I wanted to write about and log my trip to Vancouver so here it is! Check out my youtube vlog!!

One of the things on my bucket list includes visiting the west or east coast of Canada. I have always wanted to go to Vancouver but timing never lined up to go with people so I decided why not go by myself.

I planned to hike and sight see for most of it, so I didn’t feel I really needed to extra company for the trip. I did a similar thing when I visited Switzerland hiking on my own, so I thought why not do it again.

My flight from Toronto YYZ to Vancouver YVR was at 6:30am. I got to the airport round 5:30am since it was a domestic flight I wasn’t too worried about any security delays. The flight was about 5 hours and I was lucky enough to be able to sleep through the first 3 hours of it.

I landed in Vancouver at 8:30am and went straight to the car rental service desk. It was a quick walk across the street from the airport exit to get to the parking garage. I booked my car rental online using Aeroplan points but if you are a member of a Perkopolis group they also have discounts which I have used before.

The car rental I booked was for a small car but the staff member asked if I was okay with an SUV (me thinking a Rav4 or something). I did say I preferred a smaller car, but after some searching he said they didn’t have any and gave me the fob to a JEEP. I didn’t know what kind of JEEP but I definitely was not expecting the huge car I got lol.. A JEEP Grand Cherokee! The good thing about rental cars now is there are a lot of safety features including the backup camera which I really appreciate since I normally drive a car without one. The fuel efficiency definitely came to mind but here I was with my big car in a new city.

Leaving the airport you could see all the mountains in the one side which was very healing for me. It made me excited for the rest of the views to come.

First Stop

I was hungry. So my first step was to get breakfast. My friend Hannah recommended me a Korean owned brunch place called La Forêt Jubilee. It is located in Burnaby and was a very pretty designed cafe. It seemed to be in an old autoshop garage but they decorated it with lots of plants and rocks to make it very aesthetically pleasing. I got an avocado platter with two really round cute eggs, roasted potatoes, salad, avocados, toast and jam. I also got matcha latte which had an interesting peppermint taste to it. Pricing was expensive for just brunch food but it was a good breakfast, and I enjoyed the space. They also sell different baked goods.

After breakfast I had to decide where to go next. I had plans to go rock climbing with my friend Nithya who just happened to be in Vancouver visiting a friend at the same time I was there. She was running late though so I stopped by a Superstore where I got some granola bars and sour candy and a cup noodle that lasted me as snacks throughout my trip.

I got to experience driving around Vancouver a little more and really loved how you could see the mountains in the background behind the buildings at the end of streets.

Second Stop

I met up with Nithya and her friend at a climbing gym called The Hive in North Vancouver. It was a bouldering gym where I got to try out some challenging climbs. I had not climbed in months and was healing from some shoulder issues but it was really fun to climb again. I tried a route that involved a big jump for the first time. Though I didn’t make it up all the way I am satisfied for making the jump (:

View of Metro Vancouver from The Shipyards

Third Stop

After climbing we went to an area called The Shipyards. A port area in North Vancouver with restaurants, little shops and a pier area where you can look across the water and see Metro Vancouver. We ate at a Korean restaurant nearby called South Castle with another one of Nithya’s friends, where I had naengmyeon (Korean Cold noodles) cause the weather that day was really hot! We then checked out a shop cute shop called Shop Makers which sold lots of cute goods by local artists. There is also suppose to be a market in the area but I didn’t get the chance to check that out.

From there I left to check into my AirBnB. I booked a place right by Capilano Bridge Park with a room in a cute bungalow in a quiet neighbourhood hosted by an older couple. I chose this area because I planned to do a lot of hiking which it located in the North, this way I could avoid having to cross the bridge traffic between North and Metro Vancouver as often.

Fourth Stop

First Hike of the trip was up St Mark’s Summit. For some reason I had this great idea to try and do a sunset hike.. At the time it sounded like it would be so fun. Me not realizing how long and difficult this hike really was. Luckily my friend Daniel had volunteered to accompany me. Which I am quite thankful for. I brought some safety supplies just in case but Daniel also had hiking poles and headlamps which became really helpful later.

While leaving for the hike I realized Bonsai my bunny had bit the laces on one of my trail shoes… I ended up having to borrow a lace off the hiking shoes of Daniel’s girlfriend (Thanks Sara). But after that was settled Daniel drove us to the closest point we could get to on Cypress Mountain and we started our hike around 7pm.

Some of the hike was paved with gravel while other areas were filled with tree roots and rocks so you had to be quite careful about where you were stepping. It was all uphill and you could see the light slowly get darker. The trail it self had some gaps between trees where you could see the ocean and some of the neighbouring islands and at one point I saw The Lions (two peaks seen of the northshore mountains). There was apparently a lookout called Bowen’s lookout which was not as far up the hike which may have been a better choice thinking back.

We went off trail a couple of times, did some bushwhacking, but managed to get back on trail. As you get further up the mountain there was still snow! It could get a little slippery but we made it up to the top okay. It also was so buggy! Not sure if it was because of the time of day or just the trail itself. We saw a man with a bug net over his head on the way up. Made me wish I had one.

After a long trek through different terrain in low lighting we finally made it to the top around 9pm. It was a cloudy day.. haha. So the sunset view wasn’t grand but it was still a beautiful over view of the islands of Vancouver. There were quite a few people also up there watching the sunset by the time we got there.

At this point I had been awake since 4:30am Toronto time (1:30am Vancouver time) and was quite sleepy but I still had to make it down the mountain..

We watched the view for a bit, took pictures, snacked, and then prepped to head back down. We added exospikes to our shoes to help with the snowy parts. We got to the top around 9pm and started to head down before the sun was fully set.

View of the Lions Gate Bridge and Metro Vancouver from Cypress Lookout

We spent a good 2 hours hiking down with majority of it in darkness. This was the first time I did a mountain hike in the dark so I can now say I experienced it. Finding the path down wasn’t too hard since the markers reflected light and glowed but it was a long way down. Daniel and I haven’t seen each other in a quite a few years so it was a good time to catch up while walking in the dark and hoping to not get lost.

We made it back down and to the car around 11:30pm and on the way home stopped by Cypress Lookout to see the lights of Metro Vancouver and the Lions Gate Bridge.

Would I do a sunset hike again?? Maybe. But definitely one that is shorter where the hike back in darkness does not feel like an eternity. It is something I can proudly say I tried.

I made it back to my Airbnb around midnight and was quick to crash as I had another early day of hiking ahead.

Vancouver Solo Trip - Day 1 | June 8, 2024

Vancouver Solo Trip - Day 2 | June 9, 2024