Lynn Headwaters Regional Park
North Vancouver

Riparian stream wetland

• 60 - 100 year-old western hemlock forest
• 1-km or longer return trail
• Allow 2-3 hours on the trails
• Easy walking
• Good year-round may be snowy and icy in winter

Coastal mountain streams change dramatically from dry to wet weather periods. During dry periods they trickle through and beneath the stream bed, but in wet periods they become torrents.

This effect can be seen well in Lynn Headwaters Regional Park, managed by the Greater Vancouver Regional District, in North Vancouver, open 8:00am-9:00pm daily (closes at dusk in the fall and winter).

The full width of the Lynn Creek stream channel in the park is about 15 metre. During most of the year the stream is about 8 metre wide. Occasionally in the winter or early spring after a period of heavy rain and melting snow, it can become a raging torrent, completely filling the channel.

When you visit, you will most likely see a wide stream channel made up of large boulders and a small stream flowing down the centre. On the banks above the boulders, a margin of red alder trees and salmonberry survives the periodic flooding.

Above the margin is the 60- to 100-year-old western hemlock forest. Old stumps provide evidence of logging from 100 years ago.

Birds include Steller’s jays, flickers, ravens, chickadees, kinglets, siskins, wrens, varied thrushes, and hawks. You may also see black-tailed deer and Douglas squirrels.

Getting there

From the parking lot, walk a short distance north on the Varley Trail and over a bridge at an old water control structure. Walk about 0.5 km north on the Lynn Loop Trail to a good viewpoint of the Lynn Creek stream channel. You can also go south on the Varley Trail to another bridge across Lynn Creek to make a loop back to the parking lot (2 km). Light walking shoes are sufficient for this trail. Picnic facilities, toilets, and public telephones are available.

Get to Lynn Headwaters Regional Park by bus, car, or taxi to North Vancouver. Take the Upper Levels Highway (Hwy. 1) to Exit 19. This is about 6 km east of the link to the Lions Gate Bridge, and 4 km west of the Ironworkers Memorial Bridge. From Exit 19 go 3.5 km north up Lynn Valley Road to the park entrance and a further 1 km to the parking lot. You can also get to the park by the Sea Bus across Burrard Inlet to North Vancouver, and then the #228 bus to the park entrance. For more information call Greater Vancouver Regional District Parks, West Area office, at (604) 224-5739.

If you would like to know more about local ecosystems get the Vancouver Ecological Explorer: A Walker’s Guide to the Ecosystems ($6.95) available in most book, outdoors and nature stores in Vancouver.

More information is available at www.ecoexplorer.ca. Contact us at guidebook@ecoexplorer.ca and tell us about your visits to natural places. The drawings of the red alder comes from an old US Forest Service monograph, and the photo of the creek in flood (top) comes from Lynn Canyon Ecology Centre.