Photographers On Board

Road Trips on Vancouver Island

A trickle of water from the top of the rocks. Ferns growing in the jagged crevices of the rocks.

A Walk at Colliery Dam Park – Part 1

Over the August long weekend the traffic on Vancouver Island was too congested to get out and do much exploring and photography, so we chose a location right here in Nanaimo. Colliery Dam Park.

I can’t believe that I have lived here for 5 years now and I have never been to Colliery Dam Park. It is the ultimate forest get-away, right inside beautiful Nanaimo.

And it has an interesting history –
built in 1910-11 by the Western Fuel Company to supply water for coal washing and for use by miners, mules and horses in the mines, the water system quickly developed an important secondary use. Homes near the pipeline were allowed to tap the line for domestic uses. (Colliery Dam Park)

There are two parking areas that lead to the lower and the upper trails. The lower entrance offers accessibility for wheelchairs. The upper trail is a bit more rugged.

We chose to begin our walk at the upper trail – and here a few photos of this section. In a few days we will return to cover the lower trail of the park.

A forest pathway beckons through the sunlit trees beyond.
Tangled tree roots along the forest pathway.
A tiny island of only one fern in the middle of the lake.
A wooden bridge over the river below, leads through the densley treed urban forest.
The mossy and fern covered forest floor.
A mossy stump on the forest floor.
A tree with its branches covered in spongy green moss.
A fallen log covered in green moss lies between the trunks of two living trees in the forest.
Broken tree stumps sticking out of the green water of the lake.
A towering tree trunk in the middle of the forest path. Brown bark and green moss climbing up the tree makes it feel alive and present here and now.
Large boulders covered in moss and ferns in the middle of the forest.
A trickle of water from the top of the rocks. Ferns growing in the jagged crevices of the rocks.
Large boulders covered in moss and ferns in the middle of the forest.
A stream reflecting the sunlight, rocks, and earth, surrounded by dense trees, with barely a view of the lake on the other side of the trees.
Colliery Dam Park - Nanaimo Lakes

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Cindy DeJager

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