Diez Vistas Trail

Our second walk of last week was another new route – the Diez Vistas Trail in Buntzen Lake Recreation Area.  While we have circumvented the lake a number of times before, this particular trail takes you up onto the ridge to the West of the lake, affording views from the top before winding it’s way down to the North end of Buntzen Lake.

We set out early as we once again have a need to be back in North Van for 4pm.  However the early sunlight and birds make it a lovely time of day to be walking.

First we cross the floating bridge which connects either side of the southern most ‘leg’ of the lake.

The view from the floating bridge towards the narrow end of the ‘leg’.

North from the bridge, the still water providing reflections of the trees.

Then the trail continues straight ahead, away from the lake and up up up into the forested hillside.

The Diez Vistas trail is so named as when the trail was first cut through the hillside 10 lookouts were created.  Unfortunately a number of those lookouts are now getting somewhat overgrown and the view now overrated.

The first lookout we get to still has a reasonable view, but the weather back towards the city isn’t great so it’s extremely overcast and grey.  Here we look over Belcarra Regional Park.

Another lookout provides a view down onto Sasamat Lake.

Another lookout apparently provided a view to Buntzen Lake but this really seems to be fully overgrown now, with barely any lake visible.  Only views across to Eagle Ridge on the other side of the valley.

The trail continues onward and upwards, meeting the peak of Punta Del Este at 550m and a short while later the highest point of the walk Cima Amanecer at 570m.   The forest here is beautiful, not too dense with plenty of sunlight coming through.

Soon we reach by far the best lookout of the walk – the view opens up right across Indian Arm and into the city.  The long finger of land sticking into the bay is Belcarra Regional Park, with Deep Cove beyond on the opposite bank and Seymour shrouded in cloud to the right.

This image is super grainy due to the zoom & grey weather but you can just see the white of the cruiseship at Canada Place and the red of the ports to the left.  It was actually clearer to see by eye and on a clear sunny day would be a terrific view.

Deep Cove in North Vancouver across Indian Arm.

Mojo enjoys the view !

Here we can see Jug Island Beach and just offshore Jug Island which we visited back in February (click here).

More views from the lookouts on the West side of the Diez Vistas trail.

A panorama from one of the outlooks before the trail heads further North.

Mojo catches his breath while I take photos and have a drink.

A view of two people on jetskis performing ‘doughnuts’ !

Views of the rural parts of the Indian Arm coastline, lots of water-access only cabins and homes.

We spot this house and figure it looks like a good fit for us (except perhaps the boat-access).

The trail continues along the ridge and gains further views North up Indian Arm, whilst the weather in this direction improves steadily.

Another small rural waterfront community up Indian Arm.

Views North.

Zoomed in on a waterfall in the distance.

Finally the views cease and the trail descends a long winding route back down through the forest, eventually joining a forest service road.

The forest service road joins the West side of McCombe Lake.

Views along the trail as it leads us back towards Buntzen Lake.

McCombe Lake.

Another waterfall tumbles down the hillside

Soon we get our first glimpse of Buntzen Lake  from the North end.

We cross the suspension bridge that leads us to North Beach.

Views from the suspension bridge back up McCombe Lake.  The pumphouse in the distance is connected to the pumphouse seen in Indian Arm on the Jug Island walk.

We reach North Beach and the time is perfect for lunch.  We also grab the best bench in the picnic area, absolutely waterside so I can eat while Mojo swims.

After eating and swimming we head back along the lakeside trail on the East side of the lake.  Nothing much new to report here except that a number of the bridges across creeks have been replaced in the last few months.  Clearly they have a better standard of construction than the old ones or the litigation department is snoozing because apparently you’re allowed more than 4 people on the new bridges !

Views of Buntzen Lake from along the trail.

No motorized craft are allowed on Buntzen Lake so if you can paddle you can enjoy it but it’s still a relatively peaceful environment.

Or row yourself to your own private piece of lakeshore.

Another 45 minutes or so walk we reach the South end of the lake and the Dog Beach.  Views of Buntzen Lake from the dog beach.

Mojo of course partakes in many more good swims.

Finally a view of the surprisingly quiet dog beach before we head back to the car and home.

It made a pleasant change to the usual around-the-lake walk although some of the viewpoints on the Diez Vistas trail were somewhat disappointing.  A couple of the really good views though would be greatly enhanced on a fully sunny day, so we’ll have to come back again sometime in the future to improve on those photos.

Adele

This week we finally got to see Adele perform at the Orpheum.  We had been booked to see her in May when she had to cancel many performances due to illness.  Luckily we were still able to go to the new date of August 9th when it was announced.

It was also our first time seeing a performance at the Orpheum, which is a beautiful downtown building built in 1927 and at that time was the largest theatre in Canada seating 3000.  It was on the brink of demolition in 1974 when the city stepped in and bought the building, renovating it and now it stands as as one of the most desirable venues in the city and the home of the Vancouver Symphony Orchestra.

We are always surprised how quickly we can get around Vancouver, so having made it from home to the theatre bar in 30 minutes door-to-door on Tuesday evening we were in plenty of time for a drink before the support act started.  A few snaps inside the Orpheum;

The support act was a relic dug up from many decades past…..Wanda Jackson the apparent ‘First Lady of Rock & Roll’ as she introduced herself as.  She was entertaining in a ‘watching your gran on stage’ kind of way and actually quite funny when she fell over.  Oh well, she was certainly a character and seemed to enjoy herself.

At around 9pm Adele came on stage to a thunderous welcome and a completely full-house.

We had good views from our seats, close to the front of the lower balcony.

She carried her very sixties style through with her big hairpieces

And living room lampshades adorned the stage.

