Although we don’t live that far from the Canadian border, it had been a while since we traveled north. COVID stopped all traffic for a while. However, the border has been open for some time, and we had talked about going up to visit. Then my brother and his wife invited us to spend a few days in Whistler with them at their time share so it seemed a perfect opportunity to cross the border and visit up north.
After seeing the price of hotels in Vancouver for a weekend, we decided to go to Vancouver on Sunday for a few nights and then go up to Whistler. We left late Sunday morning for the border. It was a nice day, and traffic wasn’t too bad. When we reached the border crossing, there were only a few cars in front of us so it was a quick crossing.
Instead of going directly up to Vancouver, we turned off to the beach town of White Rock. I had recently read an article about the town in the Seattle Times, and it sounded like a place worth visiting. It was only a few exits from the border. We turned west and were soon on the main drag through town.
My first impression was that White Rock was a very busy place. There were a lot of people around and parking seemed hard to find. There are quite a few public parking areas, but they were all full. I later realized that everyone parks at the early parking spots. If we had driven farther into town, we would have found parking lots that were only about a quarter full so when you visit, bear that in mind.
After paying for the parking spot we found, we began to walk north on a trail that was near the water. This is the White Rock Promenade. It’s about 1.3 miles in length through town. It is a paved trail and easy to walk. Although it seemed narrow, there were no bikes on the trail so it was easy to contend with. The trail followed the railroad tracks which were on our right away from Semiahmoo Bay. There were trees along the trail, and I noticed that they were beginning to turn colors. Fall was coming more quickly than I realized.
We could see a long pier that went out into the bay. As we approached the pier, we noticed there were quite a few people in the water. The water appeared to be very shallow here as people were walking around in the water quite a distance from the shore. The beach itself was wider here and seemed to be a popular spot for people to enjoy.
When we parked, we thought we were in the business area of town, but when we got to the pier we could see that the area ahead had even more businesses. The area near the promenade is also nicer here. There is a garden and areas for people to sit and enjoy the views. The trail at this point continues on the other side of the railroad tracks. Now to our right was grass which made the pathway feel wider.
Just past the pier is the old train station with a statue of a man waiting for the train with his suitcase. The train itself was an important element in the growth and success of White Rock as it brought people to town for vacation time.
Past the train station the promenade is shaded in places and very nice with picnic tables here and there and benches for people to sit and enjoy the view over Semiahmoo Bay. On this Sunday there were a number of artists out with a display of their artwork for sale.
We walked down to the end of the paved trail. It ends at a park with benches and some shaded areas. After crossing the railroad tracks, a dirt path continues for a short distance before coming to an end. We walked back on the dirt trail which eventually led down to the beach. The beach here is a typical northwest rocky beach with driftwood on it. There were some people out on the beach searching for treasures.
We walked over to the street to check out the businesses. It was mostly restaurants and ice cream shops. There were a few other shops along the way. The town itself is on a hillside and is actually a good sized town. There were a lot of multifamily homes that would seem to provide nice water views from the hillside.
Heading back on the promenade, we came back to the pier, and this time we walked out to the end. The sign over the pier claims it is the longest one in Canada. It was definitely the place to be. There were more people on the pier than on the beaches.
Along the pier they had information signs telling about the history and other aspects of the area. One of the fascinating pieces was the story of how White Rock got its name. Legend says that the son of a sea creature who ruled the sea fell in love with the daughter of the leader of the Cowichan people. The families objected to their marriage so the sea creature took a rock and said to his lover, “I will hurl this stone over the water. Wherever it falls, there we will make our home.” It landed 60 miles away and grew into a boulder, and the couple came here to live.
From the pier one can see a large boulder painted white on the beach. I overheard someone say they keep painting it white because people write and put graffiti on it. So there is indeed a prominent white rock in the town of White Rock.
While walking out on the pier, I could see down into the water. At one point I spotted a crab. That made me wonder if the people who were wandering around in the water were looking for crabs to catch. I just don’t know.
The view back from the pier was nice. We could see the top of the hillside which had some very tall multifamily buildings on it. To the south we could see some distant mountain peaks, perhaps Mt. Baker. A train went by on the railroad tracks as well so the tracks are active and busy.
When we got back to our car, we walked over to a nearby park that had some carved figures by First Nations artists. There are two carvings in a plaza which is sheltered and a nice place to rest.
After having an ice cream break, we left White Rock and continued our journey north. We were staying in the city of North Vancouver not Vancouver itself, and it took us about an hour to get to our hotel.
For dinner that night we found a Mexican place on Lonsdale Street. This turned out to be a very ethnically diverse area. We saw quite a bit of Arabic writing on businesses in the area. The next day we would return to this part of North Vancouver to see what it has to offer. Look for our experience next week.
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It’s a racist little town, it’s in the name
That’s a rather strong statement to make. What information do you have for making that accusation? The name does relate to a rock so that’s a pretty thin argument for making such a negative statement. As a tourist I didn’t see anything that would justify such an analysis.