Current Trail Closures around Vancouver and Southwest B.C.
Last update: 9:50 pm, Sep 14, 2021
On this page we will do our best to keep a current list of all known trail and park closures in and around Vancouver. We’ll also use this page to keep track of any trail restrictions that are seasonal or temporary (ie, winter closures, trail maintenance, or B.C. Parks’ day-use passes).
If you are aware of a trail closure that isn’t listed below, please let us know by emailing info [at] outdoorvancouver [dot] ca or sending us a message on Twitter. You can also leave a comment at the bottom of this page. Thanks, and safe hiking!
BC Parks Day-use Pass System (2021)
To prevent crowding and over-use at some of B.C. Parks most popular destinations, a Day-Use Pass system is being implemented in 2021, from June 23 – Oct 22. Affected parks in the Vancouver area are:
- Joffre Lakes
- Golden Ears
- Stawamus Chief (Backside Trail)
- Garibaldi (Rubble Creek, Cheakamus, and Diamondhead trailheads)
Visitors to these parks will need to reserve free day-use passes ahead of time. The passes can be reserved one day (starting at 7am) in advance of the trip, and can be reserved online.
If you have a camping reservation, a separate day-use pass is not required.
To reserve day-use passes or learn more, visit the B.C. Parks website here.
Current Trail Closures
North Vancouver
- Quarry Rock– The trail is currently closed.
- Grouse Mountain Regional Park)
- Grouse Grind – Due to COVID-19, advance bookings are required for downloads on the Skyride gondola. More details from Grouse Mountain here.
- Capilano River Regional Park (Pacific Spirit Trail) – A section of the trail remains impassible due to landslide and it may takes months or years to restore.
Tri-Cities
- Buntzen Lake > Swan Falls Trail – “Due to a rockslide, there’s no pedestrian access on Powerhouse Road between North Beach and Buntzen Dam. Swan Falls trail is also inaccessible to hikers at this time.” Read the current updates on the B.C. Hydro website.
- Buntzen Lake Loop > The suspension bridge near north beach has been closed as it is in need of replacement. There is currently no timeline for this to be completed. B.C. Hydro website.
- Colony Farm – “The western perimeter trail at Colony Farm Regional Park is closed until early 2022 to serve as a temporary staging and storage area for the Trans Mountain Expansion Project.” More details on Metro Vancouver website.
Fraser Valley & East
- Manning Park – Partially closed due to wildfires. “All accesses into the park along this stretch all closed including Blackwall Road, the Bonnevier Trail, Cambie Creek, The Hope Pass Trail the Skagit Bluffs Trail, and the Whipsaw FSR through the Park.” More details from B.C. Parks here.
Squamish
- Watersprite Lake – Trail is currently closed due to an aggressive bear.
Pemberton
- Stein Valley Nlaka’pamux Heritage Park – Fully closed due to COVID-19. Latest details from B.C. Parks here.
B.C. Recreation Sites and Trails
See here for a full list of current closures across the province.
A Starter’s Guide to Hiking in Vancouver.
- Guides for 10 amazing hikes near Vancouver
- Hiking safety and trail etiquette
- Resources, hiking gear overview, and more!
C
Lighthouse Park and Whytcliffe are both open, as are their parking lots.
– June 23, 2020
Karl W
Thanks, I’ve updated the list!
Sandy
Will tennis courts in parks be opening?
Natasha
I’m wondering if you can post about what’s open. I’m having a difficult time determining where I can go since all the trails I used to go on or roads to them are closed. Can you be clear on where we CAN go? I think that would be really helpful. I’m not savvy in the loop holes here.
Natasha
I’m wondering if you can post about what’s open. I’m having a difficult time determining where I can go since all the trails I used to go on or roads to them are closed. Can you be clear on where we CAN go? I think that would be really helpful. I’m not savvy in the loop holes here. Alternatively, a filter on your database with closures would be great. Thank you.
Anon
Agreed. It would be amazing to know what is actually open for those of us that want to hike, but that don’t have an entire database of parks/trails in our brains.
Guiseppe
All trails are open unless specified in the list above. This includes trails in all BC Parks but they are set to open on May 14.
Melissa
I fully agree Natasha! While this page is helpful, I just want to know where I CAN go, so it’d be very helpful to have a page just on what’s open.
Karl W
There’s literally hundreds (a thousand?) of hikes and only dozens of them are off-limits at the moment… It would be futile to try and list them all here.
Your best bet is to use our hike finder (https://www.outdoorvancouver.ca/vancouver-hiking-trail-guides/) where you can filter down by the city you want to hike, if you want to bring your dog, if you want a waterfall, etc. and find a hike that you want to do. Then reference this page to see if its on the list of closed places.
For BC Parks, most are open now except in the lower mainland (not including Golden Ears, Murrin and a few others).
Almost every Metro Vancouver Regional Park is open.
Most other places are open, though some have closed their parking lots or have limited access by municipal by-laws.
If you want a specific recommendation, please comment here with what city are you in, what skill level/ difficulty you want, or what kind of hike you want to do and I’ll do my best to give you some suggestions.
Karl W
Alright I relented and wrote another post on some suggested open trails here :)
Hopefully it’s helpful for generating a few ideas of places to go!
https://www.outdoorvancouver.ca/where-to-hike-in-vancouver-during-covid-19/
Tomina
Whytecliff Park and Lighthouse Parks in West van are NOT closed.
Whytecliff Park parking lot is closed and
Lighthouse Park parking lot is closed.
washrooms being maintained!