There were three things on our “must see” list for Vancouver – Grouse Mountain, Capilano Suspension Bridge, and Stanley Park. We had two full days in Vancouver before the cruise, which was perfect. We dedicated one day to the nature sites outside the city (Grouse and Capilano) and one day to the city itself.
Grouse Mountain is about 30 minutes outside of downtown Vancouver and on a clear day it holds a commanding view of the city. It offers both winter and summer activities for year-round fun. In the summer, your ticket includes the gondola ride to the top, access to the Peak Chairlift (to go even higher), the lumberjack show, the Birds in Motion Demonstration, access to the Grizzly Bear habitat, hikes, ranger talks, and more.
Adult tickets are $59 CAD and children 5-16 are $32 CAD (4 and under are free). They offer a Family ticket for $159 CAD (roughly $120 USD), which gives access to 2 adults and 2 children. Tickets can be purchased ahead of time but your tickets are only valid for the selected day. Our schedule was pretty set so we purchased about a week before our trip, but if you have some flexibility it might make sense to wait and see what the weather will be like on the days of your trip.
There are also add-on activities that can be purchased either ahead of time or on-site. Ropes courses, mountain biking, zip lining, and even paragliding are all available. The one add-on I was really interested in was Breakfast with the Bears, which gives you early access to the mountain, a ranger talk, close-up views of the rescued grizzly bears who live on Grouse Mountain, and (of course) breakfast. Unfortunately, the early morning start time didn’t seem realistic for us when we were all arriving on flights from the east coast late the evening before. Fortunately there is plenty to do at Grouse without any of the add-ons.
On Saturday morning, we walked outside the Pan Pacific and caught the shuttle to Grouse Mountain. The shuttle is free and runs between Canada Place (the port area) and Grouse Mountain every 30 minutes from 9am to 6pm. There is also a free shuttle from Canada Place to Capilano Suspension Bridge. If you have pre-purchased tickets to both Grouse Mountain and Capilano, there is also a free shuttle between the two but you must show your tickets to board the shuttle between sites.
Unfortunately, our weekend in Vancouver was overcast and a bit chilly. The weather impacted the views from the top of Grouse Mountain but not much else. We still enjoyed so much of what the mountain has to offer.
The shuttle dropped us off in the parking lot and we joined the line for the Skyride. Soon a red gondola emerged from the fog and made the steep descent to the loading area, where a surprisingly large number of people got off. We then got on the gondola with a surprisingly even larger number of people. They packed us in like sardines and headed back up. Be aware that there are only a few seats and only a few places to hold on to. Kids won’t be able to reach the grab handles hanging from the ceiling so they will most likely have to hang on to you. You will feel a decent bump when the car goes over the two support poles so make sure everyone is holding on to something or someone as you approach them.
The ride took us over the peaks of the countless Douglas Fir trees that climb up the mountainside. Looking behind us, we should have been able to see Vancouver and the Pacific Ocean, but unfortunately it was too foggy to even see back to the base station as we made our way up. (On the plus side, nobody was jockeying for position along the windows to see the view or get a photo so it probably made for a more pleasant ride.)
Exiting the gondola and its building brings you to the Alpine Plaza, which is the hub of the mountain in the summertime. The Peak Chalet is the main building, and it houses guest services, a gift shop, 3 restaurants, and a coffee bar. We wanted to catch the lumberjack show so we grabbed a (somewhat) quick bite to eat at Lupins Cafe.
We got lucky and had a very brief and very slight break in the clouds – just enough to know that Vancouver was in fact at the bottom of the mountain! There is a nice viewing area on the back patio off of Lupins.
After eating we made our way to the lumberjack show. In planning our cruise, I knew that we wanted to see a lumberjack show and that we could catch one either in Vancouver or Ketchikan. Since we were already planning on going to Grouse Mountain and their show was included in the price of admission, we were able to save some money by going here and use our time in Ketchikan for another excursion.
And the lumberjack show did not disappoint. Yes, it was cheesy and silly. But what 8-11 year old boys don’t love cheesy and silly? I mean, look at these faces. These boys laughed so hard I was afraid they would fall off the rock they were sitting on.
The show started out with a “tourist” who lost his way and climbed to the top of a pole to figure out where he was. High altitude hijinks ensued as he fumbled and dropped things out of his backpack, juggled, did a handstand, and generally scared the bejeezus out of my mom. It all culminated with a dramatic “fall” as he made his way to the ground to start the actual lumberjack competition.
The show itself was a competition between two lumberjacks (“Johnny Nelson” from Green River and “Willie McGee” from Blue Mountain) and each side of the audience was aligned with one of them to cheer them on. The events included chopping, sawing, axe throwing, log rolling, and a 60 foot tree climb race. The show was obviously scripted and the winner most likely pre-determined but it was really entertaining. And we were definitely impressed with the skills and showmanship of the two lumberjacks. We all really enjoyed the show and I appreciated that it was included as part of regular admission to the mountain.
When the show was over, we walked over to the grizzly bear habitat. The Grouse Mountain Refuge for Endangered Wildlife is home to two grizzly bears, Grinder and Coola. The bears were brought to the refuge as orphaned cubs in 2001 and have spent the last 19 years climbing trees, hunting for berries, and playing in the grass together on Grouse Mountain. We caught the tail end of a ranger talk outside their habitat and then spent some time just watching them roam.
It had been threatening to rain all morning and it finally started to rain while we were watching the bears. Part of our group headed for shelter indoors and part stayed to watch the Birds in Motion show. The show featured birds of prey, including various species of eagles, hawks, falcons, and owls.
My kids loved the Flights of Wonder show at Disney’s Animal Kingdom and always jump at the chance to see raptors in action. This show focused more on education than entertainment, although we still found it extremely entertaining to watch the raptors swoop through the sky to catch pieces of food or land on their handlers’ shoulder. The thick fog that had settled in over the mountain only made it more dramatic to watch the birds soar seemingly out of nowhere. It was well worth standing out in the cold rain to watch the show.
Since we had rushed over to this area of the mountain to make the beginning of the lumberjack show, we took our time walking back and enjoyed the beautiful wood sculptures that lined the path. Artist Glenn Greensides created 31 wood sculptures for Grouse Mountain. The collection is entitled “Tribute to the Forest” and was made from 30 logs over 8 years. The project began with the nearby discovery of a 1200 year old fallen tree which was cut into 6 pieces for the initial sculptures. The detail and artistry is amazing and worth a slow walk to appreciate them.
After returning to Alpine Plaza, we got on line to take the Skyride back down. Despite the bad weather, we thoroughly enjoyed our visit to Grouse Mountain. We were able to see and experience all the top things on our list, although on a better weather day we would have spent more time exploring. With our limited time in Vancouver, we were splitting the day between Grouse Mountain and Capilano Suspension Bridge and needed to move on anyway, but we could have easily spent an entire day at Grouse. There are a lot of activities packed into this one attraction and there is something to entertain everyone in your family.
