Pacific Spirit Regional Park (from Salal Trail)

About the Pacific Spirit Regional Park (Salal Trail)

Located close to the University of British Columbia is the Pacific Spirit Regional Park where students and dogs owners alike love to take breaks from their regular activities for a walk in the forest. This is one of our most frequented trails and one of the reasons why is that for all the times we've come here, we've always discovered something new about it since it is so massive. We've visited this park multiple times already with full breakdowns of some of these visits.

You can read about our breakdowns of the South and North parts of the Pacific Spirit Regional Park. The trail we're talking about today is technically still a part of the South portion of the Pacific Spirit Regional Park, but we are starting at a different trailhead closer to the northern part of the park. Up until now, we haven't gone through this way yet and we're exploring trails that we have yet to hike.

Pacific Spirit Regional Park (from the Salal Trail)

Type: Trail
Length: 2.8 km
Traffic: Moderate
Route Type: Loop/Multiple Trails

Markus walking through the Pacific Spirit Regional Park (from Salal Trail)

We heard about a trail in the Pacific Spirit Regional Park (the Heron, Lily of the Valley and Salal Trail Loop) that is leash-required the entire way and since Markus is a reactive dog, we took him to check it out over the weekend. When we got there, we discovered that the park has a rule about not allowing dogs on this trail over weekends or on statutory holidays so we had to make other plans.

The Pacific Spirit Regional Park is so large that it spans multiple regions sectioned off by streets or the main roads. This trail we wanted to do was across the street from the main Pacific Spirit Regional Park, so we were able to just go across 16th Avenue where the Salal Trail began (or the Cleveland trail not too far down).

The Pacific Spirit Regional Park is one of those parks with different trails that intersect, so the duration and the length of your walk with your dog will depend on how long you want to go before looping back to where you started.

Our Path

There are maps with proper labels throughout the park at the Pacific Spirit Regional Park (from Salal Trail)

When stepping into the trail from this side of the park, the first thing we noticed was that it was a lot more "forest-y" than the other trails we've done at the Pacific Spirit Regional Park, if that makes any sense. Perhaps what I'm trying to say is that the forest felt denser with trees around this area than the other parts we've been to.

Our path ends up taking about an hour or so and it was 2.8 kilometres long. We started at the Salal Trail down all the way to where it meets with the Nature Trail. You could also start at the Cleveland Trail, which isn't too far down. When we hit the Nature Trail, we took a right to go toward the Hemlock Trail. Once we hit the Hemlock Trail, we took a left to start heading east, which eventually branches off to the Huckleberry Trail. From there, the path meets with the Sasamat Trail or you can take the Top Trail, which will lead you back onto 16th Avenue.

While it was a short hike, there were a few things to note about this path. First, there weren't as many people as the other trails we've been used to that begin along the West side of the park. We did, however, notice that there were way more cyclists. Multiple times, we had to stand off to the side of the path to let families of cyclists pass, which was fine, but just surprising how many there were compared to the other trails.

On the stretch up the Huckleberry Trail, this path becomes leash-optional and we felt it immediately. We passed by a lot of dogs here, most of them off-leash. It was so busy with groups of dogs at one point, that we had to walk 20-30 feet into the forest just to avoid them and so the dogs wouldn't come all the way to us to sniff Markus. If your dog is reactive, just be aware of which trail you're on and whether it's leash-optional or leash-required.

What we liked

We come to this park a lot because we enjoy our walks through the Pacific Spirit Regional Park to enjoy nature and surroundings.
This park is well shaded and covered by trees.
Compared to some of the other trails, this one didn't feel as busy with other hikers.

What we didn't like

These trails are shared, so cyclists are allowed to be here and there are plenty of them. Just make sure you're always in control of your dog.
Specifically for reactive dogs, there were a lot of off-leash dogs. Again, these are leash-optional trails, so a lot of owners choose not to have them. Just keep that in mind that if it gets overwhelming with off-leash dogs, you can always just step into the trees to let them by.

Our Recommendation for Reactive Dogs

We didn't intend to do this trail as we were hoping to do the leash-required loop for the sake of Markus' reactivity. Since we didn't want to waste the trip out, we went into the Pacific Spirit Regional Park through the Salal Trail and it was mostly fine, but it is a bit harder for me to recommend, because of the number of cyclists and off-leash dogs that we came across. There were so many dogs at one point (maybe 7 or 8) that we felt the need to stand off to the side to let all the dogs pass before we continued with our walk.

Markus posing for another picture in the forest at the Pacific Spirit Regional Park (from Salal Trail)

One of my gripes with this park is that it's hard to tell where an leash-required trail ends and the leash-optional one begins. Except for the aforementioned loop where it's fully leash-required, the main South part of the Pacific Spirit Regional Park doesn't actually have a path that's leash-required from beginning to end - certainly not one that'll loop back to where you began. For this reason, I can't blame dog owners for not realizing when they've entered a leash-required trail with their off-leash dog, which happens quite often.

If your dog is reactive especially with dogs that are off-leash, my recommendation is to cross the street and do the Heron, Lily of the Valley and Salal Trail Loop instead since it is fully leash-required. However, keep in mind that the trail is closed for dogs over the weekend and on statutory holidays!

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.