Category Archives: Surrey Parks

All About Max, Surrey Parks

Bear stranded!

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Bear Creek ParkWe were out taking Max for a walk – in Bear Creek Park too – when we came across a terrible sight. We were walking along the salmon stream, which was quite high from the spring run off. Max suddenly barked, and ran back and forth across an open area by the stream.

Close-upWe thought he must be chasing a squirrel, but no, he’d actually cornered a bear! I think he must have been fishing for salmon, but the river was moving so fast, he seemed paralyzed with fear!

Now, we thought we should call Fish and Wildlife to let them know about this poor stranded animal, but our pleas for assistance fell on deaf ears.

I’ve posted this pic, and you be the judge about whether they should have sent help!

All About Max, Surrey Parks

Hawthorne Park

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New at Hawthorne ParkWe went for a short walk around Hawthorne Park. Pam’s recovering nicely, and she’s eager to get back out into the sunshine. We had an incredible rain storm here on Saturday, but today (Sunday) was very nice, sunny and warm.

Max in Hawthorne ParkMax gets a kick out of Hawthorne Park because it has a large duck pond, and he always gets crazy, trying to chase them. After his dunking in Green Timbers, we were wondering if he was going to dive in after the ducks at this park. He chased them, but he didn’t enter the water! Guess he learned his lesson!

Hawthorne hydrangeaThey are doing a lot of work on Hawthorne Park. There are a lot of paths blocked off by fencing, and they seem to be adding crushed rock to the paths. It will be really nice when they are done, because some of the paths are quite muddy in the winter rainy season.

Hawthorne riverThey have put in a “dry” river bed, with these large metal sculptures, in various colors, of cattails. I’m not sure if they intend to bring water to the river bed, but it’s looking good so far.

All About Max, Surrey Parks

Max IN the lake!

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At Green TimbersHere is a little video we took with the new Panasonic camera. We were at Green Timbers park, and we’ve often gone to the little lake there. Max always charges the ducks in the water, but he has never actually put his foot in the water. As soon as he feels the damp, he chickens out.

Well, today was different! As you can see from the picture, he splashed a little into the water, so I started the camera, and this is what happened next! This Panasonic also has a much better audio capability than the old Olympus camera. It records in DOLBY sound, and you can definitely hear the difference.

All About Max, Surrey Parks

Return to Sunnyside

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Max in SunnysidePam and I both love Sunnyside Acres Urban Forest in South Surrey, so today we headed back for another tour. It’s a great space, so very neat to wander among these large trees. It was not very crowded so that made it even nicer. We came across only 3 or 4 other people, all walking their dogs!

Elgin CreekThe park is the source of Elgin Creek, which runs all the way to the ocean, but we have not been able to find the headwaters yet. We took the Douglas Fir trail, then branched off to the Moss Trail. We finally got back on Chickadee loop trail and back to the parking lot. The Douglas Fir and Moss trails are narrow, wide enough for one person only really. It’s a very neat walk, the trees and bushes brush against you as you meander down the hills. There are lots of berries coming into season, and Pam loves to stop for a quick snack!

SquirrelMax is able to be off leash here, since there are so few people in the park. He loves to try to get the squirrels, but they just laugh at him. This joker pictured here had a nut in his hands, and plopped himself down on this branch and proceeded to drop the casings down on Max’s head! Quite a funny little guy. The park is full of them, prancing around the trails, inspiring Max to give chase.

It’s a great way to spend a couple hours!

All About Max, Surrey Parks

Sunnyside Acres Urban Forest

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Sunnyside AcresToday we took a walk in a park called Sunnyside Acres Urban Forest in South Surrey, basically in White Rock. It was a really cool park, with nice trails, and a walking itinerary provided for you at the main parking lot. The site was logged early in this century, but has been naturally re-forested, as opposed to being re-planted.

Sunnyside AcresThe trees are quite enormous, and offered a wonderful natural walk through the trails. There are lots of paths that have numbered sign posts on them, and each of the sign posts corresponds to a pamphlet that you can pick up at the entrance. It tells you what might be growing there, and what to look for. It is a very well signed park, and really quite a nice experience.

Pam and MaxPam was quite impressed with the size of the ferns! They have a wonderful vibrant green, quite different from a lot of other ferns growing around the Lower Mainland. The color is a brighter, lighter shade of green. It was quite striking.

Sunnyside AcresAlso pictured here is a trillium! It’s quite late in the year for the trillium to still be in bloom, so we were quite surprised, but pleased to see one! We had been in Tynehead Park the other day and walked up Trillium Trail, but there were none left in bloom. Sunnyside had a Trillium Trail as well, and here was the last bloom of the season! Nice!

All About Max, Surrey Parks

Tynehead Regional Park, North Surrey

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Serpentine River, Tynehead ParkTynehead Regional Park is a 260 hectare park in North Surrey. It includes a protected salmon hatchery, an off leash dog park, wide open spaces with picnic tables, public restrooms, and lots of trails though some of the coolest forest that Max and I have cruised through in a long while. The Serpentine River winds through the park, and it cascades all over the place. It chirps and laughs and tinkles all through the park. You hear it flowing over the rocks, under the bridges, and over the flat lands. In the fall it is packed with salmon returning to spawn.

Max in TynedheadThere is a trail called Trillium Trail, which in the early spring is covered in trillium flowers, a flower of the lily family. Canadians of course, know that it is the official provincial flower of Ontario but it is also the official wildflower of Ohio. It’s a delicate flower, that can be seriously harmed by picking the bloom. It is protected in many places. Another interesting thing about the trillium is that it is germinated by ants! The ants take a sort of pod back to their nests, and the seed is contained within the pod. They eat the pod and discard the seed!
Viewing platform, TyneheadMax and I climbed Trillium Trail which meanders up a steep embankment, over which you can see the Serpentine River snaking through the forest hundreds of feet below. There is a log fence to prevent you from falling over the cliff. As we neared the top of the ascent, there seemed to be a viewing platform that poked out over the cliff. It actually surrounded a large tree, about 30 feet off the forest floor and it was basically a tree house! It’s a very cool structure!

Trees in Tynehead ParkWe didn’t get to the off leash side of the park – in fact I didn’t even realize there was an off leash park, but we’ll get there soon! This park is definitely worth another visit. There were lots of trails we didn’t explore, but we will! There were stumps of huge trees that had been logged many years ago, and you could still see the notches cut by the loggers in order to climb the mammoth beasts! Awesome trees – awesome sizes… Sad to see them gone.