No excuses: Here are the best easy hikes for lazy people in Metro Vancouver
With the weather finally starting to improve, we can come out of hibernation and start exploring our beautiful city.
There’s no better way to enjoy the sunshine than by wandering into the woods and breathing in some fresh mountain air.
So, here are 14 of the easiest hikes in Vancouver that even the laziest among us can master.
For your own safety, please make sure you are prepared before heading out on your next adventure. Information on how to prepare for your trip and stay safe while on your hike is available from North Shore Rescue and AdventureSmart.
Iona Beach Regional Park
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This hike follows a long, narrow beach and a grassy area along the mouth of the Fraser River, offering views of the Georgia Strait and dramatic descent into hundreds of logs washed up along the shoreline.
Distance: 6 km
Where: Starts and ends at the parking lot off Iona Island Causeway, Vancouver
Foreshore Trail
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This trail through Pacific Spirit Regional Park passes through Vancouver’s famous nudist Wreck Beach. Along the way, you’ll enjoy scenic views and see an old WWII tower designed to warn Vancouver of an impending attack. Note that more than half of the trail follows the beach, which is rocky, slippery, and can be challenging during high tides.
Distance: 5 km
Where: Starts and ends at the Acadia Beach parking lot on NW Marine Drive
Stanley Park
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The quintessential Vancouver hike through a beautiful urban park. Stanley Park is full of many networks of trails for both cycling and hiking. You can venture into the forest to find Beaver Lake, or make your way around the infamous Seawall.
Distance: 10 km
Where: Starts near the Rose Garden in Stanley Park, Vancouver
Pacific Spirit Regional Park
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Pacific Spirit Regional Park offers a huge network of easy trails in an oasis of green forest, trickling creeks, and muddy bogs in Vancouver’s University Endowment Lands. Watch out for dog walkers on the trails as you flex your legs in the forest.
Distance: 10 km
Where: Starts and ends at the park entrance on 16th Avenue next to Camosun Park, Vancouver
Maplewood Flats
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The trail through Maplewood Flats Conservation Area offers picnic tables, scenic views, and rocky terrain. Managed by the Wild Bird Trust of BC, it is also a popular bird-watching park — look out for the over 200 species of birds spotted in the area annually.
Distance: 2.5 km
Where: Starts and ends in the Maplewood Flats parking lot off the Dollarton Highway in North Vancouver
Whyte Lake
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Whyte Lake Park is a small, peaceful lake in the hills above Horseshoe Bay, and is found in the largest park in West Vancouver. The trail to the lake is surrounded by wetlands, creeks, and old-growth forest, and ends at a small lakeside dock.
Distance: 5 km
Where: Starts and ends at the metal gate in the gravel parking area just off Westport Road, off Woodgreen Drive, in West Vancouver
Lighthouse Park
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This one has got lots of short, easy trails offering breathtaking ocean views, huge, old-growth Western Red Cedars, and the picturesque picnic spot of Starboat Cove.
Distance: 6 km
Where: Starts and ends at Lighthouse Park parking lot – Beacon Lane, West Vancouver
Cypress Falls
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This easy hike takes you along Cypress Creek, through forests of moss-covered, old-growth trees, and past views of two gorgeous waterfalls as they pour into the canyon below.
Distance: 3 km
Where: The trail starts and ends at Cypress Falls Park – Woodgreen Place, West Vancouver
Twin Falls
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The Twin Falls are on the Baden Powell Trail, near the Lynn Valley Suspension Bridge. They’re easy to get to and there’s a wooden bridge viewing platform which can get pretty busy in the summer.
Distance: 1 km
Where: East of the Lynn Canyon Suspension Bridge in Lynn Headwaters Regional Park
Whytecliff Park
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This park in West Vancouver boasts spectacular views of Howe Sound, a myriad of easy trails weaving through the forest, plus a beach, an island area, and a chance to scuba dive.
Distance: 2 km
Where: Starts and ends at the top of the overflow parking lot off Marine Drive near Horseshoe Bay, West Vancouver
Capilano Canyon
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This trail offers beautiful views of Grouse Mountain and the Lions in the distance as you walk through hemlock and fir trees and clamber over tree roots surrounded by rainforest.
Distance: 2.6 km
Where: Starts and ends at Cleveland Dam off Capilano Road, North Vancouver
Lynn Loop
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Enjoy a forest hike among cedar and hemlock trees, with views of Vancouver Island and some of the Gulf Islands, before strolling back along the gushing waters of Lynn Creek.
Distance: 5 km
Where: Starts and ends in Lynn Headwaters Regional Park – Lynn Valley Road, North Vancouver.
Rice Lake
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This is a calm, quiet lake, full of life and natural beauty on the edge of the Lynn Headwaters Regional Park in North Vancouver. There are several viewpoints and trails around the lake, with benches from which to take in the natural beauty of the area.
Distance: 3 km
Where: Starts and ends at the parking lot north of Capilano College, on Lillooet Road in North Vancouver
Quarry Rock
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A beginner-friendly walk through the forest to a gorgeous lookout spot atop Deep Cove.
Distance: 4 km
Where: The trailhead is in Deep Cove along Panorama Drive
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