A Waterfall Weekend in Vancouver, B.C.
In early November, my sister and I were trying to figure out where to go for a few days. We wanted to go somewhere where it hadn’t snowed yet that was within driving distance of Washington. I mentioned Vancouver, B.C. being a possibility and my sister started to look up things to do in the area and noticed there were a lot of waterfalls. After searching waterfalls for a few minutes and seeing some very impressive ones, we decided that we had found our destination. Since we were visiting Vancouver in November, we were met with rain and fog, but at least there wasn’t any snow. Going at the end of the fall season also meant that we still got to see fall colors. These conditions combined with flowing waterfalls made for the perfect moody trip.
While in Vancouver, we stayed at Hotel Belmont. The thing I loved most about this hotel was its central location. We were not only in the middle of downtown, but also in the middle of the Vancouver area. Most of the waterfalls that we saw were outside of Vancouver or on its outskirts, so staying downtown in the middle of everything gave us a good base to branch out from every day. We utilized Nestors Market across the street to stock up on lunch and snacks every day. For dinner, we would walk around our hotel to the many restaurants and food trucks that surrounded us. A few of our favorites were donairs from Fresh Donair, Thai food from Thai Away Home on Granville, and bubble tea from Gong Cha Granville.
We saw over seven waterfalls and several suspension bridges over the span of three days. If you only have a weekend to visit, then most of the places we went to can be seen in one and a half to two days. The two furthest waterfalls were Alexander Falls in the north and Bosumarne Falls in the east, which were both about two hours away from our hotel. If you aren’t wanting to drive that far, then there are plenty of other waterfalls in and around Vancouver. There is also a lot to do within the city itself, our trip was just more waterfall focused. Without further ado, here is a list of what we saw during our trip:
Brandywine Falls Provincial Park
Capilano Suspension Bridge Park
Alexander falls
Alexander Falls
I don’t have a lot to say about the stunning Alexander Falls, other than there is no hiking required to see it. You can see this gorgeous 141-foot waterfall from the boardwalk right next to the parking lot!
Brandywine Falls
Brandywine Falls Provincial Park
The gate to Brandywine Falls Provincial Park is only open seasonally from May 1 to October 31. If you go outside of this time frame and the gate is closed, there is a small area to park right off the highway. From the parking lot, the hike to Brandywine Falls is a short and easy 1.4 miles with nearly no elevation gain. There are a couple of other trails in this area, but our main destination was the falls. To get to Brandywine Falls, you will first cross a small wooden bridge.
On the way to Brandywine Falls, we were met with many mushrooms. I know that mushrooms grow during rainy months in the Pacific Northwest, but it didn’t even cross my mind that we would see any during our trip. They were a pleasant surprise and seeing as many mushrooms as we did was the cherry on top.
After about half a mile or less, you will reach a railroad crossing. Fog and rainy weather definitely made this railroad appear more ominous and mysterious than it actually is.
Brandywine Falls isn’t much further from the railroad. The falls flows down into a bowl type canyon below. It is a long drop down, so there are a lot of fences near the falls preventing more adventurous people from getting too close.
Shannon Waterfall
Shannon Waterfall
The hike to Shannon Waterfall is a short 0.7 miles roundtrip with a little elevation gain towards the end. This waterfall was slightly crowded because it is fairly close to Vancouver and is accessible right off the highway. Fog started to pick up when we first arrived at the waterfall, mostly obscuring the top of it.
We went to the main lower lookout and also walked up a small trail to the upper lookout in hopes of having a clearer view of the falls. After a few minutes we gave up and started to head back down the trial. Near the river I noticed something that I hadn’t seen going up the trail, a tree completely covered in mushrooms.
We stopped here for about 15 minutes as I captured WAY too many pictures of the mushroom tree. But, during that time the fog had lifted. My sister pointed to the unobstructed view of the waterfall, and we dashed back up to the lower lookout to gaze upon a clear view of the falls.
Capilano Suspension Bridge Park
Capilano Suspension Bridge Park
While this isn’t a waterfall, I still think Capilano Suspension Bridge is worth checking out while you are in Vancouver. Tickets are a little pricey at a little over $70 per person. You can look up more about tickets and the park here. If it’s within your budget, I think that the price is pretty fair for everything you get to see within the park. In addition to the suspension bridge, there are bridges in the trees, a cliff walk over the canyon, and other paths.
After purchasing our tickets, we chose to go straight to the large suspension bridge first and brave the crossing. The bridge is high up in the air over the canyon, and I mean HIGH UP. If there are quite a few people walking on the bridge (like there was when we went) then the bridge also bounces. A suspension bridge bouncing at 230-feet in the air definitely gets your heart pumping. I’m scared of heights and quickly shuffled across the bridge, but I was still able to take in the gorgeous canyon views in between my shuffles.
Once you cross the bridge there are several paths that wind through the forest on this side of the park. We chose to go to the forest bridges next. As I previously said, I am scared of heights, but the tree bridges weren’t an issue at all. The bridges are very secure and nestled nicely into the treetops.
After playing Tarzan in the trees, we walked around the paths below. We saw a lot of different colored lights. I’m not sure if all of the lights around the park are seasonal for the holidays or if they are always there, but they definitely made the park look more magical.
