| Nanaimo Lakes | |
| Location: | Regional District of Nanaimo, Vancouver Island, British Columbia[1] |
| Coordinates: | 49.1°N -124.1708°W |
| Etymology: | Snuneymuxw First Nation – city of Nanaimo |
| Part Of: | Nanaimo River |
| Catchment: | At least [2] |
| Basin Countries: | Canada |
| Pushpin Map: | Vancouver Island |
Nanaimo Lakes are a chain of four lakes composed of three natural—First, Second, and Third Lakes—and one man-made, dammed lake, Fourth Lake, on the upper Nanaimo River, on Vancouver Island in British Columbia, Canada.
The lakes are in a highland transitional area between the southern Vancouver Island Ranges and the Nanaimo Lowland.
The 1:50,000 topographic map quadrangle, published by Natural Resources Canada, is centred on the lakes.[3] Note that lake names do not appear on all online mapping services, and Third Lake, not listed by the Watershed Roundtable, but listed in a 1919 guide, and on the Natural Resources Canada map, may not appear on some maps at all.[4] A lake with a dam at the north end, named "Fourth Lake", is also shown on the map. First Lake and Second Lake, at 210 metres above sea level,[3] are connected by a short stream. Fourth Lake Dam is privately owned and impounds of water, used for a paper mill.
Timberwest owns four campsites on private land surrounding First Lake.[7] The lake was stocked with up to 30,000 salmon or trout per year for recreational fishing beginning in 1905 through the early 21st century.[8] Fourth Lake can be kayaked.
In March, 1945, a Fu-Go balloon bomb made in Yamaguchi Prefecture and launched from Japan landed at the lakes. Its firing circuits malfunctioned; it failed to detonate and was recovered and analyzed by a Canadian–American intelligence effort.