Reviews of Petroglyph Provincial Park (Park)

Lee Hoffman

If you love 1st Nations history....this is very cool

Wegdan Rashad

It was very interesting to see the carvings though I felt this park was neglected and not well maintained.

Michael Hitchen

cool looking petroglyphs

Angel Lopez

Cool pit stop

Em von Euw

A truly magical place, but the management of this park must be given back to the First Nation it belongs to. The upkeep is basically non-existent right now, and that's a shame because it feels like an important and sacred site.

Rylan Dalrymple

Unkempt, colonial white washed history. Still an amazing experience regardless. Bring a sketchpad or paper and make a rubbing of the replicas

Devon Colman

Small little trail loop in the forest, it's fun finding the petroglyphs. I wish the concrete casts of the glyphs were a little more maintained - it was hard to see what most of the glyphs were. Moss had grown in the grooves which actually helped with some, but paint or something along the lines would really help.

Judy Booth

Small, interesting provincial park in the city

Logan Edwards

Really cool site, but I am very disheartened that somebody would vandalize 1,000+ year old stone carvings. :(

Kyle W

A short, leafy stroll through the trees with some native history. There are informational signs which tell the tale of the petroglyphs, but unfortunately the petroglyphs themselves (and the concrete replicas meant to show them more clearly) have been worn down by the rain, rendering them nearly invisible. Another downside is the lack of benches to contemplate the history of the area or read a book. Nice, but just a one time visit.

Erin Sowerby Greene

VERY cool place to visit. Keep in mind that it isn't much of a walk, but definitely give yourself time to take on the history of the area

Johnny Fandry

A wonderfully scenic and, surprisingly, unpopular natural evergreen forest park. I believe the low number of people who visit is largely attributed to its being so well tucked away. It is the only logical conclusion one can come to after seeking for the entrance stemming right off the highway!

M Holladay

Not cared for at all. Ancient drawings will be list forever.

Cali Storch

If you haven't been here before, go check it out! This park is full of history and is a nice walk. Pet friendly too!

Marta Borowska

Short but neat forest trail walk to see some petroglyphs. They are all located in one spot in a circle. There are some informational plaques you can read. Not much parking maybe 10-15 spots. 5-10 minute visit here. Was not busy early in the morning. Saw some dead wildlife (mouse and duck) on the trail. There is a small mountain view clearing near some houses at the end of the short trail.

MATJAŽ PINTAR

You want a really good breakfast, all made right there in the kitchen, fresh, tasty and delicious ? You want to feel like you're their special guest ? Go visit this place. It's really good. Very friendly. Welcoming establishment that is focused on making you feel good by being there and by eating their delicious cooking. Highly recommended.

Ralph Fuhrmann

A short walking loop with some cool Petroglyphs in sandstone. Interpretive signs and replicas in concrete to help you interprete. Nice for a ten minute stop.

Ben Muller

Not too much there

Brian Kates (Big B)

Very small... I thought ok... a park take a nice long stroll through the forest...uhhhhh nope... the walk to the end of the path took all of 3 minutes... they have prints in concrete. But the actual petroglyphs were covered with moss and hard to see... there was no protection on them like plexiglass sheets or anything. I would skip this one.

Nick “Nickname” Name

Sweet little exhibit.

Aaron Spitzer

Very small park, difficult to make out glyphs. Would benefit from more information.

Simon P

Great example of native art in original condition

Brandon Riddoch

It's good

Katie Cameron

Very cool!

Annj Alexander

Very underwhelming and hard to see the petroglyphs. The main rock was covered in leaves - the issue may be that this park isn’t maintained, which is sad because there’s a lot of cultural learning here, and also a sacred space for some nations.

Tanya Carr

Very accessible little park with great explanations on what to look for. Would give it a full 5 stars for offering such an immediate and genuine connection to our history but the smell of urine in the parking lot never seems to go away.

Daphne Rayner

Interesting and free but it's 15 mins out of your life and people have wrecked it by carving their names. Sad.

Jason V.

Short, easy stroll to the location of the Petroglyphs. How could this not be cool seeing work of First Nations up to 1000 years old? Amazing.

Hooman B

Good for kids. Nothing much for adults.

