Discover Vancouver

Cypress Provincial Park

Walking up-up-up from Lighthouse Park will eventually get you to the top at Cypress Park, with an intricate network of trails for hiking, trails which in the winter turn into ski trails--both downhill and cross-country. Driving up the mountain might be easier, and both routes give you sweeping views of Vancouver and the Islands. The park, 12km north of Cypress Bowl Road and Highway 1/99 junction, is part of the North Shore's Coast Mountain rangeoverlooking Vancouver.

At the Park you'll find an intricate network of trails for hiking, trails which in the winter turn into ski trails--both downhill and cross-country. The park includes an Alpine ski area with two chairlifts, double rope tow, eight varied downhill runs and 16 ski touring trails - Ski school and ski rentals are available.

A 1992 old-growth inventory of southern Cypress Provincial Park showed that within 120 km (75 miles) of Vancouver, only Cypress Park had easily accessible old-growth stands of the less common mountain hemlock/amabilis fir/twisted-stalk site association, which tends to result in very large trees. Preliminary studies show that at least 82 species of birds inhabit the park, of which a third (including the endangered spotted owl) are old-growth dependent.

It is not yet known whether marbled murrelets, also dependent on old-growth forest, nest in the park. Of the park's approximately 20 mammals, three (black bears, martens and flying squirrels) are known to be old-growth dependent, as is the vulnerable tailed frog, one of the park's four amphibian species. The park is a major raptor migration route, and is also recognized as the Lower Mainland's most reliable location for three-toed woodpecker sightings.