Nanaimo Lakes Old Mill Campground, British Columbia, CanadaNanaimo Lakes – July
26-30, 2021
On the way to the
first lake
This week we are on
the way to another Mosaic campsite – this time at the first of the Nanaimo
lakes. We were astonished when we started out on paved road – but it didn’t go
all the way, soon it turned into gravel. Once we went over the bridge – the
connection between the lakes. Then we pass the Windy Point Campsite and soon is
our turn off.
- By the way there are three natural Nanaimo lakes and a fourth Nanaimo lake behind a dam
- In many maps only the first and the second are considered lakes
- And if you want to go fishing: since 1915 they stock the lakes with fish
Is that really a lake
front site?
Old Mill Campsite, we
check in with the host and continue to our lake front site, except it’s not
really lakefront. There is a path going down to the lake, but it’s over logs
and ends up in a teeny tiny area – not enough to sit with mosquitos around. So not
the greatest. Also the site itself is super sandy – I guess we will do a lot of
clean up with all that sand…
Evening at the main
beach
After supper we walk
to the main beach or day use area, which is very nice and then get the chairs
and enjoy it there until the sun sets. It’s a long walk back to our forestry
site with lake glimpses. That means we go to bed early.
We paddle to the main
beach
Sleeping in as there
is no sun on our site or our teeny tiny mini beach access area and after
breakfast we get the paddle boards ready, we decided to spend most of the time
at the day use area, so beachbag and the chair mounted on the paddle board and
we paddle up the lake – it’s not too far but also not close.
Why not bring the
camper along
Once at the beach, we
discover that you can actually park cars there and we wonder should we bring
the camper, then Mandy would be with us, so Paul walks back and brings the
truck and camper – a perfect set up.
Is site # 8 available?
We saw the people in #
8 leaving and wondered if that site is available as it has a beautiful beach
access and view on the lake from the campsite. So we ask but sadly someone
booked it for tomorrow – no big deal we thought as we can spend the whole day
on the main beach.
At the beach we are
the paddle board experts
Our paddleboards with
the kayak seats make big waves and we get several times asked and admired for
them. Once Coffee time comes around we discover we left our big coffee mugs at
the site – no big deal – Gine paddles back to get them oh and again gets
stopped and starts talking about the paddle board and Germany.
Paddling on the lake
to a swimming pool
After coffee Gine
decided to go for a longer paddle, by now the lake is not smooth anymore but
quite wavy but then who cares. Across the lake and there is some funky building
with what looks like a square pool made of beams, several boats and a diving
board with a ladder, wonder what that once was. Further along the lake with
nice views and lots of shore line to discover and back this time with the wind
to our campsite.
Sun and Fun
For the rest of the
afternoon we stay at the site: lots of sun, reading, swimming, relaxing, getting
wet and enjoying the beautiful area. As it was time to head back Paul packs up
the camper and drives back and Gine paddles the boards back where we store them
at the shore for the night.
Evening in the forest
Time to head back and
have supper and afterwards we spend some time reading in the forest with lake
glimpses. Mandy is even so brave, that she pokes her head outside.
We sleep in again
Guess all that fresh
air makes tired and we sleep in again. As our nextdoor neighbors left already
we can take our chairs down to their little beach and have a beautiful view on
the lake to our morning wake up coffee. And as we have now a new inverter we
have bagels!! That is called wilderness camping.
Back at the beach
Today we are a big
smarter and Gine paddles the boards up to the beach and Paul brings the camper
to our perfect setup!! Did I mention that there is a huge stone right where we
park like an extra stepping stone?
Gine checks out the
river and the Paul goes across the lake
Gine can’t sit still
and set she will go paddling, to the west end of the lake where the Windy Point
campsite is and up the river, it’s super shallow so the fin needs to be taken
off, as otherwise Gine gets stuck to much, after a bit up the river it’s a no
go as the rapids start, I’m not sure if the board made for that so it’s turn
around time, back and this time along the other shore where there is a huge
metal support and big beams in the water, that is when Gine met some fellow
kayakers who know what it all is about: an old logger camp. and then all the
way back to the beach – only Paul and the board is not there, wonder where they
are and then Gine discovered Paul up the lake – he crossed over the lake and
then back… time to relax after all that work.
The old logging camps:
- Once they had here 2 logging camps, each one had cabins and also a pool made with beams and diving boards. The Kayaker Gine met, was actually working and living in one of the logging camps and said in the morning I picked up my radio and we went in the forest. Where you can see the clearing is where the beams went into the water and the 5 stumps together was where the logs were kept. He said the cabins are still there.