Kale Lee

Short steep hike to see petroglyphs. Ok view of ocean flats and logging area.

Richard Harrison

Very cool. Worth the 20 minute stop to see.

Andrew Cripps

Instead of shooting past Nanaimo heading North on Highway 19, go on the old Trans Canada route and stop in at the Petroglyph Provincial Park for 15 - 20 minutes and then explore the old town of Nanaimo. There is a good interpretation section for the petroglyphs. The site itself has carvings on a few visible flat rocks. Certainly of interest as a historical item and well worth taking in with other rock art sites on the coast - see the map at the interpretation area for some other nearby sites.

Kathleen Kehler

Nice stop just off the highway. Clean pathway to the petroglyphs. Unfortunately the overall maintenance of the petroglyphs was under whelming as moss and nature was hiding more than showing.

Eugenia S

Short walk to the petroglyphs. This park is not in the best condition. The petroglyphs were covered by grass and dirt. Looks like there’s some vandalism happening. We still enjoyed the visit to the park. It’s good for a 30 min quick stop. Read up on history, look around and imagine what it would be like there during the time when petroglyphs were getting carved out.

Dawn Turner

A lovely little park that felt almost like holy ground. I don't know how else to explain it. I'll be back to ground myself from time to time. Sounds woo woo, I know! :)

Charlene

Due to poor maintenance of this park it is very hard to see some of the petroglyphs as well there is no signage pointing out the actual fossil which also exist in this park and there should be a handrail . Trails poly maintained trees fallen down blocking walkway or up against rocks .

Katrina Cairns

Interesting short walk in a nice area

Steve Saunders

It's just a very small hike. You can see all the petroglyphs in about 10 minutes.

Kevin Haslam

Great for 30 min ???? if you haven't been to take a look

Lisa Schenk

Gorgeous area and the petroglyphs are just so cool. My only complaint was the petroglyphs were so overgrown and covered with tree needles we couldn't find most of them, also a legend showing where each glyph is on the stone would be helpful too.

Susan Pollett

Nice park and educational

Paula

Neat stop!

Dawn Bast

Not enough trails

Bhautik Pathak

This place is not properly maintained by authority.

Sushistew

Not as big as it looks but some neat rocks

Morgan Davies

Nice piece of culture. Sadly surrounded by noise and hiway

Cory Schreyer

Kinda cool local history. Short easy walk.

Shelby Stauffert

I read about this place on the Internet and they said it was 'littered' with petroglyphs. But when we got there it wasn't what I expected. Probably a total of 5 minutes of walking trails and the petroglyphs that weren't casts were cover in moss and pine needles so you couldn't see them. But I did like that they had information boards telling you the meaning behind each character in the rocks and a brief history of them.

Luke “lazygaming” Dixon

Fun short little walk, I thought there would be more but it was cool.

Janessa Leighton

Thought they would be similar to the petroglyphs we had seen in Ontario, but we couldn't even actually find these! Only the castings. The map shows the trail continues to petroglyphs but then it's blocked off with railings... wasn't even worth the 5 minutes to get there from our hotel.

Balkaran Matharu

Just a small walk to see the petroglyphs, but it is very cool to see something that has been carved into stone many years ago.

Frater Novac

No variety

Tony Brandner

Short walk, nice area and important history

JOHNNY Syrette

Love parking here

Dean Derkson

A small park with mostly hard to see petroglyphs. We did find a geocash nearby though.

Ceesandmarta van de Mond

It was nice to learn a bit about petroglyphs, but the park is quite small and there are only a few real petroglyphs. You'll spend most your time reading signs and looking at petroglyph castings.

Viera Culakova

Nice place with history.

Catherine Simmons

Underwhelming

Diana “Dee” Enns

Disappointing. Petroglyphs were covered in moss. Cant even see them.

Dean Marvel

Very cool petroglyph fossils

Ewald

Good but petroglyphs are kind of hidden. Path is short.

Silvia Gamero

Waste of time. There's literally nothing to see, just rocks covered in moss.

Robert Hamilton

Meh. Casts and reproductions. Not worth the visit.

Jack Chan

(Translated) Aboriginal history. (Original) 原住民历史记录。

M Holding

Not well maintained, underwhelming.

