Field Trips
All field trips remain cancelled due to COVID-19. We encourage you to get outside and enjoy nature on your own or in a small “social bubble”, taking all necessary precautions.
For an updated list of park and trail closures and restrictions, please see the link on our home page.
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. 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.
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.
Field Trip Schedule
Nature Vancouver field trips are scheduled on most weekends and some week days. The complete schedule is available at EVENTS CALENDAR.
Due to COVID-19 pandemic, our outdoor activities are on hold at the moment. We plan to restart these activities as soon as the restrictions are lifted and we develop a safe protocol for distancing.
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.. I
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.