Morrell Nature Sanctuary hike

 Last Friday, my hiking buddy and I went to one of my favourite places in Nanaimo, Morrell Nature Sanctuary.  Here there are many kilometers of easy, well maintained and clearly marked trails through forest, alongside creeks and a pond, and along a beautiful lake.  I've been here more times than I can count, and every time see something new - a plant I've never noticed, a mushroom, a tree, a bird.  I've been herein every season, every month of the year.  And it never fails to delight me. 

Morrell Sanctuary is owned by the Nature Trust of BC, after being donated by William Morrell in 1973.  It is leased and managed by Morrell Sanctuary Society of Environmental Education, and many local school children experience science lessons, biology lessons, environmental lessons in its 278 acres.    And  it is always a place of peace, of solitude, a place to commune with nature. 

The sanctuary has something for all ages and abilities - a gnome house trail for the young, some wheelchair accessible trails, many benches on which to rest, a covered picnic shelter, interpretive signs, viewing platforms, bluffs.   And yet it has somehow maintained a sense of  nature at its finest - everything blends into the natural environment so the human-made parts are hardly noticeable. It resonates peace.

The online information on it tells me there are 11 km or nearly 7 miles of trails, but it is also connected by trails and hydro right-of-ways to other parks and hiking trails in the region which can give the avid fit hiker many more miles to traverse.

On Friday, we started on the Yew loop across from the parking area, then continued on the Deer Fern Trail where I once saw a twin-headed deer fern. 

Twin-headed deer fern

We came to a side trail and headed out to see where it went. It met with the hydro lines, from which we could have gone left to Extension Ridge or right to Westwood Lake had we chosen.  We walked along it for a short distance, marveling at the fact that there were still pockets of snow along the route - we've not seen any in our home communities (one to the north and one to the south of Nanaimo) for a few weeks now.  

After a short while, we returned to our original trail and continued on through the sanctuary - Deer Fern Trail to Bob's Trail to the Beaver Pond Loop.  The pond, which had been completely full of grasses and reeds in the fall, was once again mostly clear and the reflections on this sunny day were wonderful.

I watched a couple of ducks feeding in the brush.  They were barely visible, but I had to try to photograph them because I had never before noticed the beautiful brown-on-brown pattern on the female mallard's feathers.  I saw in it a pattern I had often seen in indigenous art without understanding from whence it came. 

From the Beaver Pond trail we headed up to the fire lane and over to Morrell Lake.  There, a whole flock of ducks raced up to meet us.  I know this is where volunteers often toss seed for them, and I guess they were hoping we were those volunteers.  They let me take a few photos, and then seeing we were empty handed when it came to treats, they waddled en  masse back to the water. 

We took the lower lake trail to its far end, watching three female hooded mergansers swimming rapidly across the lake, too fast for my camera to capture.  They reminded me of the time a couple of years ago when we had seen a mama hooded merganser with a very large brood of  12 babies, only half of which I captured in a photo.

On the other side of the lake, we could see various hydro trucks, and overhead a helicopter's blades sliced the air with its throb, throb, throb. Soon it appeared hauling a large piece of metal pylon.  The trees were blocking our view, and by the time we got to the edge of the lake it was just a pinprick in the distance, flying into the sun.  If you look hard, you may be able to see it just to the left of the brightest part of the photo.

At the end of the lake, I photographed more reflections and beauty.  We found a bench where we sat to have our lunch. 

It was sometimes noisy with the helicopter flying back and forth, but interesting to watch as hydro poles, electric pylons, and empty tow chains flew overhead. 

After lunch, we headed back along the Lower Lake Trail, and decided to take the firelane back to the Beaver Pond Loop and explore Tranquility Trail and  Vi's Walk trail, two trails we hadn't done before.  There we saw a tree hollowed out by woodpeckers.  The square or rectangular holes are the signature mark of the pileated woodpecker, one of my favourite birds.

Other than the ducks, the only other wildlife we saw were two red squirrels, though the next day a fellow hiker posted a photo of a pine marten she saw there - lucky her, I've never seen one!  The sanctuary also has the occasional bear or cougar sighting.  Thankfully, I've not run into these.  Most of my wildlife encounters here, on previous visits, have been with birds, including barred owls, western tanagers, and various woodpeckers.  

I'm looking forward to returning again soon.  Friday's hike was just over five miles, and took us four hours due to the many stops to admire nature, to breathe deeply, to watch squirrels and ducks and helicopters, and - of course - to take photos. 

Aptly named!