Garrow Bay Park [PPR: Local's Perspective]

Access via Marine Dr > Wellington Ave > Imperial Ave.

I like to think that I am this park's local. It's only a few blocks from my house, and I've been going there as often as possible ever since I discovered it about a year ago. It took me so long to find it because the way there looks like this:

It looks an awful lot like someone's driveway, and it is someone's driveway, but it's also the way to Garrow Bay Park.

After a set of stairs through a tunnel of rose bushes, the park opens up to a grassy area. In the spring, there's two geese who live there. They've got an adorable life partner vibe going on, and they return every year to walk around slowly and eat things.

The actual bay part of Garrow Bay is pretty nice. After going down the stairs, you can get there by turning left.

The rocks are an awkward size and shape for walking or sitting on. Besides, they're usually underwater; I visited Garrow Bay at a very low tide. But the sharp rocks are good for catching logs and keeping them in place. As you can see in the picture, there's several rows of logs to walk and sit on.

If you can find a good pair of water shoes to protect your feet, Garrow Bay would be a good place for swimming, although the beach is a little lame and the depth drops quickly (I wouldn't recommend this spot for anyone who isn't a strong swimmer). That's because there's a diving raft!

There aren't many diving rafts in West Vancouver. In fact, Garrow Bay Park is the only park in the municipality with one. Even though the beach is hard on the feet, it's worth it. Diving rafts are a lot of fun if you do them right.

That stuff is great, but my favorite part of the park is the other half.

That bench is probably my favorite bench in the entire world. It's got a nice quote on it, but I once spent half an hour disagreeing with it one time that I went there alone.

Cole disagrees with my disagreement, but I think that if you define yourself as a hunter or a sailor, then your home is the hills or the sea.

But that's not why I like this bench. I like this bench because it has one of the most interesting, beautiful and dynamic views on all of the North Shore.

While sitting on this bench over the past year, I've seen all sorts of boats pass by: everything from kayaks to sailboats to ferries. It faces west, so it's perfect for watching sunsets. And then there's the islands... Bowen Island (the big one), Passage Island (the small one), Bird Islet (the really small one with the red light on it), and Whyte Islet (the main attraction).

If you've ever been to Whytecliff Park, you're probably familiar with Whyte Islet. It's that awesome rock that's accessible during low tide and super fun to explore. My favorite bench at Garrow Bay Park provides the perfect side view of it. I've always thought the islet looked like a giant sea turtle. On sunny afternoons, you can usually see people climbing on the turtle's back. Unfortunately, there weren't any people the day I took pictures. That's probably because I took the pictures on a dreary Wednesday morning in October.

PPR
Good: diving raft, view, bench, resident geese
Bad: rocky beach, at the bottom of a steep hill
8.5/10

Douglas Park [PPR: Local's Perspective]

Located at Royal Ave and Douglas St.

Douglas Park is what the kids living in Horseshoe Bay refer to as "the tennis courts".

"I'll meet you by the tennis courts."

"I live on Douglas street... Yeah, the one with the tennis courts."

"Wanna hang out at the tennis courts?"
"Haha, no!"

When I was first designing my park routes, I thought I'd skip Douglas Park because it was so insignificant. We walk by it and reference to it without ever actually looking at it. But in the end I decided to keep it on the list, because I did say I was going to "all the parks".

And it turns out that Douglas Park doesn't even have a tennis court.

Who knew that there was just a basketball/hockey court in the chain-link cage? Not I.

It turns out that there was a lot about Douglas Park that I hadn't realized. There's even a second half to the park.

It's a classic park-ish area with grass, trees and a picnic bench. Douglas Park is not too shabby from this angle.

And check this out:

It's pretty much impossible to tell from the picture, but there's actually three different types of edible berry bushes growing on this big old stump: salmon berries, huckleberries and blackberries. Come in June for the salmon berries, July for huckleberries and August for the blackberries.

PPR
Good: twice as big as I thought it was, good amount of shade from the trees, picnic bench, berries, basketball/hockey court
Bad: no tennis court, very tiny
6/10

Horseshoe Bay Park [PPR: Local's Perspective]

Located at Bay St and Royal Ave.

As the centerpiece of Horseshoe Bay village, this park is integral to the community. Every resident knows the famous propeller fountain.

But this park is important to locals and visitors alike. It's the perfect place to exhaust your kids and kill some time while you're waiting for the ferry.

Behind the ferry terminal and Swells Marina, there is a fantastic view of Bowyer Island. You'd never know it on the day I took pictures if it weren't for the public binoculars. Trust me, there is something to look at with them.