Jon Galliazzo

Amazing to see the hundreds or even thousands of years of human history here.

Brandon Wong

Small parking lot. Interesting stuff to read and look at.

Yard Plots

Short relaxing walk to an interesting piece of history

Judy Curran

It was very interesting, however very hard to see the petroglyphs and kids have defaced some of them...so sad!

Douglas Kelly

Small amd boring

Jeff Mountain

petroglyph park is a short walk around some petroglyphs a nice spot to stop and stretch on the side of the island hyw

Keira Mackay

Little bit of history and some tiger lily

Juli Wood

Thought it would be bigger.

Riley Martens

The forest area is nice, however, BC parks needs to spend some time to cleaning the moss and dirt off of the Petroglyphs, as they are completely grown over. I think we saw the sea wolf, however, it was nearly impossible to make out. This place has the potential to be a historical point of interest. An idea would be to build a small roof over the petroglyphs to protect them from moss. Also a a legend would be nice beside the actual petroglyphs, so you know what you are looking at.

Wind blows, weather changes.

Nice place , great walk.

Danny Gauthier

I'm just stunned by the beauty of those petroglyphs. Better than tags, anyway.

Dave Bodaly

Sharing our Snuneymuxw version of the old stories is very important addition to any walk about

Sharon B

Though I liked the petroglyphs - the park is tiny and only had a few petroglyphs. Is worth a visit if you drive but not sure if it was worth a very long walk to get there.

Kelsey Stenson

Neat place to check out. Don't like how they blocked off the full root of the walk with a railing. Wish it was a bigger place to explore. But a nice short interesting stop for sure

S Griffin

Just off the highway, quick walk, not a big area, needs some maintenance to make it a 3 plus for rating.

doug richards

Very nice, interesting and informative

Shannon Davey

I don't understand. GOOGLE just brought me to a retirement complex. Where am I? Update* Google brings you to the backside of the park on the outside of a fence next to someone's backyard. The actual entrance is off of the highway well signed.

Ryan McNair

(Translated) That's wonderful! (Original) Cest magnifique!

Ryan Watson

Very cool. Unfortunately visitors can't help but to deface some of the glyphs.... dont be those people.

Heather Bray

Love this place!

Michael Bryniarski

It's worth seeing but don't expect to spend a whole lot of time here. It only takes maybe 15 minutes to see all of the park but it's still a very cool piece of Vancouver Island's history.

Brioche

Little park with a slice of history. Worth the 15 or so minutes it takes to hike around, especially when the sun is shining :)

Ze Ez

there is almost nothing in the "park". if you call a few stone plate on the ground as park. not worth the gas money.

Lee Harding

Not much to it but it is neat.

Joe Hebert (Joseph Hebert)

Love historical places

dan barbour

Petroglyphs were underwhelming, park is so small you can hear the highway even all the way down the one path

Elizabeth McDonald

Was neat, but felt it should have been better keep

Reese Ross

10 minutes to look at the Petroglyphs that are covered in moss.

John Manuel

Nice little park for a walk in the trees

DEREK KRISTIANSON

Cool ???? place

K Johnston

Really letting this park go... But it is neat to see the remaining Petroglyphs.

David Kinne

Nice view

Cathy F

It's an interesting place but extremely small. They could extend the walking trails quite a bit, there seems to be room.

Nick Pouliot

Could be hard to spot them along path. You may need to brush some leaves away to get a look.

Bryan Chartrand

People need to visit more.

Ila Farshad

All the way in the back are the authentic petroglyphs. Explanation is clear. Unfortunately it does not mention when they were made. I would suggest a QR code with which one can download all petroglyphs on the island. And some more explanation about the First nations that made it.

Galen Campbell

A quick stop with a short walk to good displays and very cool petroglyphs. Some are very easy to see. There are probably more under the moss and/or needles. I can't believe they aren't better protected though.

Koran Weston

Nice walk to petroglyphs.

Tom3p0

It's pretty interesting, not up my alley. The history is fascinating, however. The location is hard to find, we drove past it several times, and it is easy to miss. Very small, and easy to see in an hour or so.

