“Dad… Where are we hiking tomorrow?” I have started to get asked this a lot. Honestly, the sound of this question brings a Pavlovian response as I start drooling over the thought of our next adventure. This was going to be a rainy hike at the beginning of October so the natural umbrella of the trees was going to be needed.

My thoughts immediately jumped to the beautiful green canopy of Golden Ears Park. It is between an 1 to 1 1/2 hours from Vancouver and boasts over 80km of trails, camping, horseback riding, and swimming.

This hike is a very easy stroll. The trail has been prepared with gravel, it’s wide and stroller and wheelchair friendly. There is very little elevation gain; however, if you are pushing an adult in a wheelchair there are a couple of ups and downs that might be challenging. This trail is also dog friendly so feel free to bring your fur babies.

The roundtrip distance is about 5.5km and depending on how long you stop at the falls and explore side trails it should take only a couple hours.

As I mentioned the day we went it was rainy, but the trail has great drainage, so there are very few puddles and your kids won’t require boots or any special footwear.

To get to the parking lot, of the Lower Falls Trail, it feels like you are driving to the very back of the park. Once you have entered the park continue driving along the road until it turn from paved to gravel (a couple potholes but nothing to rough). You will continue on the gravel road until you come to a “T” junction. To the right is camping to the left is the parking lot for the trail. There are outhouses here and you may want your little ones to make use of these since there aren’t any others until you get to the falls (and these were out of order when we got there).

The trail head is well marked off of the corner of the parking lot and once you are on the trail it is easy to follow.

The 8 year old perspective: “This was one of my favourite hikes this year. I really liked the falls. I like crawling on the rocks and the way the falls splashed me.”

• He is referring to the spray from the falls. It was hard to tell what got him wetter… the rain or the falls 🙂

After each hike I like to take the boys for a local treat. In the case I took them to Tim Hortons for hot chocolate; however, if you know an excellent local bakery or coffee shop please comment below!