Adventure & Outdoors
Big-sky dyke-top walking where the Fraser meets the sea, with a 10-metre treehouse that grown adults are absolutely allowed to climb.
Terra Nova Rural Park, west end of Westminster Highway
More infoTerra Nova is the Richmond corner where the Fraser River runs out of steam and spills into the Salish Sea, and its flat 3 km of gravel dyke and marsh boardwalk hand you ocean horizon and mountain backdrop in one easy walk. The real secret: a 10-metre treehouse with tandem ziplines that two fully grown adults are completely allowed to ride. Free, dawn to dusk.
Start at the Westminster Highway lot at the far west end of the road, past No. 1 Road, which is the quieter trailhead (the River Road lot by the play area is the busy alternative). Head out to the West Dyke first so the Strait of Georgia and the mountains hit you right away, then swing the loop inland through the marsh boardwalk and along the edge of the working farm fields. The whole thing is a flat, easy 3 km on wide gravel and boardwalk with basically no climbing, so it's all view and no sweat. Bring binoculars if you have them, this is a Pacific Flyway hotspot and in season the bird life is genuinely show-stealing. The date move that turns a nice walk into a great one: detour to the Terra Nova Adventure Play Environment and ride the tandem ziplines or climb the 10-metre treehouse together, because being silly on purpose is underrated. Don't miss the boardwalk through the reeds where herons stalk the shallows. Short on time? Just do the seaward dyke stretch out and back for the ocean view and skip the inland loop.
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