May 20 - 2025 - Westwood Lake Trip Report

 

Despite nice weather in the days leading up to our opening paddle for the 2025 season, a stiff NW wind arrived by early Tuesday and skuttled our plan. The idea was to tour around Newcastle Island or try the inner harbour near Protection Island if conditions were unfavourable. The group assembled at the Brechin Boat ramp near Departure Bay and after talking this through and glancing at the windsock, we opted to try nearby Westwood Lake instead.

 

 

Westwood Lake

We had 14 people in 13 kayaks out for the Westwood Lake paddle.  The lake is the most visited park in Nanaimo, and it offers a nice trail system around the lake, a beach and, of course, water sports.

Towering above Westwood Lake at 1,025 metres is Mount Benson, Nanaimo’s highest and distinct peak. It was named for a British physician that worked with one of the coal companies in the early settlement times around Nanaimo. Besides offering great hiking and mountain biking, Mount Benson also has prominent telecommunication towers. The photo of the kayak group on the water features the southern flank of Mount Benson.

 

We began the lake paddle at 10:30 am and did a counterclockwise circuit of the lake.  We visited several quaint bays observing wildlife and the splendor of quasi-wetlands.

 

There were floating and submerged logs that created a kayak labyrinth for those looking for more adventure (think: Ron) on the water. The logs support a rich environment of algae, grasses, shrubs, and ferns creating micro-environments for birds, reptiles and bugs. There were swallows and other birds enjoying these more secluded areas.  Several types of bird houses are in place for different species and clearly maintained by local enthusiasts. 

 

While it was a shorter paddle for the group, paddlers had to be on alert near the shorelines as there are hundreds of submerged logs or stumps, many barely below surface, others trimmed, and more at depth likely in place since flooding well over 100 years ago.   They pieced together a lovely habitat and minor hazards for us.

 

 

 

We finished the 4.5km paddle around Noon and noticed that the wind had also picked up compared to when we had started.  We enjoyed a picnic lunch near the beach. We discussed an upcoming trip to Spoatt Lake and noted that starting the PGOSA paddle season at Westwood Lake makes sense as its beneficial to newer paddlers in the group and a good way to ease into the season. We departed at 1pm.

Newcastle Island History

Before leaving, its worthwhile to note that Newcastle Island is named after Newcastle, England, a city north of London that was a major coal producing region throughout the 1800s and helped to fuel the industrial revolution in the UK and Europe. 

The discovery of coal on the island across from Nanaimo soon became known as ‘Newcastle’ by the British settlers.  There was significant development on the island over a 30-year period that drove the economy of Nanaimo. Before long, Nanaimo was the largest coalfield on the west coast of North America.  In the years that followed, there was also development of a high-quality building stone (Nanaimo sandstone) quarry on Newcastle Island.  Both businesses had a strategic advantage for shipping as they were on tidewater that negated overland transportation to a port.

Westwood History

The lake is named in honour of the Westwood family. The Westwood family, from Birmingham England, sailed in 1848 to New Orleans and later made stops in St Louis, Iowa, Salt Lake, and Victoria by the early 1860s. They eventually homesteaded in Nanaimo where land was inexpensive to acquire. They amassed significant lands below and around the swampy ground that would later become Westwood Lake. They had a successful dairy farm and later sold some land that had coal potential to a mining group which secured their wealth.

In the early 1900s they sold additional lands to the Nanaimo power utility that built small dams, including at Westwood to control and secure waterflow for hydro power. With that, Westwood Lake was created.  One descendent, Earl Westwood had a 12-year run in politics serving twice as the Mayor of Nanaimo in the 1950s plus once as an MLA.  He was instrumental in the creation of Westwood Park in the 1960s.

 Don Poirier and Elizabeth Hardy