Journal: News & Comment

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Urban rainforest

Yesterday I took my two daughters (ages two and four) to Cypress Falls Park in West Vancouver. It's a beautiful and strange wild zone, deep and dark and misty, smelling of cedar.

Cypress Creek runs from the ski area at the top of the mountain down to the ocean, a distance of 9 km. The park is just above the Upper Levels Highway, midway down the course of the creek -- so close to civilization that we grabbed sandwiches at the Caulfeild Subway before our trip, and coffee and lollipops at Starbucks afterward.

There are no signs leading to the trail, which begins at the end of a cul-de-sac, next to a small baseball diamond. A few minutes along the rock-and-dirt path (through tall trees reminiscent of Lynn Canyon a few kilometres east) brought us to a thundering waterfall at least thirty feet high. The kids were impressed. I was too.

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