Walking Saysutshun Island

We started off the day our usual way with coffee and because I have run out of wool to knit we looked for a yarn shop. On our way to the probably pricey yarn shop we passed a church having their thrift shop sale. Just what I needed so we ducked in and I bought some wool. Then we headed to the waterfront. This is the information centre.

There are three islands off Nanaimo a short ferry ride away. One of them called Saysutshun or Newcastle Island is the traditional and sacred space of the Snuneymuxw people. It is a marine park and they have walking trails around the island. We set off in a small ferry.

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We started our walk from here at 12 midday.



Many uses have been made of this island by the Europeans since they arrived. In the past they mined coal, quarried limestone and cut large pulpstones out of rock for the paper industry. These are the remains of the pulpstone rocks and offcuts.





We came across a white tailed deer as we walked up the side of the island.

There is a small channel between Nanaimo and Saysutshun Island.

As we continued our walk we came across two raccoons eating grass. We crept up and I managed to get some photos.





We saw some amazing trees hanging over the edge.

This one had made a loop!

We came down the middle of the island where there was an old dam and Mallard lake.



Mallard lake was full of water lilies.

Some of the trees we walked past were very tall. Don complained that if he looked up and then down too quickly he felt lightheaded.

The final creatures we found were ants which had created a large hill from grasses. Don found out later that they are called thatching ants because they make what looks like a thatch on top of their mound.






We finished our walk at 4 o’clock and returned by ferry quite tired from our walk!