One of the sure signs that the tourist season is getting underway officially here in Vancouver is the arrival of the cruise ships at Canada Place - while we are a week away from the home porting ships taken up residence in our City for the next 5 months we usually get a few strangers making a rare visit to our City and yesterday was no exception as the Fred Olsen Cruise Lines ship the "Balmoral" - formerly the Norwegian Crown - paid us a visit as part of a 35 day world cruise - this is the first time that I can remember this company have one of its ships visiting us.
Furthermore it is also overnighting here giving its passengers even more time to see our great city.
Here in photo essay form is my tour of Canada Place and the "Balmoral" which was docked on the east side of Canada Place.
View taken from walkaway at foot of Granville Street and looking towards the ship.
I am now walking along the east side of Canada Place towards the ship.
Close up view of the bow of the ship.
The ship was enlarged after it was brought by Fred Olsen from Norwegian cruise lines.
Unlike many other ports you can get up close and personal with the ships on either side of Canada Place.
View of the ship from near the north end of the promenade that surrounds Canada Place.
The ship and a view back towards the Vancouver skyline - you get a better skyline view on the west side.
If you look closely you will see that the crew are doing a muster drill which is usually done while a ship is in port so as not to inconvenience the passengers.
One more from the walkway.
I now head over to adjacent Granville Square where I took this final image - this is where you get the best views for ships that are berthed on the east side of Canada Place.
The sun was shining and the tour buses were doing a brisk business.
The ship will sail under the Lions Gate Bridge Saturday night heading for Seattle, San Francisco and Mexican ports, then through the Panama Canal - visit some Caribbean ports and head across the Atlantic and into Dover, England - it's home port.
A big welcome to any one one the ship who may have found this blog site especially from its link from the Cruise Critic web site.
There were two events of note in Vancouver on Sunday - the Vancouver Sun Fun Run in the morning and the Vancouver Canucks game in the evening.
THE VANCOUVER SUN FUN RUN APRIL 19, 2009
The Sun Run has over 55,000 participants and is one of the largest mass runs in the world - the weather was almost ideal - fairly cool yet dry - living within a block of the route I gathered the camera and took these images from a couple of vantage points near my condo - the race attracts all kinds of people - runners - walkers, people with strollers, in costume - etc. It takes a long time for the run to past any given point - while I didn't see any of my friends in the race I did see one of the Marathon Bike escorts working the first aid details and found out later that another one ran the race with his helmet cam and has posted it to his blog at:http://bulletproofcourier.blogspot.com
THE VANCOUVER CANUCKS VS ST LOUIS GAME THREE
The other event was the Canucks - while it was an away game the interest in the bars and pubs was as usual very high and the 3-2 close fought victory gives them a 3 - 0 lead in the series with the next game scheduled for Tuesday right around the time that I will be out cycling - might just have to use the record feature on my DVR.
After having one too many pints at the pub on Friday night watching the Canucks beat the St Louis Blues I was determined to get out and get some good exercise - an area with lots of recreational opportunities is the Pitt Meadows, Maple Ridge, Mission region on the North side of the Fraser River and that is where I ended up today.
Was originally thinking of doing a trip in Golden Ears Park but then remembered that the UBC Research Forest was an area that I hadn't visited very often in the past so that is the story of that trek in photo essay style.
The area is a maze of roads and trails - all pretty well marked. The terrain is gentle - some uphills and downhill - it has been logged in the past as it is a working forest - the public are welcomed but no dogs, bikes, horses etc allowed - it is adjacent to Golden Ears Park - there is limited access to the Forest from the Park - mostly near Mike Lake.
The first two photos show the park entrance and the trails in the lower part of the Forest - my intent was to do the Green loop but I had to change my plans when I realized that the suspension bridge that is out is on the Green loop.
There are a number of historical artifacts on the grounds near the entrance and there has also been some recent logging activity as seen in these photos.
I followed the A road down to the North Aloulette River - it was near here that I realized that I wouldn't be able to do the loop because of the bridge being out and with the River running this fast and high there was no way that a ford could be done.
After taking in the wonderful river flow I retraced my route back to where I joined up with the Yellow Trail - one of the longer loops - this is one of a few shelters that seem to be placed throughout the Forest.
Much of the area that the Yellow Loop traverses has been logged as is evident in this photo where the trees that have been replanted are lined up in an row and the trail is basically straight and even the creeks look like they have have a clear channel.
I found this flower in one of the swampier areas on the Yellow loop - the Yellow Loop joins with the Red Loop which takes one to a viewpoint but I found the views to the south west towards Pitt Meadows and Burnaby Mountain to be hindered by growth so I didn't bother to take any pictures there.
The Red trail was the most natural of the trails and also the one with the most climbing - it took me a little over an hour to do about 5KM of travel - the hangover was mostly gone by the time that I got back to the truck.
LYNN CANYON AND SUSPENSION BRIDGE LOOP HIKES APR. 15, 2009
Wednesday dawned as a sunny and nice spring day so once I disposed of my usual morning routine of breakfast, internet surfing and blogging I headed over to the North Shore for a hike. We are blessed here in the Metro Vancouver area with so many recreational opportunities so close to home and while I took my truck over to the trail head for the Lynn Canyon suspension bridge this trip can be done by bus.
One of two suspension bridges on the North Shore - the other being the better known Capilano Bridge - this one is free and is part of part of the District of North Vancouver Parks network - the Baden Powell trail crosses through the park - the park is adjacent to the Lynn Headwaters Regional Park and provides a good range of hikes and the two short loops that I did today totalled about 6KM in total - the trail surface ranges from hard packed gravel, to soft river side earth, plenty of steps and stairs and a few places where the trail is in a more natural setting.