We shuffled back across the suspension bridge once more to walk along the only section of the park we hadn’t been to, the cliff walk. The cliff walk is located to the right of the suspension bridge next to the gift shop. We had already walked over the canyon and amongst trees, so we though that the cliff walk would be no big deal. Boy, were we wrong. The cliff walk was the worst thing that we did in the park “heights” wise. As you can see below the path is secured to the cliff, but it still feels way less secure than anything we walked on in the park. I felt more exposed on the cliff walk than I did on the other bridges.
Lynn Canyon Park
Lynn Canyon Park
Lynn Canyon Park is bursting with a lush forest that will make you feel like you’ve stepped in a Twilight movie. Inside the park you will find not only greenery, but mushrooms, a couple of waterfalls, a suspension bridge, deep pools, and two trails, Lynn Canyon Loop and Baden Powell Trail. Lynn Canyon Loop is only about 1.6 miles and was our focus this day. The trail can be accessed via two entrances, one by the Lynn Canyon Cafe and the other on the north side of the lower parking lot. I HIGHLY recommend starting the loop from the lower parking lot. A plethora of stairs wait for you on this side of the trail that are much easier to climb down than up. We heard several people climbing up the stairs say they wish they would have started the trail from the lower parking lot instead. Beyond the base of these stairs lies a wooden bridge overlooking a small canyon.
From the bridge, the trail steadily climbs uphill before flattening out and winding through the forest. You will be surrounded by Douglas Fir and Western Cedar Trees as well as mushrooms.
The Lynn Canyon Suspension bridge is the main point of interest on this trail. It crosses the canyon at 160-feet in the air. This bridge is like a tiny version of Capilano Suspension Bridge. I preferred this bridge over Capilano because it had a less touristy feel to it. Lynn Canyon also feels more intimate and has waterfalls. To finish this hike, all you have to do is cross the bridge. The Lynn Canyon Cafe waits for you on the other side if you are looking to rest and refuel after your trek through the forest.
Bosumarne Falls
Bosumarne Falls
Out of all of the waterfalls we saw, Bosumarne Falls was the most secluded. I think this is largely contributed to how out of the way Bosumarne is, sitting about two hours away from Vancouver nestled back on Chilliwack Lake Road. We saw very little people on this road, aside from a few fishermen, and no one on the trail. Bosumarne is on an unmarked trail, so to find it the easiest thing to do would be to download an offline google map of the area on your phone (you won’t have service out here). Set the point to Bosumarne Falls and follow the navigation to the falls until the directions end. Once your phone says, “you have reached your destination”, drive a little further until you see a pullout with large boulders on a very small hill to your left. This pullout is easy to miss if you aren’t looking for it. If you get out of your car and look beyond the boulders, you will notice that there is a trail going straight into the forest past them. This is the trail to Bosumarne Falls! If you reach the end of Chilliwack Lake Road, you have gone too far.
The hike itself is about 1.5 miles roundtrip. It is fairly easy most of the way, but when you get closer to the falls you have to do a little scaling over rocks and will cross a small river (picture above). After you walk through the boulders at the pullout, you will follow the trail for less than a mile until you come to the river. The trail branches off from here in different directions. You need to follow the path to the right going upstream along the river. The falls isn’t visible yet, but it is nestled back into the trees close by. You just have to keep following the path until you reach the river crossing. From here, you will be able to see the falls ahead.
bridal falls
Bridal Falls
The hike to Bridal Falls is a short 0.8 miles roundtrip. The trail is mostly flat, but there is some elevation gain if you are wanting to climb to the base of the falls. The falls is easily accessible from the highway, so it is worth stopping at if you are driving by the area. We had to park at the gate because the parking lot is only open seasonally, but this only added about 2 minutes of extra walking onto our hike. Even though this trail is close to the highway, you will be engulfed by the peaceful forest once you start hiking.
After a short walk from the parking lot, you will see Bridal Falls towering above you on the hillside. This is the hill you can climb up to get to the base of the falls. Be careful once you are at the top though, this waterfall is massive and puts off a lot of water. My sister got super close, and the air created by the falling water partially pushed her into the pool. Luckily, she caught herself before she was swept downstream. Out of all the waterfalls we saw, this one was probably the most impressive because it was both tall and wide.
Cascade Falls
Cascade Falls
Cascade Falls is slightly out of the way, but there are a couple of falls on the way to it, such as Steelhead Falls and Cliff Falls, that make the drive worth it. This hike also contains yet another suspension bridge and is less than 0.5 miles roundtrip. The sun was near setting by the time we got to Cascade Falls, so this short hike was perfect to end our day on. We had the bridge to ourselves for about 10 minutes before a family showed up.
After going to the third and final suspension bridge, this is my ranking of them in order from most favorite to least (even though I loved all of them this might help you decide which ones to prioritize): Lynn Canyon (the forest walk was just too magical), Cascade Falls (seclusion always wins), and Capilano (even though I enjoyed this park, it was a little too touristy and crowded for my liking). So, there you have it! The perfect waterfall weekend in Vancouver area awaits you. I hope that this post helps you decide which waterfalls (and suspension bridges) to explore.
Note for the reader: I share these locations so that others can see beautiful places and enjoy nature as much as I do. Please be respectful of the outdoors and what condition it is in when you visit. Don’t go off trail, leave no trace, and pack out what you came in with.