There's a very nice place to look at this rumored view too.

Besides the average park benches, Horseshoe Bay Park has these exceptionally comfortable and attractive chairs.

But if you're not the type to sit back and watch things happen, there's a place you can go to get closer. You can see a pier heading out into the water in the background on the left of the picture above. There's a floating water taxi dock at the end of it:

The coast guard keeps a boat there. That's exciting. You're welcome to go down and loiter there.

But I mentioned something about tired kids and I haven't come back to that yet. When I was a kid, the playground at this park was one of my favorites. That playground has since been replaced, but in essence, it's still the same.

It's still got a teeter-totter, swings, a pirate ship, and an awesome slide (the slide was the best). They've also added some of those spinny bucket things that are always really fun. It's a solid playground.

If man made structures don't satisfy your needs to climb on things, there's a whole row of EasyClimb Trees (trademark: Nina King) in the southwest corner .

And it wouldn't be Horseshoe Bay Park without the whale.

He's looking pretty normal these days, but this guy's had many paint jobs over the years. He's been an orca, a work of first nation's style art, and even nemo! In the summer, you can step on buttons to make him shoot water out of his blow hole.

That pretty much makes up for this park's biggest shortcoming. Although Horseshoe Bay Park is waterfront, it is not a beach.

There's a little bit of sand to walk on at low tide, but Horseshoe Bay spends most of its time underwater, putting a damper on any exploring. If you're not the type to let a little bit of water ruin your fun, I suggest you let it when you're at Horseshoe Bay. I was once paid $10 to jump off the water taxi dock, and I really wish I hadn't done it. Thanks to the ferries, private yachts and rental boats, Horseshoe Bay has some of the most disgusting water I've ever seen. It's full of engine oil and sewage. Don't touch it!

PPR
Good: place to wait for the ferry, view, nice seats, water taxi dock, playground, easyclimb trees, whale, washrooms
Bad: it's a little dirty, no beach, absolutely no swimming
7.5/10

Tantalus Park [PPR: Local's Perspective]

Located at Nelson Ave and Marine Dr.

I may be a little biased since Tantalus Park is the closest park to my house, but I don't really like it. I've tried to enjoy myself there because it's so convenient, but it's honestly a bit depressing.

There's only swings for babies, the slide is two feet tall, and they didn't even bother to paint the train. Oh well, at least there's a playground. I bet you could impress an 18 month old with it.

The rest of the park that isn't covered in rotting leaves consists of a flat grass field cut into the steep slope up from Horseshoe Bay. It looks like it would be good for sports if it weren't so small and if the ground wasn't soggy most of the year. It has got a picnic bench, though.

The bench moves around a lot. Although I've never seen people moving it, I've never seen it in the same place twice either. It's a lost cause if you ask me, though. The field is surrounded by trees and steep slopes on all four sides. The best place for it would probably be dead center, but it's usually in one of the corners.

PPR
Good: playground equipment, picnic bench, flat ground in a hilly area
Bad: playground equipment is lame, squishy field, not much light
5/10

Larson Bay Park [PPR: Local's Perspective]

Access via trail from Orchill Rd or Gleneagles Dr.

When I was younger, my family used to refer to Larson Bay Park as "our beach". Despite my long history with this park, I've never actually been in the main entrance before. The main entrance looks like this:

For those of you wondering what that little shack is, it's a toilet. Not an outhouse, a real toilet...

What the heck is plumbing doing out here? It's surprisingly clean, too.

Another surprise at the main entrance is this tennis court that isn't marked on the map.

Unfortunately, it's got a big crack in the middle of it. That makes sense, though. This ground in this whole area is downright soggy half the year. Another thing that this tennis court would like to remind you about this area:

I don't know why, but the "positively" makes me laugh.

The way down to the beach from this entrance is incredibly steep. Not just "gee, I sure am out of shape" steep, but "ow, my ankles are not meant to bend like this" steep.

Slopes are always hard to capture on camera. They never look as steep as they actually are. The other entrance is not nearly as ridiculous. I'm going to keep on taking that one (It's a trail off of Orchill Rd.)

And now... finally... Larson Bay:

Basically, this place is gorgeous and it has a gorgeous view.

From left to right, that's Passage Island, Bowen Island and Kettle Point in the very edge of the foreground. On clear days like this one, you can also see Vancouver Island way in the background. And don't worry, of course there are logs to sit on and look at this from.

This beach is also a beach glass jackpot.

