Top 5 Outdoor Activities to enjoy in Nanaimo

Beautiful Nanaimo Harbour
In no particular order here are the Top 5 outdoor activities you MUST check out with the year round fantastic climate in the beautiful harbour city of Nanaimo.

5. Take in the gorgeous harbour of Nanaimo by visiting the waterfront. You could spend a day exploring the harbour walk way, grabbing an ice cream cone at one of the many local shops along the way. Avid hikers can take the small ferry over to Newcastle Island for a full days exploration. In the summer the waterfront is bustling with outdoor concerts, events and crabbing down at the dock! It’s the place to be in the spring/summer months. An outdoor Farmer’s market happens on Friday in the warmer months. Straight from the sea fishing boats offer the freshest seafood right from the dock!

4. Hiking! Mount Benson is Nanaimo’s mini Grouse Grind. A 2 hour (one way) uphill climb to an amazing view of Nanaimo. There are many starting points but the most popular is at the end of Bensonview Rd, about 15 minutes from downtown. Take in the view, have a picnic and enjoy the feeling of reaching the top! For a less strenuous hike there is also an amazing off-leash dog hike Cable Bay Trail that is just over an hour and brings you down to awesome views of the ocean. Excellent hiking trails are all over the city as well as an extensive parkway trail system starting from the south end and ending in the north. 

View from a peak near Timberlands Lake
 
3. Bathtub Weekend! The last weekend in July (July 23-26 2015) is an important weekend for most Nanaimoites. It marks the date for the Nanaimo Marine Festival and World Championship Bathtub Race. Tons of free events, beer gardens, food venders, outdoor entertainment at Maffeo Sutton Park (downtown) and a phenomenal fireworks display on the Saturday night. Sunday is the race, with the finish line at Maffeo Sutton. It’s an action packed weekend you don’t want to miss!

2. Nanaimo River swimming holes. Probably some of the best river swimming in British Columbia, the Nanaimo River boasts locations for the rock jumper or calmer family friendly pools along it’s 56 km stretch. There are also ample lakes to cool off in as well, Westwood being the most popular and often has lifeguards on duty.
 
So many wonderful swimming holes at Nanaimo River!
1. Nanaimo boasts some of the world’s BEST scuba diving sites (some would consider it second only to the Red Sea) with 3 amazing wreck dives, the HMCS Saskatchewan, the RivTow Lion and what is now the largest Artificial Upright Reef, the HMCS Cape Breton. Kayaking, canoeing and stand-up paddle boards have also become very popular outdoor activities to partake in within the beautiful Nanaimo harbour and surrounding areas. Sport fishing is also very popular with many of the lakes fully stocked with beautiful rainbow trout as well as salmon/cod fishing not more than 15-20 minutes from the Nanaimo harbour. The yearly run of pink salmon can be exciting as people can catch them right in the harbour! 

All these activities and MUCH more can be experienced near the GableCraft Summerhill homes on Dufferin

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Vancouver Island Hiking: Harewood Plains, Nanaimo

Image
The Harewood Plains in Nanaimo B.C is home to second growth forest and open meadows and highlights an amazing view of south Nanaimo. It is bordered by Harewood Mines Road, 10th St and McKeown in Chase River. It can be accessed via Harewood Mines road just past Rimrock Trail, or at the end of McKeown Way the first right off of Chase River road past the elementary school.

MAP

The Harewood Plains area is privately owned by stakeholders Island Timberlands and the BC Transmission Corporation (they maintain the transmission lines throughout this area). The area contains some rare plants, 10 rare plant species that are considered endangered or threatened. One extremely rare plant called the meadow bird's foot trefoil (Lotus pinnatus), is only found on the Harewood Plains and in a small area in Duncan.



This area is unprotected and at risk for being destroyed by motorized vehicles and people walking off-trail. It is important to respect the land and stay on designated trails. We entered …
Read more

Tree-Go @Wildplay Nanaimo

There are two Wildplay Element parks in British Columbia, one located in Whistler B.C and the other in Nanaimo B.C located on beautiful Vancouver Island.

I had the opportunity to check out the Tree course (called Tree-Go) and thought I would share my experience.

The full course costs $39.99 or if you are doing the kids course, $19.99. Depending on the size of your group you may be eligible for group pricing.

The course includes a natural obstacle course within the environment including zip lines, suspended bridges, scramble nets, swinging logs and much more. It's takes about 1 1/2 to 2 1/2 hours to complete the entire course. (Which we were unable to do, since we had some slow people ahead).

It's important to always make sure you are clipped onto something with your safety harness at all times or you will be banned from the course.

I would personally suggest going in groups of 10 or less and try to go early in the day because it does get extremely busy on weekends.

All in all it was…
Read more

Nanaimo River

Image
As the summer heats up many local Nanaimoites adventure out to Nanaimo river to cool off. Considered one of the best steelhead rivers in the country, it is also a plethora of amazing swimming holes. Some are easy to find and can become quite busy on the sunny hot days, some take a bit of hiking to access but on thing is for sure - it's the best swimming Nanaimo has. 

In 2000 The Land Conservancy of Canada acquired a 56 hectare property near the Nanaimo Airport. This park is one of the few remaining natural forests along the lower portion of Nanaimo River. A developed trail network provides the outdoor enthusiast plenty of space to walk, run, cycle and swim.


There are a ton of family friendly spots, including near the Bungy Zone or in Cedar near the fire station where the water tends to be calmer. The "trestle" (up Nanaimo River Rd) tends to be more young adult orientated as well as "Yellow Gate" (the gate is actually red now) these spots used to be less busy bu…
Read more