She was very charismatic and chatty and had the crowd roaring, after her song Hometown talking about her home of Tottenham currently the scene of rioting and being nervous starting her new North America tour here in Vancouver and not having played live for about a month or so.

We didn’t of course video all the performance but did capture some more chat and Take It All.

A terrific performance, we think possibly once of the best live shows we’ve seen, she’s actually even better live than her recorded versions.  After the show, the crowds leave the theatre and disperse and we appreciate once again how easy it is to see a big event in Vancouver – 30 minutes drive in, park virtually outside the venue, see it and 30 minutes home again. 

Thanks Adele for a great show, we look forward to seeing you again in the future.

Deeks Lake

This week we had two great days of weather when I was lucky enough to be mostly free of appointments  Both days I had afternoon appointments around 4pm but I was still able to get out on a couple of good walks, particularly by starting fairly early.

Thursday’s walk I decided was to Deeks Lake.  A friend had recently walked this route and said that it was now clear of snow on the trail (a problem with many higher elevation walks this summer due to the heavy winter snowfall and prolonged cooler spring temperatures).  The lake is situated approximately 6kms east of the Sea-to-Sky Highway between Lions Bay and Porteau Cove.  The destination is a pristine alpine lake high up on a plateau in the mountains.  Since the walk starts just off Highway 99, this makes for a demanding 7km trek with some 980m elevation gain to the lake situated at 1030m.

The views from the parking lot on Highway 99 just south of Porteau Cove are great.  Here views across Howe Sound, Anvil Island on the left and mountains behind the Sunshine Coast beyond.

Looking South along Howe Sound from the parking lot with Anvil Island in the foreground and Gambier Island beyond.

A creek tumbles immediately past the parking lot.

Immediately the trail starts climbing and soon crosses the same creek on a bridge further up the hill.

The first half of the walk is along a network of old logging roads, through a mix of lightly wooded and open-clearings.

Typical view of the trail on the old logging roads in the lower half of the walk.

After approximately halfway the trail turns away from the disused logging road onto a much steeper hiking-only trail.  Here it climbs sharply through forest for much of the remainder of the hike.

We get these views on the way up across Howe Sound.   The walk is taking us steadily inland from Howe Sound but the views are still good.

The outlook is further South than from the parking lot so here we’re looking at Bowen Island on the left, Gambier Island on the right and the tiny island that appears to be between the two but is really just off the coast of Bowen is Hutt Island.

More steep climbing up through the forest. 

Mojo takes a break on the way up.  Well OK it was probably me that instigated the pause but Moj didn’t appear to be complaining !

Eventually we reach Phi Alpha Falls.  Infact, we had been walking alongside the creek for some distance as it crashed down the mountainside but then really turned into waterfalls at this particular location.

Video of the falls and of Mojo who’s tongue seems to have a curious life of it’s own !

We continue up the trail and soon cross a clearing giving high views back across the Northern end of Howe Sound.

Eventually we reach our reward, beautiful Deeks Lake.  Unfortunately while it had been a glorious day everywhere else on our walk (both up and down) the actual lake was continually under a big grey cloud.  We stopped for lunch for around 45 minutes but the cloud showed no signed of going anywhere so these are the best pictures we managed to get.  They really do not do the location justice so I will definitely have to go back another day to try and improve on them.

On our way up we passed two hikers on their way down and they were the only other people we saw the whole walk.  The had the entire lake to ourselves. Absolute total peace, quiet and tranquility.  A few chirping birds and a couple of annoying flies.  The opposite slopes of the lake seemed perfect to spot a bear grazing for food.  Oh well, that’ll be our perfect day up here – blue sky and a bear, preferably on the opposite slope.

More views of the lake and on this side, Deeks Peak rises beyond.

Despite the frigid temperatures of the lake (apparently it only thawed a few weeks ago) Mojo happily raced in after sticks, charging around when out of the water to keep warm.

The trail continues alongside the lake before becoming the Howe Crest trail which proceed for a further 20km or so to Cypress Mountain ski area.  We walked some distance beside the lake to a log jam/bridge at the top of Deeks Creek which rushes down the mountainside and eventually into Howe Sound.

Views from the top of Deeks Creek.

More views around the lake as the sun threatened to come out slightly before we head back down the trail.

Finally a view of Mojo racing along the trail, brought back to life by near-freezing water temperatures !

An excellent although quite challenging hike.  We were easily able to get up there, have lunch and be back comfortably for my 4pm appointment.  However, next time it will be nice to do it on a day when we have no time restraints and so can spend much more time at the lake enjoying it to ourselves, hopefully on a fully sunny day !

Mum & Dad’s visit

Adrian’s Mum & Dad are returning home after another good visit.  The weather wasn’t anything like it should be for the time of year and our busy work schedules meant we didn’t get in much in the way of exciting excursions.

Nonetheless, down-time was spent relaxing in the house when the weather was grey or wet

And enjoying the garden and deck on the days the sun did make an appearance

A couple of our day trips included Alice Lake Provincial Park where Mojo enjoyed a good swim in Fawn Lake.

And a lovely walk on a warm and sunny day at Pitt Lake and the adjacent wildlife reserve.

We were amused in Joeys by their funky new handwipes that spring to life when you drop them in water

And we walked a couple of times in Lighthouse Park

Mojo was kept thoroughly entertained by Mum and Dad

And repaid them in the only way he knows how……offer the privilege of an on-the-lap-belly-rub (we weren’t allowed to video his new bald-head-polishing-service)

In addition we had good walks around Stanley Park on the seawall and saw otters swimming, Lynn Headwaters and Bridgman Park.

We hope you have a safe and easy journey home and look forward to seeing you again on your next visit.

Love

A & D & M

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