Lighthouse Park

Markus posing in front of the lighthouse on West Beach at Lighthouse Park

About Lighthouse Park

If you've heard of Lighthouse Park, you've probably heard of the view there as well. Located on the coast of West Vancouver, Lighthouse Park juts out just enough to be the perfect spot for a lighthouse. For us, it doubles as the perfect spot for a great view by the water. It was our first time visiting the park despite all the raving reviews we've heard and it truly did not disappoint.

Markus and me taking in the view at the end of West Beach Trail at Lighthouse Park

Our plans to check out Lighthouse Park almost got snowed on. The snow started coming down hard early in the morning and we thought maybe it wasn't going to be possible to get on the road and drive all the way to Lighthouse Park. Luckily, everything calmed down a bit around the afternoon, so we hit the road to North Vancouver and Lighthouse Park with Markus.

Lighthouse Viewpoint

There are multiple viewpoints at Lighthouse Park and getting to the first one is fairly easy. From the parking lot, you just follow the signs upwards and you'll be there within a couple of minutes and maybe about 50 metres. The walk to the Lighthouse Viewpoint is uphill and isn't too difficult, but going up the rocks to get to the top to see the view can be a little steep. Even though we had Markus with us, it was easy enough, but just make sure to take it easy coming back down. In our case, Markus tends to run downhill faster than we can keep up, so we had to make sure he didn’t pull too far ahead.

From this viewpoint, you can get a glimpse of the lighthouse, but it's mostly covered behind some trees. For a better view of the lighthouse, you'll have to make your way to one of the other viewpoints. For us, we headed down to the end of West Beach Trail where, in our opinion, the view was the best. We did have some difficulty finding the path and this had become a theme as we kept heading deeper into the trail.

We found that the trails at Lighthouse Park weren't the easiest to follow. If it weren't for another group of people walking ahead of us, we likely would've taken a wrong turn somewhere. Although there are signs pointing out each trail, the trails themselves weren't very well marked or maintained. The paths weren’t always clear and there were points where it became very narrow and we were cutting through bushes just to follow the path. Add in the fact that it had just been snowing, the trail was also a little muddy and there were areas where you had no choice but to step in to get through.

West Beach Trail

Type: Trail
Length: 0.5 km
Traffic: Moderate
Route Type: Out & Back

From the Lighthouse Viewpoint, you can keep following the trail and look for signs that point to the West Beach Trail. While we were there, there was a fallen tree that blocked the trail, so we couldn’t find it at first. If you keep following this path, you’ll eventually come across a sign with arrows for all the trails at Lighthouse Park. From there, we took the path towards West Beach, which starts sloping downwards. The path going onto West Beach Trail was slightly hidden and we almost missed it, but once you cut through the bushes and go down a little bit, you'll emerge out of the trees and on the top of some rocks.

Markus wants to be part of the view at Lighthouse Park by West Beach

And you’ve made it. This spot here has quickly become one of our favourite spots in British Columbia. Since it was a quiet day, we spent quite some time sitting on the rocks and basking in the beauty of nature. With the sun dancing off the still waters and with the lighthouse just off to the side, the views were simply amazing and Markus was taking all of it in!

Once you’re done there, there are more trails you can take. We have yet to explore those ones, so we don’t have any further recommendations at this point. The next time we come back, we’ll try another trail further down.

What we liked

The view at the end was absolutely gorgeous and one of our favourites in Vancouver.
There were washrooms at the beginning of the trail.
The first viewpoint (Lighthouse viewpoint) is really close to the beginning of the trail.

What we didn’t like

The trail was hard to follow and wasn't well marked.
Certain areas of the trail were extremely muddy and we had to step into it to get past.
Some of the paths were very narrow and required us to brush past bushes.

Our Recommendation for Reactive Dogs

For reactive dogs, I struggle to recommend bringing your dog here unless it's during quieter hours. If it's peak season, it's hard for me to recommend because of how poorly marked and maintained the paths were and how busy it supposedly gets. The paths were also very narrow in certain areas and passing other dogs (if we had come across any) would've been difficult. We just happened to go right after it had snowed, so there weren't too many people thinking about going for a hike and we didn’t come across any dogs. For the view alone, though, I would recommend that you try and find a time to go when both you can your dog are more comfortable. You won't regret it!

Disclaimer

Markus is a reactive, but not aggressive dog. His instinct is to avoid other dogs and he may growl, bark or lunge if provoked, but will not attack. We normally do not have issues with leashed dogs when both sides are controlled, but we will be on guard when an oncoming dog is not leashed. There are varying levels to a dog’s reactivity and only you can decide if this park, trail or hotel is appropriate for your dog. Our visits generally will not include off-leash areas; most experiences shared on The Markus Project are within leashed or undefined areas.

Please remember that our past experience visiting a park, trail or hotel may not be the same as your experience at the same park, trail or hotel. We have no control of who visits the park and whether they adhere to park rules - like leashing their dogs on leash-required paths - or not. Please use your discretion with the information provided and with your personal knowledge of your dog’s reactivity when visiting these parks, trails or hotels.