Vancouver is blessed with some great urban trails, but when you’re looking for that Sunday brunch extra helping of trails, you need to venture across Burrard Inlet to North Vancouver. In addition to a good dose of Stanley Park trails, the No Beer Till Lonsdale run takes in the very runnable trails of Capilano Pacific Park, Mosquito Creek and Mahon Park before dropping down to Lonsdale Quay for some well-earned post-run beverages and a Seabus ride home.
Unlike their more rustic cousins higher up the North Shore mountains, the trails covered in our Lonsdale run are predominantly crushed gravel with enough stairs to allow you to brag to your friends about your *technical* run later over beers.
We’ve tried to note the areas we feel could send you off course, and as of September 2016, there are two areas of heavy construction that have also been noted in the route description. The rule of thumb in Mosquito Creek and Mahon Parks seems to be to follow the streams until you run out of trail and hit pavement.
There is also a RunGo version of the route for those who use the locally-developed running app.
Turn-by-Turn Directions
NORTH to False Creek Seawall — RIGHT on Seawall path and follow all the way to Second Beach pool — clockwise around pool and back toward concession and follow path across Stanley Park Dr onto trail — LEFT on Rawlings Trail — LEFT on Bridle Trail — RIGHT on Prospect Point Trail to Prospect Point concession — continue past concession and take trail RIGHT and down to path on west side of Lions Gate Bridge — cross Lions Gate Bridge and follow path next to road veering LEFT to Marine Drive — cross Capilano River Bridge to West Van side (two options: take path down to the LEFT and UNDER bridge to north side, cross and take path to the RIGHT down to Capilano Pacific Trail, stay on sidewalk, OR cross and take path to the left on the far side of the bridge down to Capilano Pacific Trail which follows the Capilano River — after about 700m, go LEFT on an uphill trail (if you hit Fullerton Ave bridge, turn around, you’ve gone too far) — RIGHT on Keith Road — after passing under Trans-Canada Highway bridge, continue on gravel Capilano Pacific Trail uphill — take trail RIGHT after passing the Suspension Bridge fencing (if you miss this turn, take the next trail RIGHT; if you miss that an end up on paved Rabbit Lane, turn around) — follow Capilano Pacific Trail until you reach a service road and turn LEFT (uphill) — cross Cleveland Dam — take service road on the east side of the dam down into the canyon and continue when it merges with Capilano Park Rd — ** CONSTRUCTION DETOUR ** cross Capilano Rd onto Mt Crown Rd — RIGHT on Lewister Rd — RIGHT on Loraine Ave — RIGHT on Sunset Blvd — LEFT on Edgemont Blvd — LEFT on Highland Blvd — RIGHT on Sunnycrest Dr — follow trail at the end of the street into Mosquito Creek Park — RIGHT on Mosquito Creek trail — stay on main trail and exit trail onto Del Rio Dr and continue SOUTH (if you find yourself on Fairmont Rd, continue SOUTH) — LEFT on Queens Rd ** BE CAREFUL OF CONSTRUCTION ON QUEENS ** — RIGHT on Westview Drive — RIGHT into Westview Shopping Centre parking lot — follow road RIGHT toward Safeway and look for the Running Room on your right — go back the way you came and exit the parking lot LEFT on Westview — LEFT on Queens — opposite Del Rio, after the construction fencing, turn LEFT onto path into William Griffin Park and follow the main Mosquito Creek Trail SOUTH, keeping Mosquito Creek on your left — through the open park toward the traffic light at Fell and Larson — LEFT on Larson — RIGHT on Wolfe St — look RIGHT and take trail into Mahon Park — cross Mission Creek and take trail RIGHT and keep Mission Creek on your right until you reach a bridge with decorative metal railings and turn RIGHT to cross it and then left to continue on trail with creek on your left — exit trail with short climb to Keith Rd — RIGHT on Keith — LEFT at Bewicke Ave — LEFT on 3rd St — RIGHT on Forbes Ave — LEFT on Esplanade — RIGHT on Lonsdale and look for Tap & Barrel on the left
* Yeah, yeah, I would have spelled it ‘Til’ too but it’s an homage to the Beastie Boys, so I’m cold kickin’ Beastie style, yo!
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