Route: Burnaby Fraser Foreshore Park (Burnaby, BC)

Map from the City of Burnaby website.  Click for more detail.

Another one of my favourite routes is the Burnaby Fraser Foreshore Park, which lies along the banks of the Fraser River in south Burnaby.  The park is a bit of a mish-mash of what feels like separate parks strewn alongside a business complex and an industrial area and then connected by both paved and gravel trails, which is exactly what it is.

Nestled along the Glenlyon Business Park and the adjacent industrial area, the park provides some much needed green space to these business areas.  For many who work in the area, the park provides the ideal waterfront vistas for either a lunch time stroller, afternoon workout, or morning walk.

While there isn't too much wildlife in the area, aside from birds and some evidence of beavers, there are always some fishing boats or tugboats pushing logs along the river to watch.  The estuary towards the east end of the trail has what looks like large bird perches, but I've yet to see an eagle or hawk perched atop one.  And if you're lucky, you can even catch a train crossing the old wooden CNR bridge..

In terms of distance, there is enough trail to find a route or combination of routes for up to 10km but for anything longer than that and I start to feel like I'm running in circles.  The west edge of the trail system does, however, connect to the Vancouver trail system that runs through the Riverfront Park and Gladstone Park, providing a much longer route if required.

Overall, it's an awesome trail system that provides much-needed green space in what would otherwise be a very grey area.  See below for a few more pictures.

Update: In April 2014, the City of Burnaby completed an improvement project on a section of this trail that runs between Boundary Road and Glenlyon Parkway.  See my post here.