Field Trips
Nature Vancouver offers a variety of field trips almost every weekend. Trips include birding, botany, marine biology or general nature walks; day hikes or short backpacking and snowshoe hikes. These trips are much appreciated by the membership.
We are looking for more members to volunteer to lead field trips, specially birding trips.
You don’t need any special nature knowledge to lead a trip – just an idea and enthusiasm for a trip to a particular area that you are familiar with, and a willingness to learn and share. Experienced trip leaders will be happy to co-lead trips with you and provide mentorship. Please contact, Bill Kinkaid, Field Trips Co-ordinator, if you are interested.
In March 2020, all field trips and other group activities were put on hold due to Covid-19 pandemic. In November 2020, the Board of Directors approved new guidelines and protocols for leaders and participants. Please download the new Release of Liability form and Covid-19 Declaration, to be signed individually by the field trip leaders and participants, from the links below.
Nov 24, 2020 Update: At the moment the field trips are STILL on HOLD.
June 7, 2021 Update: Nature Vancouver Board of Directors has been reviewing the possibility of starting field trips again. We anticipate that field trips will resume after June 16, when, hopefully, the province moves into Step 2 of the reopening plan.
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 field trip with Nature Vancouver, please review 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.