The year was 2019, and school was about to end. My course buddies wanted to go on a road trip before the winter rains of British Columbia trapped us in the urban confines Vancouver. We found a date right before the finals, booked a car from Richmond and scooted north into Squamish and the mountains of the lower British Columbia region.
Revving Up Our Engines
We met up early in the morning at Richmond, where there were more car rental companies. As I was the only one with an international driving licence, I was the one who booked and paid for the rental, while R was the main driver of the trip. We seemed to be the only customer of the day, so we managed to get a rather decent Kia hatchback.
As ironic as it seemed, our first stop of the day was actually a McDonald’s in South Vancouver for breakfast. Prior to the trip, we were joking at how none of us were residents and familiar with driving in British Columbia, much less in the constant wet weather. If anything, it could be our last chance for a decent meal and we wanted to make sure we had our fill.
One of the reasons why I put off writing for this trip was because, despite spending 12 hours on it, most of the trip was just images and videos of the mountainside, fog and the distant islands in the sea. If anything, only the trip from Richmond through the Vancouver downtown and North/West Vancouver provided a much different view.
The thing about the Pacific Northwest is that rain is everywhere, but not everywhere. As we coursed through the Sea-to-Sky highway, we were also weaving through alternating pockets of rain, fog and (weak) sunshine. It sure did make the driving less boring.
We were ooh-ing and ah-ing every now and then, as the rain rolled up to us, or when we see sunshine pierced through the thick clouds onto the slopes of the mountain like a scene off a Tolkien movie.
Squamish
We gunned straight to Squamish, which was about 75km (1.5hrs) away from Greater Vancouver (most of the time was spent in slow traffic downtown). It is a town inhabited by the indigenous people. However, since we weren’t on a guided tour. Without the historical context, the place felt like any other town in BC that we visited.
In other words, if you’re looking for adventure of sorts, this isn’t the place to visit.
However, we were city boys who didn’t grow up in such places surrounded by nature. We still did tourist-y things, albeit on nature-ish stuff… Like stopping beside an overgrown railroad (that we happened to pass by trying to figure out what was interesting in the town). Alright, I was the one who was mesmerised by the railway.
Not wanting to let the underwhelming visit to Squamish disappoint us, we backtracked a little in search of a little more nature at Stawamus Chief Provincial Park. Here’s the conversation we had:
R: I don’t see the destination.
Me: What are we supposed to look out for? Waterfall? Ruins? Park?
W: Are we there yet?
As you might have guessed, we didn’t find what we were looking for. Apparently, the trail head required some trekking from the gravel road that we were travelling on, and we weren’t exactly dressed for the occasion. As such, we just hopped off the car to try and catch a glimpse of the creek flowing beyond some undergrowth and then admired the redwoods towering over us.
Alice Lake
Undaunted by the Squamish stops, we headed further up north to Alice Lake. We checked the map to make sure it was reachable by car and that it was big enough so we wouldn’t miss it.
A good 20 minutes later, we were at the carpark.
I must say the Canadians have a weird way of urban planning. The car park was on the opposite side of the lake from where we exited from the highway! We were spending quite some time driving around the lake, for fear of missing out the “entrance” or carpark.
We were treated to a great deal of tranquility at Alice Lake.
There were also a few families enjoying some quiet time out in the open, but we were generally the only ones there to take in the peace and serenity nature offered us.
Again, like the usual “tourists”, we weren’t really prepared; we didn’t have picnic stuff (not even food!), so after strolling around the lakeside, we hopped back onto our Kia and headed north again, this time to Garibaldi.
Rubble Creek Trailhead
We hit the road again for the next destination. After the disappointment at Stawamus Chief Provincial Park, we were determined to see some form of river/creek!
Rubble Creek was nestled within a small valley. The carpark where we stopped overlooked a part which looked like a mini-rapids. In fact, it was puny compared to the Burrard Inlet we saw everyday. However, the rush of water over the rocks made me more afraid of falling into Rubble Creek than Burrard Inlet!
