As planned, Jiwan came here by SkyTrain from downtown Vancouver after his doctor's appointment. We all got in the car and headed to the Golden Ears Provincial Park. Let me give you a few facts.
Golden Ears Provincial Park is a sprawling natural playground that consistently ranks as one of British Columbia’s most heavily frequented outdoor sanctuaries, drawing well over 600,000 visitors annually. Encompassing a staggering 62,539 hectares of rugged coastal mountain terrain, it serves as a massive reserve of thick hemlock and cedar forests anchored by the vast waters of Alouette Lake. Its immense popularity is largely due to its brilliant accessibility; sitting roughly 50 to 60 kilometers northeast of New Westminster, it requires only about an hour of driving time to completely trade the urban sprawl of the Lower Mainland for pristine wilderness.
As planned it took just about an hour to get there. For the first time, I crossed the new bridge and travelled east on Highway 17. That took us to the Golden Ears Bridge and right into the huge park to the campground and recreational areas around Alouette Lake.
We found Tim in campsite A78. He went on Monday and will go back to the West End either tomorrow as originally planned, or perhaps take an extra night. We'd brought along lunch but decided to walk a couple of kilometers down to the lake. Most of this type of lake runs north-south and was created by retreating glaciers. Things were pretty empty at the campground. As it is close to urban areas, it gets a whole lot of campers and will be constantly packed come summer.
Jiwan brought along lunch for he and Tim. Jay made bagel-omelet sandwiches for us. We picked up a few things at the Walmart earlier today, just chips and strawberries really. It was nice to tuck into the food because we didn't get back from the lake until 2:00 pm.
By 3:30 Jay, Jiwan, and I started back. Rush hour had already begun but we were travelling in the direction against most of the flow. We returned via Highway 17 and I'm sure it would've taken much longer either on Highway 7 or Highway 1. By the way, Highway 1 is the BC name for the Trans-Canada Highway. We arrived home at 4:40 and Jiwan immediately went back home by SkyTrain.
It was a nice outing.
