Parks and Beaches
- Gulf Islands National Park Reserve provides opportunities for boating, kayaking, hiking, camping and wildlife viewing. At Narvaez Bay, there is a challenging 2.5 km (approx. 1.5hr) trail to the viewpoint at Monarch Head. At Monarch Head there are views of Boundary Pass and the American San Juan Islands. At East Point, swim or sunbathe on the pebble beach, or visit the Foghorn Alarm Building (FAB),a local visitor centre which is run by the Saturna Island Heritage Committee. There are also marine wildlife viewing opportunities at East Point, where one can see harbour seals and sea lions on Boiling Reef, and Dall's porpoise and resident orcas feeding in Boundary Pass. The Lyall Creek trail (2 km; approx. 40 mins 1 way) cuts through second growth Douglas-fir forest to a waterfall that feeds into one of the Southern Gulf Island's only salmon-bearing creeks. Scheduled Interpretive Programs provide an opportunity to learn about the flora and fauna of Lyall Creek, and about past and present efforts to restore this watershed. At 397 metres (1,303 feet) Mt. Warburton Pike is Saturna Island's highest point. At Mt. Warburton Pike there are panoramic views of Vancouver Island, the Southern Gulf Islands and the San Juan Islands. At Mt. Warburton Pike one can see feral goats, bald eagles, turkey vultures and falcons. At Winter Cove, the 1.5 km loop trail travels through skunk cabbage wetland, spruce-salal upland and salt marsh, before arriving at the turbulent waters of Boat Pass.
- Thompson Park. This Community Park has a sand-and-pebble beach which is good for sunbathing or swimming. A grassy field with heritage apple trees is a good place to have a picnic. Amenities at Thompson Park include ample parking, picnic tables and a pit toilet.
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Famous quotes containing the words parks and, parks and/or beaches:
“Perhaps our own woods and fields,—in the best wooded towns, where we need not quarrel about the huckleberries,—with the primitive swamps scattered here and there in their midst, but not prevailing over them, are the perfection of parks and groves, gardens, arbors, paths, vistas, and landscapes. They are the natural consequence of what art and refinement we as a people have.... Or, I would rather say, such were our groves twenty years ago.”
—Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)
“Perhaps our own woods and fields,—in the best wooded towns, where we need not quarrel about the huckleberries,—with the primitive swamps scattered here and there in their midst, but not prevailing over them, are the perfection of parks and groves, gardens, arbors, paths, vistas, and landscapes. They are the natural consequence of what art and refinement we as a people have.... Or, I would rather say, such were our groves twenty years ago.”
—Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)
“They commonly celebrate those beaches only which have a hotel on them, not those which have a humane house alone. But I wished to see that seashore where man’s works are wrecks; to put up at the true Atlantic House, where the ocean is land-lord as well as sea-lord, and comes ashore without a wharf for the landing; where the crumbling land is the only invalid, or at best is but dry land, and that is all you can say of it.”
—Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)