That's because it's a great place to drink beer and smash the bottles. Get excited if that's your thing, but don't let it scare you off if it's not. This is a perfectly acceptable place without any drunken teenagers until after dark. During the day, it's just a treasure chest of pretty coloured glass.

Finally, one thing that Larson Bay has that's always really cool is a fort. It's been a work in progress for longer than I've been visiting and a combined effort of probably dozens of children who never see each other collecting scraps of wood and making an old root ball into a home.

I love how a beach like this can bring people together without them even knowing it. This isn't a very popular beach, but it's not completely empty either. People visit it for solitude, but they leave with friends that they've never spoken to. A smile from a stranger in a place like this means something special.

PPR
Good: view, plumbing, fort, beach glass, generally really pretty
Bad: so much ground water, too many barnacles for swimming, cracked tennis court
7/10

Tall Trees Park

Access via Gleneagles Pl.

I hadn't actually been to Tall Trees Park before this summer. I simply just didn't know it was there. It's a beach park, but the beach itself doesn't seem to have a name. It's sheltered behind Batchelor Point, and it faces Passage Island.

I'd say the main attraction of this beach is its tidal pools. Of course, you'll have to make sure that you're there at low tide to see them, but the effort of checking a tide chart is worth it.

The ragged rock formations on this shore are perfect for catching fresh ocean water and fresh life with every high tide. These aren't your standard smelly spray zone pools. These ones have clear water, crabs and fish.

Tall Trees Park, although it doesn't actually have any tall trees, does feature this tree:

It's hiding in a corner, but if you can find it, you can climb it.

But Tall Trees Park is also good for doing nothing. You don't have to be in the mood to scale trees of jagged rocks to enjoy a visit to this park. Although the natural landscape would make that difficult, this convenient concrete slab makes it possible to have a picnic bench here:

Unfortunately, this is one of the locations that's being taken over by the Japanese Knotweed. The regular bench is already covered in the stuff, but the picnic bench has held out so far. Let's hope it stays that way. Picnic benches are too cool for invasive species.

I can tell that this park doesn't get a lot of visitors because of this dog:

She came running down the stairs and started growling at me. The owners said they'd never seen anyone there before and so the dog thought that she owned Tall Trees Park. So just be aware that when you visit Tall Trees Park, that it's not actually public. Please respect the dog's property by having an awesome time here.

PPR
Good: view, picnic bench, tidal pools, climbing tree
Bad: Japanese knotweed, too rocky for swimming, owned by dogs, no tall trees
6/10

Nelson Canyon Park

Access via The Seaview Trail

At the Eagle Harbour end of the Seaview trail, where there's that big chain link fence and the railway tunnel, there is a narrow path heading up a steep slope. That path is the entrance to Nelson Canyon Park.

Nelson Canyon does, in fact feature a canyon. Nelson Creek flows through the park at an elevation much lower than the elevation you will be standing at. While it is possible to get down there, I haven't personally attempted this feat in many years. It's best just to look down at it.

Of course there are fancy bench and guardrail setups for doing this like the one above, but there's better views if you keep walking up that hill. I know it's painful, but it's worth it. This is the view:

That creek sure is a long way down. Here's another view from the exact same spot:

Here's what the pictures are taken from:

This is the old highway bridge. It's really cool. Feels very apocalyptic... in a good way. I'd call this a West Vancouver must-see.

There's also some cool graffiti underneath the bridge that's worth checking out:

But the real reason you'd go to Nelson Canyon Park isn't technically a part of the park, but the entire way there is. If you follow the bridge to your right when you emerge from the path, turn left when you get to the end, and follow the access road up the hill for a while, you will come to another trail head. If you follow that trail for a little over an hour, you will arrive at Whyte Lake.

Whyte Lake is a very tiny lake. You could swim to the other side in less than 5 minutes. However, that short swim would be exceptionally pleasant. After the long hike to get there, you're more than ready to jump in the water. And this water is the perfect temperature: cool, but not cold.

There's no beach to speak of, but that's no problem with the dock that the city has been kind enough to provide and the awesome raft made of scrap wood and dead trees that's got an old sign for a paddle.

The only downside is that it's a very small amount of space, so it's usually very crowded. Three groups of people and it's packed. With all the dogs running around, it gets straight-up chaotic. But practically everyone who goes there is friendly. So come here if you're friendly and stay home if you're not. Do your part and please don't ruin the vibes.

PPR
Good: abandoned highway bridge, cool graffiti, they didn't lie about the canyon, it's how you get to Whyte Lake
Bad: there's not much actually interesting in the vast majority of the park, that first hill is seriously steep, the lake can be quite crowded
7/10