The thing about going on road trips with guys who were almost half my age was that I ended up doing stuff I grew lazy to do after turning 30.
Like climbing down the rocky bank to get up close with the creek.
I wasn’t sure if they would be able to save me if I slipped and rolled down the slope, but I think I can rely on them to at least carry my heavy ass back to the car and to nearby help.
Methinks.
For me, it was my first time being so up close to a river of this category. All my life, I stood by the banks of gentle rivers running through city centres. Even the largest of rivers, like that in Shanghai, was viewed from the comfort of The Bund, all built up and designed for safety.
I stood on what would have been riverbeds when it rains (which… in hindsight, was what had been going on since the night before) and wondered how the creek would look when full.
We weren’t that willing to leave such a beautiful sight. R suddenly wondered aloud if a stone thrown from the carpark would reach the other end of the creek.
We laughed at his idea and started a competition to throw the farthest rock.
To be honest, we never knew where our rocks landed.
Whistler
It was only slightly after 3pm after our rock throwing competition. We still had about 2 hours to sunset and decided to venture beyond our planned trip: to Whistler!
The plan was simple. Check out how Whistler looked and then look for some place for dinner.
Whistler was barely a half an hour’s drive from Rubble Creek, but we spent a good 10 minutes looking for parking #fwp. We parked outside the perimeter of what was the core of Whistler, with buildings forming the perimeter of the core.
I was expecting a small town like the old town of Munich. Whistler turned out to be more like a holiday resort (think Bukit Tinggi), the sights inside the walls quite different from the outside.
Whistler was also more bustling than expected, we were still weeks away from the ski season. Most of the folks seated at the open air restaurants didn’t look as travel-worn as us.
We wandered around the stone paved streets, but no restaurants caught our fancy. They simply looked like tourist traps. We ended up waltzing into a Subway outlet as one of their few customers of the day.
I mean, who eats Subway at Whistler?
It was 4:30pm after we had our dinner and we thought we would cram more “sightseeing” before the last light. The best way is to hop over to the (Alta) Lakeside Park just across the highway from Whistler.
Alta Lake
The lake was open to the public, but it felt like private property of the residents who stayed around the lake. Any of the houses around the lake looked like they won some architectural design award or were featured in some “Holiday Homes” magazines. The warm glow from the windows looked especially mesmerising against the fading daylight.
Finale – Cypress Mountain vancouver Outlook
With the last of the daylight behind the mountains, we had no choice but to make the sprint back to Vancouver. It was a long, hour-plus ride. The mountainous scenery that we enjoyed on our trip up were now bathed in darkness.
Halfway through, we decided to go on a slight detour at Cypress, just off West Vancouver. The Cyperess Mountain Vancouver Outlook was famed for its superb view of the entire metro Vancouver.
The lookout was halfway up Cypress Mountain, and there was minimal street lighting in the parking lot. While that meant one had to be very careful and keep a lookout for the dozens of people venturing out for the scenic view, it also meant that there was minimal light pollution.
And we were very lucky that the rain had stopped and the weather cleared by evening. We were treated to a breathtaking view of the entire metro Vancouver, twinkling against the night sky! We stood atop the stone parapet, so that we could take in the view above the canopy (though it was not recommended for those faint-hearted, for it was a precarious drop beyond!).
The clouds had also dispersed, so we were also able to have a glimpse of the stars against the night sky.
That definitely concluded a very memorable birthday outing for me!
On Another Note
Our journey didn’t exactly end after Cypress Mountain Vancouver Outlook. Since we had the car, we drove into the British Properties in West/North Vancouver, which was known for its million-dollar exclusive mansions in the mountains.
We stopped at every awe-inspiring mansion to assess the value and spoke about how we might eventually earn enough to afford one of those mansions.
Or perhaps get a job as a security guard there. It was worth the daydreaming to end the day, I guess…
The winter rains did limit our activities, but after our exams, we still went ahead for a road trip to Vancouver Island before R returned to Germany. Read on for our next adventure and how to get to Vancouver Island for the road trip in 20 hours.
Till then, sing while you can!
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