Summer arrives on the North Shore (and everywhere else) Monday, June 20. That’s when the sun gets as close to directly overhead Metro Vancouver as it’s going to get for another year. After that, winter is coming.
So it’s a big deal. Here’s an idea: let’s greet it at our favourite North Shore beach. That means toes in the water at 3:34 p.m. PDT.
It’s a great excuse for playing hooky.
I’m honestly not sure where I’ll be at the appointed hour. Stretching from Whytecliff in Horseshoe Bay to Panorama Park in Deep Cove, it’s all about the beach; the North Shore is festooned with them.
I could pick Ambleside, which is the beachiest beach on the North Shore. It could easily qualify as my favourite thanks to a sun hat full of memories: playing fetch with the dog and frolicking with her pack; watching my daughter do an indefatigable imitation of the Energizer Bunny doing cartwheels along the tide line; finding a log to watch the sun go down over the mountain on an endless summer evening.
Or what about Cates Park, which is a hangout for starfish, crab, sea worms and all the other little critters that live in the tide pools? There are a million pools and an entire ecosystem in every pool. Look but don’t touch. Try not to imagine what happens if there’s an oil spill from one of those tankers Trudeau the Second is currently thinking of introducing to Burrard Inlet.
Then there’s Harbourside, tucked behind that icon of North Shore splendour, the auto mall. Without much fanfare, it has turned into a go-to spot for people who love the interface between city and sea. Barges, skylines, office buildings and cranes coexist in harmony with a leafy stroll that features the seals sunning themselves on the docks and cunning little art installations that are easy to overlook, producing a little thrill of surprise whenever they’re spotted again.
I don’t want to forget Lighthouse Park, where you can make like the seals and sun yourself on a rock that offers a vast panorama from Howe Sound to English Bay to Burrard Inlet. It doesn’t hurt (well maybe a bit) that you have to leave the car and walk to the lighthouse through a forest of 500-year-old trees to the shore. That doesn’t make it any easier to find a parking space on a summer weekend, but it should be a piece of cake on a Monday mid-afternoon.
We don’t want to overlook Whytecliff Park either, which has its own rocky headland and jaw-dropping views. It also makes a great terminus for a 40-something kilometre out and back bike ride from Park Royal along Marine Drive that attracts crowds of cyclists on sunny weekend mornings, testing the patience of motorists who dare to take the scenic route.
I’m not sure I’d classify the seawall to Dundarave as a beach, but there are spots along the way, such as John Lawson Park, where you can roll up your pant legs and immerse your toes.
The seawall does offer a spectacular view of the Strait of Georgia (or if you prefer, the Salish Sea), and it also offers a view of the spectacular diversity of North Shore humanity, all of whom have a love of waterfront in common, if not much else. There seems to be a collective recognition that however we got here, we lucked out. Don’t tell anybody or they’ll want to be here too.
So far, I haven’t done much but wear out the word “spectacular.” I’m no closer to picking a spot and I haven’t even factored in the little secret beaches in places such as Caulfeild or along the Capilano River estuary. And how about those river beaches? I could pick one of the sun-dappled pools along Mosquito Creek. Or there’s the secret beach along the Seymour River to the fish hatchery. Quiet, secluded, awesome. Prime toe-dipping territory.
This exercise has given me a deeper appreciation of the term “North Shore.” There are times when I wonder why we don’t call it North Mountain or North Forest, but now I remember.
I hope you decide to wade in at 3:34 p.m. on June 20. I haven’t made up my mind yet where I’ll be; right now, I’m completely at sea, so to speak. I guess it will depend on weather, mood, footwear and convenience.
But if you see some old white guy with his pants rolled up standing in the ocean in the middle of the afternoon, don’t forget to say hello.
And happy summer.
Journalist and communications consultant Paul Sullivan has been a North Vancouver resident since the fall of the Berlin Wall and the rise of Madonna. He can be reached via email at [email protected].
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