Wreck Beach

Vancouver’s Pacific Spirit Regional Park is an exceptional park at UBC with forested hiking, biking and walking trails. It also has beautiful beaches.

Pacific Spirit Park at UBC

Pacific Spirit Regional Park is a beautiful natural park located on Point Grey in the UBC Endowment Lands by the University of British Columbia‘s main campus.

The park has over 70 km (43 miles) of trails, including many that allow cycling, mountain biking and horseback riding. It also has over 7 km (four miles) of coastline, including Wreck Beach which is Vancouver’s infamous and very popular clothing-optional beach.

Pacific Spirit Regional Park is one of Vancouver’s busiest and most popular parks. It’s open daily from dawn until dusk. Almost 1.5 million people visit the park each year. The park is massive, covering about 2,160 acres of which over 85% is entirely forest. As a result, most parts are never crowded, making it a perfect place to escape the city.

Pacific Spirit Park borders on Musqueam First Nations territory and touches the Fraser River, Burrard Inlet and Georgia Strait. Over 200 acres are also reserved for UBC’s Endowment Lands Ecological Reserves and isn’t open to the public. The park is also on the traditional unceded lands of the Musqueam, Squamish and Tsleil-Waututh Nations.

The park is full of many different kinds of trees, the majority of which are evergreens including Douglas Fir, Spruce and Cedar. Animals like owls, eagles, deer, squirrels and coyotes can sometimes be seen in the park. There are also a small number of salmon-bearing streams

In addition to Wreck Beach, another popular and less risqué destination within the park is Camosun Bog. One of Vancouver’s best public golf courses is also inside the attraction – the University Golf Club (at 5185 University Boulevard).

Video of Camosun Bog

Camosun Bog is a natural bog in Pacific Spirit Park. It’s located at the eastern edge of the park just south of West 16th Avenue. It’s near Queen Elizabeth Elementary School. The school’s address is 4102 West 16th Avenue.

Below is a video of the trails near Camosun Bog. The video begins at the bog and then goes along nearby trails through the forest. Just the first couple of scenes are of the bog itself. The rest are of the surrounding area.

As you’ll see in the video, the area immediately around the bog has a wooden boardwalk that goes all the way around the marshland. It takes around 10 minutes or so to do the full loop. It’s all flat and easy to walk around.

Also as you’ll see in the video, the area is dog-friendly. Around the bog, dogs have to be on-leash. Further away, along one of the trails, dogs can run freely (so long as they are well-behaved and under control).

From the bog there is a bit more boardwalk that leads to a set of stairs. After climbing the stairs you’ll find trails through the forest. It’s a nice area to explore and the trails connect with other parts of Pacific Spirit Regional Park.

A lot of the trees in the area are deciduous, which means they lose their leaves. For this reason, this part of the park is prettiest in the late spring, summer and fall. It’s pretty in winter too, but more picturesque at other times (at least in our opinion). The video shows what the place looks like at the beginning of May.

To learn more about the bog, and to see a video about the marshland and its boardwalk, see our article about Camosun Bog.

Tips & Advice

Here are some tips that might be helpful when you visit Pacific Spirit Park.

Tip #1: Keep an eye on your dog(s) at all times. There are both leash-optional and leash-required trails in the park.

Tip #2: There are a small number of free parking areas on the UBC campus including along Marine Drive, but you have to pay in most places. There is a good chance you’ll find free parking in other areas within the park.

Tip #3: Remember not to feed any wildlife. Keep your distance from animals and observe them from afar.