22 Jan 2014

Route: West Dyke Trail (Richmond, BC)

One of my favourite places to run or ride my bike is along the West Dyke Trail in Richmond.  This trail runs along the west edge of Richmond from the north-west corner at Terra Nova Rural Park down to Garry Point Park in Steveston (see the West Dyke Trail map graphic to the right, taken from the City of Richmond's website).

For those unfamiliar, Richmond is a city at or below sea-level and, as such, is surrounded by a system of dykes and pump stations.  The nice perk to these dykes is that Richmond, which is an island called Lulu Island, has almost a complete pedestrian and bike path around the entire city.  There are three main sections of the dyke/trail: the West Dyke Trail, the South Dyke Trail (which connects to the south end of the West Dyke Trail), and the Middle Arm Trail (which connects to the north end of the West Dyke Trail).

I love running along the trail.  Yesterday, I passed by several Great Blue Herons, one Bald Eagle, and multitudes of people out walking, running, riding their bikes, walking their dogs, or otherwise enjoying the fresh air.  There are a couple of bathrooms along the way, plenty of benches for enjoying the scenery, and several access points (basically, one at each major road).

Given that the West Dyke Trail connects to the other trails at the north and south, there's plenty of opportunity for extending a bike ride or run as long as one would like.

Here are a couple of my recent photos taken along the trail.

 




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