- Commercial logging in BC goes back to the 1820s
- By the 1860s many saw mills started up in southern Vancouver Island: the coastal forest had a high wood per hectare as a result with the proximity to the ocean
- When coal mining in Nanaimo declined industrial logging around the Nanaimo lakes started
- In 1990 western forest closed it’s door because of poor market conditions and 720 sawmill workers and loggers were out of work
- Between 1925 and 1960 Dunsmuir was subdividing and selling land to coal and forestry companies
- Who is Timberwest: in 1960 MacMillan Bloedel bought a large amount of land and started the first logging company in the province. In 1999 Weyerhausen acquired MacMillan for 2.45 bill USDollars, at that time Wyerhausen were already the world’s largest softwood producer. In 2005 Island Timberwest was founded and Weyerhausen sold all Coastal BC land to Timberwest. In 2018 Timberwest laid out a 20- year plan with a forward thinking forest management.
- By managing our forests responsibly, we ensure that they will not just exist, but flourish for centuries to come
- Mosaics forest management was created in 2018 and is responsible for recreational access on Timberwest land
That’s lake vacation
If you need a break of
the sun then you can sit in the shade or have coffee break inside the camper,
then back out in the sun, and as gine can’t sit still for too long she
convinced Paul to paddle with her to the windy Point campsite. Because there is
a fire engine which we check out – and we discover how beautiful our campground
is. On the way back we go in tandem style and are hooked together.
Why is someone in our
campsite?
As we come back Gine
with the boards and Paul with the camper we discover there is someone in our
campsite??? What is going on, and they tell us, that our staff was not there
when they arrived. And Paul said our staff is in #8, so we walk to the host and
see there Gine forgot that she booked 2 nights in # 11 and 2 nights in #8 and screwed
up. The host told us, that they couldn’t find us and that we didn’t pick up the
phones (they are turned off and there is no cell phone reception here) so they
moved all our staff to # 8 – no big deal we are happy to move.
The perfect campsite
#8
And so we end up at
the perfect campsite: view from the site to the lake, a nice little beach for
the boards and the chairs, and gravel instead of dirt… life can’t be more
perfect. So a bit later than planned we are set up and ready for supper. Guess
I can’t tell Paul that he gets old and forgot something…..
We make the perfect
view
We sit right near the
camper for reading because we have the nearly perfect view – after we take a
kitchen knife to get rid of 3 branches we did had the perfect view…. Ok once in
a while gine still has to walk down to the beach to admire the peaceful lake.
Mandy is brave
And we can’t believe
it, we put the leash on Mandy and she actually ventured outside and even better
when Paul called her she run inside – the nearly perfect cat. Only when Gine
wants to use the computer the tail is on the keyboard and she wants to play
with Gine, what’s up with that!!!!
A bit of hot sun on
our beach in the morning
This morning when
looking outside Gine discovered a sliver of sun on our little beach – with our
coffee we went down to check it out and soon discovered it is getting hot
today, as we both thought we enjoy the view from the shade.
This nice campsite
warrants a perfect breakfast
When you are on such a
wonderful campsite, then we should have a nice breakfast – and that is what we
did – what a great start to the day.
Gine’s paddle
adventure go to the east end of the lake
As the previous days
Paul drove the truck to the day use area and Gine brought the boards, it was
already super hot – I think today we will get a lot of sun. Soon Gine went for
her daily paddle this time down the lake to the other end with a lot of yellow
water lilies or as Gine later discovered pond lilies. It’s fun to paddle
through them and then came an area where they put lots of post in the water all
in a row: for the logs???? Gine then went a bit down the river and back up
through more water lilies and along the other shoreline before heading back
Yellow pond lilies:
- Also called the yellow water lily or cow lily or officially nuphar polysepala: nuphar is Greek for water lily
- It’s a perennial that grows from a prehistoric looking large rhizome, the leaves float on the water with the stems going down
- They grow in shallow still waters like ponds or shallow lakes or slow-moving streams
- They grow on the west coast from north California all the way up to Alaska, even in the Yukon and North west territories
- The natives used the rootstock as medicinal uses to treat reumathoism, heart disease, gonorohoe, tuberculosis – the Haida even used it to treat cancer
Lots of sun and
swimming today
It’s hot today and
being in the sun, relaxing in the warm shade or jumping in the perfect lake –
what more do we want. It was a super relaxing day. Later it got a bit windy,
when Gine paddled up the lake she drifted all back down. Did I mention Mandy
got again attention as the cat sitting in the camper and checking out the beach
and what is all going on – I think she likes camping. Then it’s time to get
down the paddleboards and back to the campsite.
We are tired after a
long day – except Many
Supper – and then we
sit in the shade before we go to bed early – yes all that sun and being in and
on the water makes tired.
As we had the Leash on
Mandy she actually came out to check out the squirrels, so Paul took her down
to the lake, but guess what the lake was not so exciting, she started to eat
some boring grass, really!!!! As she liked to venture off into the bush, Paul
had to guide her a bit but she jumped right back into the camper once Paul
called her inside.
Time to pack up and go
home
This morning we woke
up to more sunshine and coffee on the beach. And then we headed back early –
which was a good thing, as it got quite hot!! And we were super happy as the
gas mileage on our truck was even better than last time and the new muffler and
exhaust got put on after half the tank was already empty – so maybe we will be
then even better!! That is good news for our long trip.
2025-05-22