1 Mount Seymour Provincial Park Lower Mainland Parks

Mount Seymour Provincial Park offers stunning views of the city of Vancouver and Indian Arm Provincial Park.

This park has been a popular hiking destination since the 1920s. There are opportunities here for bird and wildlife viewing and four areas available for day use or picnicking.

Interesting Mount Seymour Park Facts

• Several mountain peaks lie within Mount Seymour Provincial Park’s boundaries, including Mount Bishop, Mount Elsay, Runner Peak, and Mount Seymour. The highest elevation in the park is the summit of Mount Bishop at 1509 metres followed by Mount Seymour, for which the park is named, at 1449 metres.

• At about 20 million years of age the Coast Range, of which Mount Seymour is a part, is one of North America’s youngest mountain ranges.

• Scattered throughout the park are several pristine mountain lakes; Elsay Lake is the largest. The waters of Elsay, De Pencier, Gopher and Goldie Lakes drain eastward into the Indian Arm fjord while the remaining lakes feed into the Seymour River.

• One of the most popular trails in this park, the Baden-Powell trail, is named after Boy Scout founder Lord Baden-Powell. The trail was constructed in 1971 by Boy Scout and Girl Guide troops to mark B.C.’s 100th birthday. It is a scenic but challenging 48- kilometre route, traversing the North Shore mountains from near Horseshoe Bay to Deep Cove.

www.bcparks.ca 2 Mount Seymour Provincial Park Lower Mainland Parks

History Established in 1936, the park was named for Frederick Seymour, Governor of British Columbia from 1864 to 1869. The first recorded climb of Mount Seymour was made in 1908 by a party from the BC Mountaineering Club, but aside from that, Mount Seymour was virtually unknown to most residents of Vancouver and the Lower Mainland until the late 1920s. In 1929, members of the Alpine Club of Canada explored the mountain as a potential skiing area and the following year applied for a 21-year lease to cover the primary skiing terrain. Although the Depression years forced the club to drop the lease, this did not diminish Mount Seymour’s prospects to become the popular skiing resort that it is today. Wildlife Coyotes and deer are often seen close to the park’s access road. Black bears, bobcats or cougars may be sighted in the backcountry. The Canada jay, identified by its raucous call and social manners, is a frequent visitor to hikers’ lunching spots. Other indigenous birds include the raven, Steller’s Jay (the official bird of British Columbia), chickadee, kinglet, sapsucker, grouse and siskin. Size and Location Located on Mount Seymour Road just north of Mount Seymour Parkway in North Vancouver. More Information http://www.env.gov.bc.ca/bcparks/explore/parkpgs/mt_seymour/

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