GUIDED TOURS of OLD GROWTH in WEST VANCOUVER
Every year the OGCS conducts free guided tours of old-growth areas in West Vancouver. There are two sets of tours, one in publicly accessible old-growth areas and one in the Old Growth Conservancy.
TOURS ARE FREE BUT RESERVATIONS ARE REQUIRED. EMAIL YOUR PREFERRED DATE TO ogcs.wv@gmail.com.
Unfortunately, children under the age of 10 and dogs cannot be accommodated. Tours may be cancelled due to unfavourable weather. A release of liability will be provided and must be signed before the tour.
Publicly Accessible Old-Growth Area Guided Tours
The tours of Lighthouse Park and Whyte Lake Park take you through impressive old-growth areas in West Vancouver that are easier to get to. These tours move at an easy pace and stay on-trail at all times, though they do include some hills. In particular, the Whyte Lake Park tour gains roughly 200 m in elevation.
The tours on West Lake Road visit two of the largest trees in the area. This tour is off-trail and explores more rugged terrain.
Sunday, July 9 – Lighthouse Park– FULLSaturday, July 15 – West Lake Road– FULLSunday, July 16 – Whyte Lake Park– FULLSaturday, July 22 – West Lake Road– FULL
Old Growth Conservancy Guided Tours
Tours of the Old Growth Conservancy offer a rare opportunity to go into the apex of the Conservancy. Starting on a short trail, participants learn about the characteristics of an old-growth ecosystem and see them firsthand. The second part of the tour ventures off-trail into areas not normally open to the public and into the apex of the Conservancy where there are trees over 900 years old.
Tours meet at 10:00 AM in Parking Lot #5 on Cypress Bowl Road, next to the Conservancy. Tours take 3 hours or longer and much of it is off-trail including steep terrain, fallen trees and underbrush. Sturdy footwear is required. The pace is quite slow and dressing warmly in layers is recommended. Please bring water, a light lunch and optionally a hiking pole for stability.
Monday, August 21– FULLWednesday, August 23– FULL- S
aturday, August 26– FULL Sunday, September 10– FULLThursday, September 14– FULLSaturday, September 16– FULL
Self-Guided Tour
Self-Guided tours are on hold. The older Android version of the app no longer works by GPS and the newer version requires Internet connectivity which is unavailable in the Conservancy.
Stay tuned for news as we work to get this resolved.