We're a few months into the COVID-19 pandemic and we've been looking for things to do around Vancouver that allows us to explore the Pacific Northwest and also adheres to social distancing rules. As of the time of this writing, British Columbia recently moved into Phase 3 of their restart plan, which allows for non-essential traveling within province. This means that we're allowed to stay at hotels again and we took advantage of that for this mini trip.

About Squamish, British Columbia

Squamish is a town north of Vancouver in British Columbia and it's on the way up to Whistler. Surrounded by mountains and forests, Squamish is known for major trails like the Stawamus Chief and a number of smaller ones, which we got to do while we were there. To get more out of our time in Squamish, we stayed overnight and packed in a number of smaller trails on back to back days.

Where We Stayed in Squamish

• Location: Squamish Executive Suites Hotel & Resort

• Dog Fee: $20/night

Since this was the first place we've stayed since things have been shut down, the hotel's protocol were different. We didn't have any issues with that and in fact, we appreciated how much they went so much out of their way in making sure that their guests were comfortable and felt safe. They took extra precautions with the sanitation and we enjoyed our time resting and relaxing in the room. It was good being away from home for the first time in a long time.

Outside of the hotel, there were a lot of grassy areas to take the dog out. The hotel is off of a decently sized street and there's plenty of grass along this street. The only downside was that there were a lot of slugs on the sidewalk so we had to walk around them. Aside from that, we enjoyed our stay (or perhaps we just really missed traveling)!

One small issue we had was that the air conditioner was immediately next to the bed, which made for an uncomfortable night. The bedsheets were so thick that I was sweating underneath even with the air conditioner on, but because the air conditioner was right next to the bed, I also couldn't stay on top of the sheets. This made for a lot of uncomfortable waking up throughout the night.

Aside from that, we didn't have any problems with the room and Markus. Since it's a suite, we were in a room within the room so it was nice and quiet and Markus was able to rest easy throughout the night without reacting to sounds from outside. For this reason, we can recommend this room for reactive dogs.

Things to do around Squamish

Since we were spending an evening in Squamish, we got to sandwich our stay at the hotel with a few things to do the day before and after. We squeezed quite a bit into the two days with combinations of longer trails and shorter walks to waterfalls.

For our updates, we're going to highlight each of these parks and trails in order of how we arrived there. For the bigger parks or larger trails that are too long to squeeze into this update, we'll be doing separate breakdowns for each one.

Porteau Cove

Known for its beautiful location and scenic views, Porteau Cove is a popular spot for photographers and local residents. On the way up to Squamish, this was our first stop. We spent time by the beach enjoying the view next to the water. Although dogs are allowed on the beach, Porteau Cove itself isn't exactly dog-friendly with all of the logs and driftwood that have washed onshore. Once you can get past the perimeter of the beach where the logs are, the rest of the beach is fine. As medium-sized dog, Markus was okay leaping from log to log to get in.

Shannon Falls

While leaving Porteau Cove and making our way into Squamish, we made a stop at Shannon Falls Provincial Park to see the waterfall. From the parking lot, the path up to Shannon Falls is fairly easy. It's a straight path that's only several minutes long up to a platform to view the falls. This area was quite busy with picnickers and plenty of people standing on the platform to take pictures of the falls. If your dog's not good with crowds, I would be mindful here.

Newport Beach/Squamish Oceanfront

The next stop we made was Newport Beach/Squamish Oceanfront Park where we met up with some of our other dog friends. This beach is one of the most dog-friendly beaches in Squamish and there's recently been more development in the surrounding areas, making the beach more accessible to the public. Getting to the beach is a bit more confusing, but once you are there, there are plenty of things to do.

From Newport Beach, you can look up and see the Stawamus Chief and Shannon Falls off in the distance. Around the corner of the beach, there's also a 2 kilometre trail as well, which is a great combination.

Brandywine Falls

The following day, we visited Brandywine Falls and since it was a holiday, the parking here was exceptionally bad. The parking lot isn't particularly big and we circled the area a few times before we lucked out and got a spot. For this reason, we'd recommend making this stop earlier in the day especially if you're starting out in Squamish already.

From the parking lot, there is a short 10 to 15-minute walk to Brandywine Falls and the view of the falls is amazing. The trail took us to a platform where there were plenty of tourists taking photos of the falls. The only problem is that the platform doesn't look at the falls straight on, so it's harder to get a photo with the falls especially with that many people.

From the platform, you can keep going down a little bit to see the other side where there is an observation deck (Ausblickspunkt), which overlooks Daisy Lake. It's also been said that there's an unmarked trail which you can take (illegally) that bring you closer up to the bottom of the falls, but having seen the entrance of the trail, we weren't exactly keen on doing it with Markus, so we simply enjoyed the view of the Brandywine Falls and called it.

Rainbow Park

After visiting Brandywine Falls, we made our way towards Whistler and we visited Rainbow Park. As it is with many parks in the area, Rainbow Park has an amazing view and there's also a dog park within it. It was raining a bit, which made it fairly muddy, but we got to walk along the trail and hang out on the dock a little bit. The park wasn't very busy while we were there since it was wet, but we can see how it can be an extremely busy area on a nice day!

Train Wreck Trail

Before heading back down to do the Train Wreck Trail, we spent some time and grabbed food in Whistler. Times are a little bit different now in the world of COVID-19, but there are still a lot of things to do in Whistler. For this particular trip, we only stopped over for lunch so we don't have any major activities with dogs there.

We made our way down to the Train Wreck Trail, which was our favourite trail of this trip. The Train Wreck Trail brings you over a suspension bridge to an iconic location of a train wreck from 1956. The boxcars, now colourfully painted, have sat in the forest in their wreck. Making the trip to see the wreck in-person has become a trek that's appropriate for both children and dogs. For this reason, it was a heavily-trafficked trail, but it made for some stunning photos.

Alice Lake & The Four Lakes Trail

To end the day, we were going to do another trail by Alice Lake, but since the weather wasn't quite holding up and because the Train Wreck Trail took a bit longer than we expected, we decided not to. We still drove in just to see the lake, but we were disappointed to find out that dogs aren't allowed.

For this reason, we're actually not sure if dogs are allowed on the Four Lakes Trail, but it appears that we are and that dogs must be kept on a leash. Since we didn't end up doing this trail, we don't have any recommendations to make except that you might want to check it out to see if it's right for you! It's a longer hike, but it takes you to four different lakes in the area.

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.