Quarry Rock crowd control coming
North Van officials to limit number of hikers setting out on popular Deep Cove trail
Mark Fitzpatrick and Jaymie Lundrigan hoped to beat the crowds on Quarry Rock early Saturday morning.
More than 100 other hikers had the same idea.
“We thought 8:30 was early,” said Fitzpatrick, “but it’s starting to line up already.”
To deal with overcrowding on the popular hike, the District of North Vancouver will attempt to limit the number of people starting the Baden-Powell trail near Panorama Park in Deep Cove to 70 at a time, beginning May 18.
But even the mayor isn’t certain the plan will work.
While the Baden-Powell trail is maintained by the municipality, Quarry Rock — a large granite outcropping above the Deep Cove marina — is on private land.
“We can’t actually cap the number of people up there or put signage up there,” said Mayor Richard Walton. “We do control the trail, so we hope to influence the numbers on the trail.”
A ranger will be stationed at the main trailhead near Panorama Park to “appeal to people’s common sense” and ask them to hold back and wait for some hikers to exit before starting up the trail. Public parking will be limited to three hours to increase visitor turnover, while tour buses without a prepaid visitor’s licence could face fines.
Walton said almost 3,000 people were counted on the trail one day last summer. There were also 30 medical incidents over a 12-month period. The crowds and traffic made it difficult for first responders to access the area.
“I don’t think this problem is going to get any easier to manage,” admitted Walton.
“More people live in condos, and more people are fit and want to get out and recreate. The problem is that these neighbourhoods weren’t designed for huge volumes.”
Longtime resident Brian Tyldesley agreed that tourism has become “too much of a good thing.”
When Kate Winslet told the paparazzi-lined red carpet at the Toronto Film Festival last year that she pined for Honey’s Donuts in Deep Cove, residents were tickled.
The Quarry Rock trail is frequently mentioned on Top 10 lists, at least one inflight magazine and the Lonely Planet guidebook.
“How do you limit success?” asked Tyldesley, who, after living in Deep Cove for 46 years, calls himself a “Cover.”
But both Tyldesley and his son David said assigning a ranger to count heads at the Quarry Rock trailhead might be a little “heavy-handed.”
“The tourists are here for the same reasons we live here,” said David.
At the trailhead Saturday morning, Robert and Katarina Ferro had trouble finding a parking spot and were late for a group hike with some colleagues.
A woman from Los Angeles said she’d heard about the trail from a friend and researched it on the Lonely Planet website.
“It’s beautiful,” she said. “I’ll take any chance I get to do a hike.”
From Panorama Park, the two-kilometre trail cuts steeply through cedar and Douglas fir, offering all the delights of a Pacific temperate rainforest, including creeks and waterfalls, and steps made from rocks and the roots of large trees.
Hikers, most in running shoes or hiking boots, but some in loafers and sandals, formed a line going up the trail. There were still spaces between groups of people, including a woman talking on a cellphone and a couple coaxing a toddler up the path.
Near the top, the muffled sound of a large crowd — and Rihanna’s We Found Love playing from tinny speakers — could be heard through the trees.
About 80 people were at the lookout just after 9 a.m., with more arriving each minute. No one seemed to mind the crowd.
Tiny colourful kayaks could be seen in the sparkling fiord below, a fact not lost on a man with a selfie stick who stood on the cliff edge as he tried to take a photograph.