Here in words and images and video is the story of my day on the trails of Lynn Canyon Park.
A VIDEO PRESENTATION OF WALKING ACROSS THE LYNN CANYON SUSPENSION BRIDGE APRIL 15, 2009
That's me at the Park entrance and Ecology Center - serves as an information center as well.
All the trails in the area are well signposted - in fact they appear to have been updated since my last visit to the area.
Crossing the bridge - at one time I use to be scared sh**less to cross these kinds of bridges but have learned to go with the flow.
Once across the Bridge you come to a junction where there is some signage of the history of the Park - you can go right to Twin Falls or left towards Lynn Headwaters and Rice Lake - I go right to start my first of the two loops.
The trail winds it way down using both the nature earth or with a series of well constructed stairs and steps - at one time many people would just scramble down to the creek ignoring the obvious danger of the cliffs etc.
In about 15 minutes the Twin Falls Bridge comes into sight and after a few more stairs you come down to the Bridge and Lynn Creek which at this time of year is starting to flow pretty good from the early snow melt.
A look up Lynn Creek - there are a number of natural pools that attract the adventerous in the summer time - each year people get trapped on the canyon walls and often with tragic results.
I return back to the start and take another image of the someone crossing the Bridge.
The second part of the Loop is the Baden Powell trail as it heads north and west towards Grouse - you follow this until it merges after a few more steep staircases at Dempsey Road - the terminus for the Lynn Valley Bus.
The staircase makes the climb back up the canyon walls somewhat easier.
From Dempsey Road you head down Rice Lake Road - the signs point you in the proper direction.
Pipeline crossing of Lynn Creek - once across the creek you turn right and head back to the Suspension Bridge - if you were to go straight ahead you will come out at the entrance to the Lower Seymour Conservation Reserve and their trail network in about 10 minutes.
This large staircase takes you down to the Creek and to a good sun and swim spot in the better weather - there was actually three macho types rolling up the pants legs and taking off the shirts and getting into the ice cold water to have some pictures taken.
If you click on the picture and zoom in towards the upper right you will see the guys mentioned in the previous image.
One last look at the Bridge - it look a little over an hour for me to do this trek - it was a good walk with just enough climbing to get the heart beat going .
Of course it is also playoff hockey time and the town is abuzz with the prospects for the Canucks having a good playoff run - so after catching parts of the first two periods I headed for the Two Parrots Restaurant and Bar on Granville and joined Jim for the remainder of the game - they have $2.00 beers everytime the Canucks score but the 3rd period was scoreless so I had to pay the regular price $5.00 for one beer to enjoy the post game show etc.
The bike training for the Vancouver Marathon continues to process - they had me lead the full course group last time but because many people showed up late we didn't leave on time so we had to shorten the route a little to be back in time for the pizza - we are getting between 16 and 20 riders most nights - we still need to increase that total between now and full course ride on April 26, 2009.
One of the goals that I would like to be able to accomplish before I have to hang up the spurs as the saying goes is to bike, hike or explore as much of the Trans- Canada trail in BC that I can -I have done most of the route from Horseshoe Bay to east of Chilliwack and parts of the Kettle Valley but one section on the North Shores has eluded me for any number of reasons and that is a short section from the Caufield overpass to Cypress Falls park - their have been a number of changes in access to this section - not the least of which is the changes brought on by the new inland section of the Sea to Sky Highway.
Yesterday dawned dry so it was an opportunity to check out what I wrote before - it turned out to be a good little rekkie - between what I saw for myself and what I picked up from a couple I met on the trail I can now plan on adding this section to my list of sections completed.
I started yesterday walk from Westport Rd at this trailhead figuring if I headed up I should connect to either the TCTrail or the Baden-Powell trail. I ended up finding both.
After about ten minutes of hiking and one side trail I came to this junction which is the TCT trail coming from Cypress Falls.
It was marked as the 5KM mark - that would be from Horsehoe Bay - the trail is multi-use here but some becomes hiking only as the cyclisst have to take a different route.
It appears to be one of the many old roads that dot the area from logging and West Van's water system from years ago.
The route now becomes more of a trail and starts to drop down to the Nelson Creek drainage.
This is another important junctions - there is now a newly improved trail put in by West Vancouver Parks that will connect the TCTrail with the Baden Powell trail - I follow the connecter trail for a short distance.
The trail here is slowly dropping to the Nelson creek drainage.
New bridge over Nelson Creek - this was my turn around point as I wanted to backtrack and explore some more of the TCT.
Nelson Creek - it has a nice flow at this time of the year as the snow melt has slowly begun here on the west coast.
One last look at the bridge and surrounding area.
I now retrace my steps back to the junction and follow the TCTrail for a short distance until I meet with the couple that I referred to early and they were able to provide me with the info that I was looking for - if I was to continue down the TCT I would end up at the Caufield overpass on Highway 1 - so I now know the missing link access point. - that will be a walk in the near future on a drier day than today.
I also followed the TCT pass my connector trail to Westport to see how it leads to the Cypress Falls Park area - it appears from checking some other photos to be about 1.6 K M to my last walking point.
I think I know how to do this a hike and bike loop so I am going to look into that.
I am now walking along the east side of Canada Place towards the ship.
Close up view of the bow of the ship.
The ship was enlarged after it was brought by Fred Olsen from Norwegian cruise lines.
Unlike many other ports you can get up close and personal with the ships on either side of Canada Place.
View of the ship from near the north end of the promenade that surrounds Canada Place.
The ship and a view back towards the Vancouver skyline - you get a better skyline view on the west side.
If you look closely you will see that the crew are doing a muster drill which is usually done while a ship is in port so as not to inconvenience the passengers.
One more from the walkway.
The sun was shining and the tour buses were doing a brisk business.
