Tuesday, March 31, 2009

A stop at Cates Park on the way to coffee with the "boys" March 31, 2009

One of the things that I have tried to do since retirement at the end of 2006 is to get together with some of the former staff and members - one such group meets three times a week at a coffee shop near Mt Seymour in North Vancouver. I try to meet with them about once a month and since I won't be doing a lot of biking for the next month because of the training for the Vancouver Marathon as a bike escort but I still wanted to take advantage of a brisk spring day - after heavy overnight rain it started to clear off this morning and the brisk NW winds cleared the skies so I took this opportunity to leave a little early and stop at Cates Park on the Dollarton highway in North Vancouver.

A beach scene looking west towards the Second Narrows Bridge.

These two fine feathered friends were also out for a stroll.

A historic anchor in the Park - one of the things that I like about this Park is that you get views to the west back towards Vancouver - to the south across Burrard Inlet to Burnaby and Port Moody and to the North and North East up Indian Arm and towards Belcarra, Buntzen and Eagle Ridge in the Tri-Cities area.

Cates Park sits on Squamish First Nations land and has several displays of some of their heritage - here we see one of their canoes.

Another view of the canoe.

The Park also has several short trails - this one honors Malcolm Lowry - a Canadian author who lived in a squatter shack in the Park for many years not far from this sign - this trail leads to the eastern end of the Park where you can continue along side streets all the way to Deep Cove - this route along the Dollarton is a favorite for biking as none of the hills are two steep unless you want to climb up to Mt Seymour Parkway.


The trail surface is crushed gravel and this bridge spans a small seasonal creek.


View back across towards Port Moody and the Gas storage tanks that are prominent on the slopes of Burnaby Mt.

Looking across towards Buntzen and Eagle Ridge - there was a new dusting of snow on the top of the Ridge.
On last look at the trail as I return to my truck and head for the coffee with the Boys.

There were five of us there today - Bill, Roger, Bert and George - the session usually lasts about an hour and lots of stories get told + we inquire about the health of the some of the others who we each come in contact with.

Now it time to rest up before the first of the bike training rides after dinner tonight.

Cheers

Dennis

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