Lynn Canyon Park

Address	3663 Park Road, North Vancouver
Hours	June-August daily 10am-5pm, September-May 10am-5pm weekdays, noon-4pm weekends
Phone	604-981-3103
Website	www.dnv.org/ecology

It may be off the beaten tourist track in suburban Vancouver, but this temperate rainforest is a popular spot with the locals when the weather’s fine. In the afternoons groups of teenagers amble down the forest paths in their bathing suits and flip-flops, headed for a pristine crystal-green watering hole beneath a hidden waterfall that feeds Lynn Creek. (A sign by the canyon entrance cautions against whirlpools in the emerald-green 30-foot pool, to which the occasional daredevil pays no heed. You won’t have the place to yourself unless you come first thing in the morning, but the spot’s so picturesque you won’t mind the company.) The other main attraction at Lynn Canyon is the suspension bridge that sways 166 feet above the creek, which is perhaps more accurately described as a roaring river. The hiking paths vary from easy to moderately strenuous, and some of the circuits could take up to three hours to complete. The park also offers a small but informative ecology center and a café offering junk food, baked desserts, and a real lunch menu. Brochures at the ecology center entrance have a map of the canyon and its trails, but keep in mind it’s not drawn to scale.

To get to Lynn Canyon by public transport, take the SeaBus from Waterfront Station to Lonsdale Quay, where you can take bus 228 or 229 to Park Road. Tell the bus driver you’re headed to Lynn Canyon. (Allow a good hour and a quarter between Waterfront Station and the park, and leave relatively early in the morning—the park gets increasingly crowded as the afternoon passes.) If you’re driving, take the Lions Gate Bridge through Stanley Park to Capilano Road, then head east on Highway 1 before taking the exit for Lynn Canyon. Make a right onto Peters Road; Park Road is at the end of Peters, where the Canyon entrance is clearly signposted.