March Adventure: Discovering Bowen Island

On our anniversary weekend, we planned a day trip to Bowen Island. It had been raining the whole week but the Lord gave us a sunny and cloudless day that was just perfect for this trip.

A family first: we opted to leave our van at the day parking lot and got on the ferry as foot passengers. 

The view that greeted us at the upper deck upon boarding.

The trip was only for 20 minutes and before long, we were docking by Snug Cove.

Welcome to Bowen Island!

We passed by the Union Steamship Company Marina shop (well, it was kinda hard not to!), probably the most famous icon in the island. There was a lookout point above several stairs where you could see the vista of Snug Cove and the ferries that come and go every hour.

In front of the general store (the lookout is to our left). They also offer accommodations for the night.

We ate our picnic lunch in Crippen Park and after a few games of badminton, started our very long hike in search of Killarney Lake.  We didn't really have a map, so we just kinda followed our instincts and when we were unsure, some asking helped us a bit, too ;)

Looking out to Deep Bay

The hike was no joke! Good thing the kiddos were all up to it - even the littlest one :)

There are so many interesting things to see along the trail, 

like this one fallen cottonwood tree (so humongous!)

...or this tree struck by lightning.

Finally! Killarney Lake!

After eating some of our snacks at the picnic area in Killarney Lake, we set off for Bridal Veil Falls. 

At the fish ladder and Bridal Veil Falls

Whoever said this hike takes about one hour was wrong! I was surprised when I checked the time and saw that it was almost 4PM - we were on this trail for more than 2 hours!!!

Once we got back on the main road, we headed for Artisan Square in search of Cocoa West. Lo and behold, this sign greeted us:

Just when we thought we're done with hiking, there's one more! 

There's NO WAY I would have chosen the 1 km over the 300m, but we were forewarned that this trail was mostly uphill. I told the kids their effort would be rewarded with ice cream, so they were all for it. They hiked the trail so fast, I wasn't able to keep up (I actually had to stop a couple of times along the way - it was a grueling hike!). By the time I caught up with them, they were already at the cafe :))

Eating our reward: ice cream!

Gourmet chocolates, anyone?

The cafe closes early on Mondays and Tuesdays for chocolate-making.

Cocoa West only use Belgian chocolates.

The way back to the ferry dock in Snug Cove was a lot easier since they were downhill, but still a good 15 minute walk. We were early for the next sailing so we passed the time browsing the nearby food carts and checking out the moored boats by the cove.

This was one worthy trip - as I am writing this, I feel a surge of wanting to go back there again. But maybe next time, we'd bring the van, so we wouldn't have to hike as much ;)