Last weekend, we went to Vancouver as I had 3 days off, and it was the Canadian Thanksgiving (it is still so strange for me that it’s so early as I was used to celebrating it at the end of November).
We took the ferry on Friday night just after school, and we caught the one from 5:30 from Nanaimo without reservation (and it’s 10$ less expensive than if you have made a reservation).
The weather was terrible on Friday night, and as we were looking at the weather, we were not sure what to do on Saturday (because going for a long walk in the rain was not part of our plans), so we started to do some research on Pinterest like What to do on a rainy day in Vancouver. But I think that we were lucky and when we woke up on Saturday morning, it was still cloudy, but we could see the sun!
Our hotel was downtown, and we didn’t realize, but we were so close to the water and Stanley Park, so this is how we started our day!
Where is located Stanley Park in Vancouver?
Ideally situated on a peninsula at the northwestern edge of downtown Vancouver, Stanley Park is one of the city’s main tourist destinations, attracting approximately 8 million visitors each year. Featuring lovely beaches, miles of well-maintained paved and dirt trails, and an array of can’t-miss kid-friendly spots (including a pool, water park, miniature railway, and more), this 400-hectare (1,000-acre) haven is recognized as one of the greatest urban parks in the world.
As Vancouver’s first park, with its ever-blooming gardens, pristine coastal areas, and roughly 500,000 cedar, fir, and hemlock trees, Stanley Park has continued to live up to its “greenspace” designation for almost 130 years.
Its origins:
Since time immemorial, this place we call Stanley Park today has been the territory of the Coast Salish people of three local First Nations: the Xwməθkwəyəm (Musqueam), Skwxwú7mesh Úxwumixw (Squamish), and mi ce:p kwətxwiləm (Tsleil-Waututh). Many of the natural formations in the park have important First Nations stories and significance.
The creation of Stanley Park in 1888 gave rise to the Vancouver Board of Parks and Recreation, one of a few elected boards of this kind in Canada. Today the Park Board oversees Vancouver’s 240 parks and 24 community centers, plus many pools, rinks, golf courses, marinas, sports fields, and beaches.
About the First Nations:
Coast Salish artwork in the park expresses the land’s history and people who lived here and the surrounding regions. Installed in 2008 at Brocton Point, the first Coast Salish carvings are three cedar gateways by renowned Musqueam artist Susan A. Point. Her People Amongst the People (pictured) provides a formal welcome to all visitors. The second Coast Salish work is the Yelton Memorial Pole. Created by seven carvers led by Squamish artist Robert Yelton, it honors his mother, Rose Cole Yelton, who was born in Stanley Park and lived there until 1935. The most recent is Coast Salish artist Luke Marston’s 2015 Shore to Shore bronze sculpture. It commemorates the ancestral connection between this area’s Aboriginal and Portuguese communities.
About the seawall:
Cyclists fly by, tourists stroll, joggers cruise the paths, and all Seawall denizens look out onto the bay. It’s easy to see why the Seawall in Stanley Park’s most famous feature. It’s an impressive 8.8-kilometer (5.5-mile) paved route that loops around the park and, along with adjoining seaside pathways, connects the park to downtown Vancouver and skirts its entire inner waterfront. Created in 1917 to stave off erosion, the Seawall took 60 years to complete. Today, it is the park’s most popular walking, jogging, biking, and rollerblading path and, because of its relatively flat terrain, it’s a wonderful route for all ages and abilities.
It features numerous hallmark views of the city and the water and some landmarks along the way. Over the years, the Seawall has expanded beyond the park’s boundaries and now encompasses 22 kilometers (14 miles), extending from Coal Harbour all the way to Kitsilano Beach Park.
The Seawall is just one of a variety of lovely walking and biking paths within Stanley Park. In fact, more than 64 kilometers (40 miles) of forested trails wind through the park’s interior. These well-maintained, bark-mulch-packed paths lead past towering trees that are hundreds of years old, providing welcome shade and a peaceful escape from the crowds on the park’s more-developed periphery.
Sightseeing Spots around our morning walk:
A string of beaches line Stanley Park, but only two are accessible for swimming. Second Beach, on the park’s southeastern coast, boasts the popular Second Beach Pool, a heated, outdoor pool with magnificent views of English Bay and the west side of Vancouver. Secluded Third Beach, also on the park’s southern coast, features a sandy beach and beautiful sunset views. Both offer concessions and basic services.
A third swimming beach is located just outside the park, connected by the seawall. English Bay (or First) Beach is the city’s most popular beach. There is a washroom, kayak, and paddleboard rental facility, sand volleyball courts, and even a swimming raft with a large slide.
If more natural attractions are your idea of sightseeing, make sure you don’t miss the Siwash Rock. It’s a 32 million-year-old rock outcropping that’s best viewed from the seawall Third Beach and the Lions Gate Bridge. According to First Nations legend, a man has transformed into Siwash Rock, a reward for unselfishness.
Look out onto Burrard Inlet and the Lions Gate Bridge, or watch cruise ships slip past. This historic building has been standing since 1914. Beware of the nearby 9 o’clock gun, which is fired (safely and) electronically at 9 pm each night. Despite warning lights, it’s been known to startle a few. The gun was delivered from England in 1894 and was used by mariners to set chronometers and warn fishers of closings.
Other monuments in the park include the SS Empress of Japan Figurehead, a beautiful replica of the ship’s figurehead that sailed between Vancouver and the Orient from 1891–1922.
One of the seawall’s quirkiest sites and a worthwhile stop is a girl’s stone statue in a Wetsuit floating in the water. The life-sized statue is situated atop a large boulder, so when the tide is high, it almost looks as if she is floating in the water.
One of Stanley Park’s most fascinating attractions, not to mention one of the most-visited tourist attractions in British Columbia, is the famous totem pole display at Brockton Point. Begun in the early 1920s with just four totems from Vancouver Island’s Alert Bay region, the display grew over the decades to include totems from Haida Gwaii (previously known as the Queen Charlotte Islands) and Rivers Inlet (on British Columbia’s central coast). Some original totem poles were carved as early as the late 1880s and have since been sent to museums for preservation; others were commissioned or loaned to the park between 1986 and 2009.
Nearby is another excellent example of First Nations art in the form of the Coast Salish Gateways. The three carved gateways serve as the entry to the Brockton Point Visitor Centre and the Coast Salish people’s traditional lands. They were created by Susan Point, a Coast Salish artist, and fashioned after a traditional architectural style.
We got outside Stanley Park, and we did enjoy some more views before going into Gastown and Granville Island Market (I will write another article about these…). We walk to the Conference Center, and some views were amazing! We even found how we could go back home very fast…by these seaplanes! (I always wanted to take one, so probably one day, it will be one adventure!). We walk 23 km this day, and the next day, we went to Ikea to get our furniture directly (as sometimes when you are living on Vancouver Island, it can be very long to wait for it!). But the weekend was worth it!!! I totally recommend making this walk!
