Surrey Bend Regional Park is likely so called because
Fraser River makes quite a bend in this area. While hiking 6.8 km or
biking 5.3 km of trails in this park, you get to see an occasional good
river view, but, mostly, it's a very fine walk/biking on easy flat trails along
some impressive trees and shrubs on both sides, occasionally
forming a green ceiling of sorts above your head.
The 200 meter-long parking lot access road has numerous
and fairly deep potholes, but, other than that and persistent moderate
noise from a nearby industrial installation, Surrey Bend Regional Park
is a very pleasant place to visit.
1. Here is a Google map of Surrey Bend Regional Park.
2. To get to Surrey Bend Regional Park from Vancouver,
take Highway 1 East. Here we are crossing Port Mann Bridge.
Port Mann Bridge
3. Take Exit 53 to Highways 15 and 17.
TransCanada Highway 1 East at Exit 53 to Highways 15 and 17
4. Get onto Highway 17.
5. Drive on Highway 17 for about one kilometer.
BC Highway 17
6-7. Exit onto 104 Avenue East.
BC Highway 17 at 104 Avenue Exit
8. Upon reaching 104 Ave, make a right turn (pictured
below) followed by an almost immediate (within 100 meters) left turn
(not pictured) at a traffic light to stay on 104 Ave.
9. Having made that left turn, you stay on 104 Ave, and
Surrey Bend Regional Park Entrance would be on the left side within
several hundred meters. If you were to continue straight here, Barnston
Island Ferry (covered in the next trip report) would be at the end
of 104 Ave within 300 meters or so.
104 Avenue Surrey BC Canada
10-11. The park was open from 7 AM to 9 PM today, but hours
vary depending on the season.
Surrey Bend Park Entrance
12. The parking lot is within 200 meters from the
entrance, but the access road has numerous fairly deep potholes.
Surrey Bend Regional Park
13. Surrey Bend Regional Park parking lot.
Quite large. The parking is free. Should the lot be full, the parking lot by
Barnston Ferry is also free, and a 300 meter-long path connects that lot with
this one.
Parking Lot for Surrey Bend Regional Park
14. The entrance to the park's recreational
area at the end of the parking lot.
Surrey Bend Regional Park
15-16. Here is a map of Surrey Bend Regional
Park, taken from the board seen in the photo above. There are two river
viewpoints, and we missed the upper one by turning left before reaching it. The
lower one could be at the end of Center Creek Trail (starting at a junction in
photo #25), or could be one of the river views we have observed along Parsons
Trail - it's hard to tell. We
ended up hiking partial Parsons Trail and then Spirea Loop Trail to return to
the parking lot, but a hike can be extended further by continuing on Parsons
Trail past the second viewpoint and making a bigger loop by returning via
Pacific Trail.
Surrey Bend Regional Park Map
17. Right by the parking lot, on the right side
past the information board, there is a short path to Parsons Channel South Lookout.
Surrey Bend Regional Park Surrey BC Canada
18. This is Parsons Channel, the part of
Fraser River between Surrey and Barnston Island. The ferry for Barnston Island,
which we will have much more of in the next trip report, can be observed on the
far right side.
Fraser River Parsons Channel
19. Now we are hiking on Parsons Trail at about
370 meters, and here is the intersection with Spirea Loop Trail where we turned
right to stay on Parsons Trail. We will end up coming from the direction facing
us in the photo below after completing Spirea Loop Trail (photo #31).
Parsons Trail in Surrey Bend Regional Park
20. Parsons Trail at 500 meters. All distances
are based on a GPS odometer and are approximate. Here is that "green ceiling" we
referred to earlier in the trip report. It's like walking through somewhat of a
vegetation tunnel.
Surrey Bend Park - Parsons Trail
21-22. At 590 meters, there is another good
Fraser River view just beyond the fence.
Fraser River
23. Parsons Trail is a very pleasant hike.
Parsons Trail - Surrey Bend Regional Park - Surrey BC Canada
24. One more Fraser River view at 1.38 km from
the parking lot.
Fraser River View from Surrey Bend Regional Park
25. At 2.05 km, there is a junction with Center
Creek Trail, which starts on the right side. Not sure where it leads, perhaps to
the first viewpoint listed on the map?
Parsons Trail at Center Creek Trail in Surrey Bend Regional Park
26. But we went straight and stayed on Parsons Trail,
which, after the junction, comes out of the forest.
Parsons Trail - Surrey Bend Regional Park - British Columbia
27. At 2.8 km there is an option of making a
short or a long loop back to the parking lot. Going straight is Parsons Trail,
which will connect with Pacific Trail and lead back to the parking lot. And a
shorter option is turning left here onto Spirea Loop Trail, which is what we
did.
Surrey Bend Regional Park
28. A 100 meter connector to the longer loop.
Turn left at the end of it to go back to the parking lot.
29. We have turned left to stay on Spirea Loop
Trail.
Spirea Loop Trail
30. A fine view on the left side.
Surrey Bend Regional Park - Surrey BC Canada
31. And we are back at the same junction as
seen in photo #19, except coming from the other side.
Spirea Loop Trail at Parsons Trail
32. Crossing a small bridge again, located a
few hundred meters from the parking lot.
Surrey Bend Regional Park British Columbia Canada
33. And this is a path to
Barnston Island Ferry
- it's about 300 meters to the ferry from Surrey Bend Regional Park parking lot,
and the path is located to the right of the parking lot as you are entering the
park. Of course, you can drive past the park entrance on 104 Avenue and reach the ferry
that way too.
Surrey Bend Regional Park Path to Barnston Ferry
Our easy hike today via Parsons Trail and Spirea Loop
Trail was about 3.5 km long. Surrey Bend Regional Park is a fine park to
visit. Recommended.