperature Inversions can make for sunny skies and great skiing at Mount Washington

 

 By Keith and Heather Nicol

    On Monday, March 2 we woke to fog in Courtenay and so I checked the web cams at Mount Washington and sure enough the slopes and trails were in sun. It also turned out to be warmer up in the mountains and than in the cold , clammy fog in town. So instead of a planned trip with our bike group we grabbed out skis and headed to the mountain to ski in great spring like conditions. So it pays to check out the web cams at Mount Washington Ski Resort since while it is cold and foggy in town it might be bright and sunny at Mount Washington.  This is caused by ridges of high pressure which trap cloud and fog close to the surface but as you go up in elevation you break through the cloud giving great conditions on the mountain. So if the fog and chilly temperatures are getting you down, head for the hills and you might find it is alot sunnier and maybe even warmer than in town.  And the views are spectacular with layers of cloud and fog below and snowy mountains rising above them (see photos below). Even if you don't ski or snowshoe you can sit on the deck at Raven Lodge or enjoy the sun at the Alpine Lodge . To check out the web cams at Mount Washington have a look at: https://www.mountwashington.ca/