Whytecliff Park - one of my favorite places

After we finished Run or Dye, we knew we wanted to take advantage of the fact that we were in North Vancouver. This despite the fact that after our last colour run, we were far too coloured to be out in public! And so we packed a change of clothes each, towels and a picnic and headed to Whytecliff park.

 Whytecliff Park is located in West Vancouver, sort of on the way to Horseshoe Bay, but not really. I found it through this awesome site called Vancouver Trails, but also in a roundabout way, through instagram. So many locals go hiking and take pictures on trails that I've never even heard of. I'd never heard of Whytecliff Park, but I saw pictures on Instagram and looked it up. When I read the write up on Vancouver Trails, I knew we needed to check it out. (As a sidebar, Vancouver Trails lists all kinds of trails, walks, hikes, and places of interest from all over our area, not just Vancouver. And it tells you how to get there, where to hike, what to wear, points of interest...it's a great site.)

 Anyway, back to Whytecliff Park. It reminds me of a pirate cove. It's rocky. There are stairs built into the rocks and paths looping all over the rocks and islands. You can scamper up and down the rocks and make believe you're a pirate or an explorer or just really, really adventurous!

 Plus the views are spectacular.

 When the tide is out, you can hop from rock to rock out to this little island. I'm not brave enough to climb the island (it's the down, not the up that scares me!) but the kids love it! And on this day we had the good fortune to watch a seal come up to sun tan on the rocks.

 You also see all kinds of birds and divers practicing, as well as boats and ferries winding their way through the islands.

 We didn't explore too much this particular day, but there are clefts and indents in the rocks that look like caves, and grassy meadows for picnicking or sleeping too.

 And, if you're into hiking, we didn't do it this day, but there are some trails up in the woods too.

 Or you can just sit around and talk about your various health ailments like these old people did.

 This is my favorite pirate cove.