LikeMt Gardener, Bowen Island
Tuesday, June 22nd, 2010
A couple of weeks ago my family was in town for our wedding. Now, they can handle the city as much as the next group of folks from rural Tasmania, however after a few days hanging out in downtown Vancouver they were ready for some time away.
We scoped out all the close-ish places to downtown. You know, the north shore mountains, Squamish, Whistler, or somewhere further east. Then Nat suggested we head to Bowen Island.
Ah, Bowen Island! A place that I’d heard about in whispered tones. So close to downtown you can commute by ferry, they say, feels like a world away, they say, a quaint place to get away to, they say. Fair enough then.
We headed over there on a Thursday morning, having checked out a hike on one of the islands taller mountains, Mt Gardener. It was supposed to be about 7 hours return, which we figured we could knock over in a bit less time than that… They set those times for tourists with no idea, right?
Up early in the morning, we drove to Horseshoe Bay were the ferry goes from and jump on the next ferry. Almost literally. We thought that we’d missed the one we were aiming for, but just made it.
The ferry rides in BC are always so beautiful. If you aren’t from this area, and only ever have a short time here, then I would seriously suggest catching a ferry somewhere. This one was very short, about 20 minutes or so, and just circled around the headland of the Horseshoe bay peninsula, then Bowen Island was right there. I thought we could make out Mt Gardener from the ferry, off through a couple of lower hills. When on the ferry you can also see all the expensive and some very cool houses on the waters edge – not always do the two go together, mind you. I wouldn’t mind having my own private jetty 20 minutes boat drive from downtown Vancouver, would you?
Arriving in Snug Cove you sort of get a feeling that you’re arriving in BC proper. You know, where the real Canadian types hang out. I have a theory that Vancouver isn’t really BC proper. Sure, it’s a great example of a metropolitan Canadian city, but it’s not the 100% genuine Canada that you’ll find in the mountains, out on the prairies, in the lake country, or in the maritimes, far east of here.
Snug cove is sleepy, kinda set up for the tourist trade, and just a cute little town. We wandered up the main street a little found a spot to get a coffee, and just hung out a little. Unwinding, y’know?
The actual trail to the base of Mt Gardener takes a winding path past a few interesting features, including memorial gardens, a lagoon, salmon ladder, a couple of lakes and all sorts of trees n flora you don’t get in the concrete jungle. Squirrel!
I’ll let the pictures tell the story from here… With captions of course, you didn’t think I’d shut up for too long, did you?
The map of where we were walking… how hard could it be? It makes a nice loop walk actually.
There’s a couple of decent size mountain bike stunts in the area. My bro is about 6 foot tall, for measurement.
The going got reasonably steep.
Then it got steeper. Yes, that is a cable you can pull yourself up on, should you be so inclined.
There’s Vancouver off in the distance. Stanley park is the dark mass in the middle far distance, and downtown is just beyond that. It’s much more impressive in person!
These fellas came in and interrupted our lunch, which we had all set up on the helipad. Rude!
Near the ferry port, there’s a sweet “North Shore” type play area for mountain biking. Tempted to throw the bike on the ferry and go test it out.
And the final word from the local municipality:
If you’re downtown I’d really stress that Bowen Island is a great escape for you. You can ferry from Granville island if you don’t have a car, and it’s fairly reasonable from memory.
The walk took us about 7 hours, not rushing, but not slouching either. A better map would have been good of course, but to get out and about for a day of hiking, so close to town and only pass a couple of other groups, I would thoroughly recommend this walk to anyone 
