Given the seemingly unending landscape of mountains, peaks, glaciers, lakes, and valleys that runs north along the coast, coupled with a gorgeous river and ocean shoreline around and south ofthe city, it’s no surprise that hiking (or just “walking,” as the English call it) is hugely popular.
Mountain Equipment Co-op (130 West Broadway, Central Van-couver, 604-872-7858, www.mec.ca) does a staggring business in footwear, rainwear, fleeces, packs, trekking poles, compasses, and compact binoculars — for starters. Actually, this mega-market is as much a resource center as a business. You’ll find books on hiking and climbing, and lots of staffers in the know.
An ideal place to begin hiking is Cypress Provincial Park and adjoining Hollyburn Mountain in West Vancouver (see “Hollyburn Mountain”), or Mount Seymour Provincial Park, reachable from the Mount Seymour Parkway in North Vancouver.
BC Parks has published an excellent map titled Provincial Parks of the Lower Mainland. It includes these and other superb (though a little more distant) parks, such as Golden Ears Park east of the city, and Alice Lake and Garibaldi provincial parks north of Squamish.
For provincial park information, go to www.gov.bc.ca and the pages headed BC Parks, or call 604-924-2200 (in the Lower Mainland) or 604-898-3678 (Garibaldi-Sunshine Coast).
An easy way to get to know the region’s hiking potential while safely testing your abilities is to join the North Shore Hikers (604-278-3047, www.northshorehikers.com). A well-organized group with a long history in southwest BC, it runs hikes of varying degrees of difficulty (or ease) almost every Saturday and Sunday of the year. Locations are as diverse and distant as the Joifre Lakes north of Whistler and the Mount Baker region in Washington state. However, most of its hikes are relatively close to Vancouver, and several are to inner-city locations such as Stanley Park. A modest yearly member-ship fee is involved.
If you want to take the North Shore mountains at one fell swoop, consider the Baden-Powell Trail, wending twenty-five miles from Deep Cove in Indian Arm to Horseshoe Bay on Howe Sound, and reaching to almost 4,000 feet on Black Mountain. This spectacular trail, opened in 1971, takes in (from east to west) the steep terrain of Indian Arm and Seymour Mountain; Lynn Canyon and Valley; Grouse Mountain; Mosquito Creek (relax, it’s just a name); the Capilano River, canyon, and lake; Cypress Bowl; and Hollyburn and Black mountains — the entire terrain. Do the trail end to end, and you’ll never regret it. Among several good hiking books is 109 Walks in British Columbia’s Lower Mainland, published by Greystone Books. However, it covers only the frequently traveled eastern portion of the Baden-Powell Trail.
North Vancouver’s Lynn Canyon Park includes a suspension bridge over a i66-foot canyon that rivals the touristy Capilano Suspension Bridge — but without the crowds and entry fee. The park is off the Upper Levels Highway and Lynn Valley Road; follow the signs to the Lynn Canyon Ecology Centre. Beyond the bridge are dozens of trails through the canyon park and into Lynn Headwaters Regional Park.
A year-round guiding business, North Shore Hiking Services ( 604-929-5 75 I , www.northshorehikingservices.com) takes groups of up to six on routes such as the Baden-Powell Trail at Deep Cove, Black Mountain, Lynn Canyon, Mosquito Creek, and, conditions permitting, the BC Mountaineering Club Trail to the top of Grouse Mountain.
For the less physically adventurous, there’s lots of easy hiking and walking within the metropolitan region that you can reach in a short drive or even by public transit (see “Walks with Charles Clapham”).
The Greater Vancouver Regional District oversees twenty-two parks with a total area of 28,000 acres, all within an hour’s drive of central Vancouver. They include gems such as Capilano River in North Vancouver, Boundary Bay in Delta, Minnekhada in Pitt Meadows, and Pacific Spirit Park on the end of the Point Grey peninsula. You can download detailed maps at www.gvrd.bc.ca, but it’s easier to invest in a good city map and just find your way there.
If it’s wet or blustery, the weather can be drier south of the Fraser River. Spectacular, if relatively easy, hikes and walks include the 12 miles of ocean and river dikes (suitable for cycling, too) around the perimeter of west and south Richmond, and the lona sewage outfall in lona Beach Regional Park. The latter may sound uninviting, but this straight-ahead walk of almost three miles plunks you smack in the middle of ocean and river, seemingly at the foot of the coastal mountains. After crossing the Arthur Laing Bridge from Vancouver, you’ll see a directional sign on the roundabout. Travel northward again, then westward along the island spit.
Richmond’s dikes are accessible at road ends around the municipality, but particularly at the south end of No. 2 Road and on River Road. For details on these and other nature trails in Richmond, go to www. city.richmond.bc.ca.
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