Field Trips
Photos by Bill Kinkaid
Nature Vancouver offers a variety of field trips, including birding outings, nature walks, boat trips, day hikes, short backpacking trips and snowshoe trips.
Non-members are welcome to join field trips as a way to review the activities of the Society but are asked to limit their participation to a maximum of three events.
Other organizations host regular walks and surveys that might be of interest to members of Nature Vancouver. More informations is available on Ongoing Nature Walks and Surveys.
Click below for more information about Nature Vancouver field trips.
Field Trip Schedule
Nature Vancouver field trips are scheduled on most weekends and some week days. The complete schedule is available at EVENTS CALENDAR.
DeBoville Slough/Minnekhada Park birding field trip will take place at DeBoville Slough on 23/Mar/2019 at 9:00 am - 12:00 pm
Half-day Birding Field Trip at Reifel Migratory Bird Sanctuary will take place at George C Reifel Migratory Bird Sanctuary on 30/Mar/2019 at 9:00 am - 12:00 pm
Birding the Pitt River Dykes in Port Coquitlam will take place at DeBoville Slough on 27/Apr/2019 at 8:30 am - 12:30 pm
Tour of Vancouver Transit Centre will take place at on 14/May/2019 at 12:00 am
Birding Colony Farm R.P. will take place at Colony Farm Regional Park on 18/May/2019 at 8:30 am - 12:30 pm
Old-growth forest ecology along Hollyburn Baden-Powell Trail (Rating B4) will take place at on 09/Jun/2019 at 11:00 am - 3:00 pm
The old-growth forest of Lighthouse Park (Rating B4) will take place at Lighthouse Park on 25/Jun/2019 at 10:00 am - 2:00 pm
Birding the Grant Narrows Area will take place at Grant Narrows on 29/Jun/2019 at 8:15 am - 12:30 pm
Geology of Cypress Provincial Park (Rating B6) will take place at on 07/Jul/2019 at 11:00 am - 5:00 pm
Geology of Caulfeild Park and the coastline of Burrard Inlet (Rating B3) will take place at on 30/Jul/2019 at 10:00 am - 1:00 pm
Trip Difficulty Rating System
Nature Vancouver uses a field trip classification system by rating the level of difficulty and adding an estimate of the time to be spent on the trail. The trip leader is responsible for deciding on the appropriate classification in conjunction with the Field Trip Coordinator. If this will be your first Nature Vancouver field trip, please review the guidelines for trip participants .
The difficulty rating system is as follows:
- Easy: easy path or road with minimal elevation change and minimal hazards. Examples: Lost Lagoon, Reifel Bird Sanctuary.
- Moderate: trail with possible rocks, roots or other hazards. Moderate grade, occasional steep but short sections. Up to 200m elevation change. Examples: Norvan Falls, Pacific Spirit Park.
- Strenuous: moderately steep gradient. 100 m to 500 m elevation change. Examples: Hollyburn Peak, Mount Galiano.
- Very strenuous: constant steep gradient. 500m to 1,000 m elevation change. Examples: Elk Mountain, Rainbow Lake.
The expected duration of the field trip is added to the letter category to obtain a combined letter/figure rating. Example: A C6 hike will be a C hike, as described above, with an estimated time on the trail of 6 hours. The estimated time spent during a field trip does not include driving or other travel times.
Field Trip Documents
Please review the documents below as they contain important information about trip preparation, carpooling and transportation, associated costs, and more.
Liability Waiver
Please read the release of liability waiver. Anyone participating in a Nature Vancouver field day trip or overnight trip must complete and sign a waiver form.