Stanley Park, Vancouver - by Wayne

Over the last two days we have made a couple of visits to Stanley Park.  Rated as a ‘must see’ when visiting Vancouver, the 40 hectare Stanley Park boasts mature stands of Red Cedar and Douglas Fir.  Many of the trees reach the height of a 15 storey building and survived the logging in the 1860s, the great fire of 1886 and the great storm of 2006.

We found that the best way to experience the park was by walking and cycling, although we also used the tourist ‘hope-on-and-off’ bus that travels around the park.  Around the perimeter of Stanley Park is the world's longest uninterrupted waterfront path. At 28 km, the walkway and cycleway is a great way to see parts of Vancouver and its love affair with the sea.  Construction of the path, which started in 1917, and extended each year, now enables you to cycle around the full extent of Stanley Park and beyond.

While we grow Douglas Fir commercially in NZ, and good specimens can be viewed at Hanmer Springs—these are younger and smaller than the giants that can be seen in Stanley Park.  One can only imagine what the First Nations and early settlers would have seen in the 1860s before Europeans started to systematically fell the more mature giants.  The world’s largest Douglas Fir has been measured to be 4.3 metres in diameter and 73.8 meters tall. 

300 year old Douglas Fir - 50 metres high.

Mature Douglas Fir.

One of the many Beaches Around Stanley Park.

One of the many View of Vancouver from Stanley Park.

The Seawall creating the cycleway and walkway around Stanley Park.

A view of the 1938 Lions Great Suspension Bridge (First Narrows Bridge). 
Provides the vital Connection between the city of West Vancouver with Vancouver.
This busy Arterial cuts through Stanley Park. 

Beaver Pond - Stanley Park. 

Some of the First Nation's totem poles within Stanley Park.
 The poles are carved from Red Cedar.