Dave

Amazing petroglyphs: deeply etched, well preserved. Given that, it's surprising that this facility isn't a bigger deal. It's small, and there is no big fanfare - just a trail and a few interpretive signs. (Maybe that's why it's well preserved.????)

Barb Maisonneuve

Interesting place. Wish they showed a little better where originals were. Did find a few originals. Great little walk.

Johannes Schick

(Translated) Hardly anything to recognize. Everything full with leaves. From Victoria the way is too far for this. (Original) Kaum was zu erkennen. Alles mit Blättern voll. Von Victoria ist der Weg zu weit hierfür.

Rachel Lauze

Meh

L Nel

Nice little hike straight up the giant incline to barely visible petrovlyphs

Louise Gobert

Amazing

heather dunne

Nice little walk. Only glimpses of petroglyphs - seems lots covered in moss.

Natalie Shaw

Don't visit unless you want to feel deep disappointment about the vandalism of these very old and unique petroglyphs and the general disrespect of the space demonstrated by people camping on the grounds and assumably relieving themselves on a sacred space

Preston White

Fun fun

VAI N

OK

alexandra staple

Neat tourist attraction and views of ancient petroglyphs

Steve Mills

Very small wooded park with native petroglyphs.

Kenny T

A cool place to see very old human writings and pictures. If your a history buff you should stop.

Pilar Grageda

Literally the only thing to see

Elaine

A glimpse into the past. Beautiful carvings. Was thinking it would be bigger? Maybe there was more but the path wasn't marked?

william winslowhansen

Small walk small park some petroglyphs bit of a anticlimactic experience but it's ok to spend a few minutes here I guess

Amy Large

Small place to drop by to walk around

Manchester BP

Was interesting but think the walk and original petroglyph should be labeled better.

Marilyn Bekolay

It was a wonderful place for a short walk.

Tiffany's Adventures

Not that much to see here. Very very short walk, and the petroglyphs are covered by leafs and branches. Can barely see them. Plus to get here you can only get access from one side of the Hwy.

Christopher Samson

Was looking forward to checking this spot out. We wanted to see the real petroglyphs but they were all covered with moss and dirt. We made a special trip, about a 25min drive to look at rocks. Was a little disappointing.

Norm Shokal

Great spot

Marshall M.

Wonderful piece of local history. The Petroglyphs are overgrown and not well maintained.

logan dixon

Very short walk. About 10min. Super cool though, an interesting example of history.

geo rob

Great place to stretch your legs and learn a bit about first nations history.

Violet Obasi

Very small walk, but an interesting piece of Canadian history.

Mike W

We took the 515am Ferry and this place caught us by surprise when we got off. Our family enjoyed the history of this indigenous site but it was really cold first thing in the morning on our trip to Tonino. But it is a site that was beautiful during sunrise.

Scotty Frenzee

Cool. Very short walk

Karen6420 Armstrong

was at the mobile home park at Petroglyph park It is a very nice and very clean park for Elders to be able to live quietly

Greg Kehler

Lots a stuff to look at to bad when they built the hwy they had to move them to the current site

Thomas Darling

Get a close up look at Nanaimo's ancient past. No one seems to know for sure why First Peoples made engravings at this site, but it's pretty remarkable that they've been preserved so well for so long. This hike only takes 10 minutes, and there are some nice explanations and recreations along the way. A perfect place to stop and stretch your legs, and a great place for the little ones. Highly recommend!

Donna Harrington

It was alright.

Trishia Georg

let's just say its not the best provincial park I've .ever.been to.

Captain Robbauer996

Clean and unique park and a quick 10 minute pitstop off the highway.

Isis van Loon

Awe inspiring!

Leslie Taylor

Was looking forward to this part of our trip but was disappointed. We found them but was really hard to see what they were do to be overgrown with moss.i could see how cool it would have been if no moss was there.

Debbie Bristow

Quite an uphill climb and someone just had to spray paint on some of the rocks but pretty cool none the less

P Zhang

Can be an interesting spot for history or archaeological buff, but for ordinary folks this park is underwhelming. I wish Parks can build a small interpretation center on the site that can host more indigenous artifacts and serve as a lookout to the sea.

Daveen Wild

Short and sweet stop - a quick history note and viewing.