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Nanaimo's Archaeological Treasures: To Showcase Or Hide?

Authored by Gerry Thomasen 5 days ago

Enjoyed by 21 readers, who have left 0 comments.

On the Harewood Plains Petroglyphs

These carvings used to be kind of secret – relatively unknown petroglyphs out in the Harewood Plains section of Extension Ridge.

Until recently, when people asked about rock art in Nanaimo, they were usually told about the other local petroglyphs, on nearby Gabriola Island and at Petrogylph Park just south of downtown.

Those better-known ones have been vandalized over the years, though, which invites us to consider the future of the Harewood Plains glyphs as they are increasingly exposed to the elements and the public.

(Some basic info about the Harewood Plains Petroglyphs.)

The Controversy: Preservation vs. Enjoyment

Those of us keen on telling people about the petroglyphs, have been reminded by other…

RRROLL UP THE RIM !!! (Then Throw It Out. Repeat. Thanks.)

Authored by Gerry Thomasen 7 months ago

Enjoyed by 334 readers, who have left 0 comments.

I saw four people sitting at a table in Tim Hortons, drinking coffee. They had the ceramic mugs you get when you don't order "to go". They also had four disposable paper cups, which were clean, but had been shredded for some reason.

Ah yes – the "RRROLL UP THE RIM TO WIN" contest. You rub and scratch the waxy rim of your coffee cup, not at all believing you'll win a boat or a TV, but excited about your 1-in-4 chance of another donut or coffee. Now THAT is an attainable prize, and you can redeem it right now.

So, about those four paper cups. They seemed pretty BIG to me, considering their sole purpose in this world was to inform four people that they didn't win a fast food lottery (three people, sorry - one of them probably did win another…

Exploring The Nanaimo River Estuary

Authored by Gerry Thomasen 7 months ago

Enjoyed by 357 readers, who have left 0 comments.

The Nanaimo River Estuary is just south of downtown. The clean, rushing water scatters all kinds of sediments into the ocean to form a wide delta loved by gulls, eagles, oysters and log booms.

Three of us took to a canoe and a kayak, and explored this beautiful desolation on a sunny Sunday in February. Here's a satellite image of where we went:

We started on Maki Rd by Southgate Mall, putting into the water in a narrow canal cut into a marshy area. We could see a lot of gulls congregating at the other end of this canal, so we figured it emptied into the ocean. Turns out we were right, but, not in the way we imagined.

The canal came to an abrupt end, narrowing into a culvert running under the hillside. This was obviously too good to pass up, so we…

Exploring Snake Island, Nanaimo BC

Authored by Gerry Thomasen 7 months ago

Enjoyed by 606 readers, who have left 0 comments.

Four of us went to Snake Island in a couple of canoes. It's a long way: 6 km from Downtown Nanaimo. The waters were calm that day, which was very good because Snake Island is out in the bigger waters of the Georgia Straight, and canoes aren't good for that.

It took an hour to inch across that expanse of ocean, safely out of the way of freighters and the three BC Ferries routes. As we got farther out to sea, Nanaimo opened up behind us, and the mountains got a lot bigger.

As we approached the island, we could see there were already tons of mammals already occupying the beach, and they were staring right at us. Were they murderous, two-tonne sea lions bent on our destruction? Or, just cute seals the size of golden retrievers? It was hard to tell until we…

Urban Parkland: Protecting Intangible Commodities

Authored by Gerry Thomasen 7 months ago

Enjoyed by 287 readers, who have left 0 comments.

Everyone knows that parks are important for a happy city, with many thriving cities distinguished according to the proportions of their greenspace.  Urban parks are therefore well protected, rarely compromised by any public or private development interests. Most citizens take the protection of parks for granted, seldom allowing for any other interest that might claim the parkland for another use.

But, a proposed development might have great promise for the community, even when it alters or destroys an established and beloved park. How can we quantify the benefits of the existing park, in order to intelligently approve or deny its development for the sake of some other good?

A reliable system may or may not exist for measuring a park's product. This…

Swimming To Protection Island

Authored by Gerry Thomasen 1 year ago

Enjoyed by 1057 readers, who have left 12 comments.

I've become accustomed to canoeing home from work in the evenings, to my place on Protection Island. I love it.

But I was annoyed at work today, because my canoe was back on the island without me (long story), so I was going to be riding the boring old ferry home instead of having my personal time with the ocean.

It was a hot day (32°C?), so it was easy to decide —once and for all— to swim home to Protection Island. I've always thought it would be cool to swim across the channel from the Yacht Club to Newcastle, and I think every capable Protection Island resident should consider swimming home at least once.

(Click on the image for the larger version)

I told everyone at work that I was going to do it, so that I couldn't psyche myself out…

Nanaimo Undermined

Authored by Gerry Thomasen 1 year ago

Enjoyed by 892 readers, who have left 0 comments.

When you walk in Nanaimo, you should be imagining that the ground beneath you might be honeycombed with passages.

There used to be thick layers of high-grade coal underneath Nanaimo, some of it buried more than a hundred meters below sea level. It was mostly removed, though, and now all those kilometers of shafts are flooded with seawater. There're probably some ghosts in the deeps, too, never to see light again.

There are mine entrances all over the place downtown and around the harbour, most of them totally sealed until someone needs to blast them open again. They're sealed off because old coal mines are highly dangerous, on account of lethal gases and the instability of sedimentary rock. There are stories of kids disappearing into the old mines…

Smoking Arbutus

Authored by Gerry Thomasen 1 year ago

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I like to peel the bark off of arbutus trees. No, not in a mean kinda way - it's my favourite species of tree. I only peel the parts that are rolled up, because they're ready-rolled for smoking!

I betcha you didn't know you can smoke the bark? (No, you don't get anything special from it.) You can just light the end of a rolled bit and puff away. It tastes like burnt marshmallows and cloves! Quite pleasant, actually.

Warning!: you might wanna devise a way to check for bugs inside the rolled up bark - I didn't notice the hazard until probably the twentieth occasion of smoking the stuff. It's a pain, though - cuz if you unroll it, it usually breaks.

Cautionary!: If Nanaimo's dry enough to smoke the bark you peeled off the trees, it's probably dry enough…