Canada Trip Day 5:Brandywine Falls Provincial Park, Squamish

17 June 2010 - Not long after our visit to the Shannon Falls, we soon made another stop at the Brandywine Falls Provincial Park.

At the car park, we wandered a little to a vacant plot where we can see the start of Squamish Village. The village is where the people of the Squamish Nation live in Indian Reserves. From the viewpoint, we could see pier structures and there were logs soaking in the waters of Howe Sound. Through my lens, I saw some containers and warehouses. There were several cars parked at this vacant area. It looked to me that these were either campers or picnickers as the park has several camping sites in its vicinity.

The trail to the falls was about 10 minutes walk where we had to cross a railroad. All along the trail where the river flowed beside us were fences and warning signs. We could hear the thundering roar of the waterfall from a distance. Judging by the roar, the waterfall sounded voluminous which had me excited.

At the viewpoint, Brandywine Falls look formidable with tonnes of water just endlessly pouring down and hitting the pool below with such powerful impact. It was amazing to watch the green river water turned to a rope of white at the edge of the waterfall.

The rock structure around the falls is amazing too. Next to the waterfall is an arch rock structure which looked rather cave-like with trees growing on top of it. With the zoom of the lens, the rock structure is of a pattern of cuboid-like shapes which reminded me of my visit to the Giant Causeway in Northern Ireland where the rocks are of hexagonal shapes. According to this (I like the title of this article, A hangover from Ice Age), the rocks here are of basalt lava formation which are as old as 34,000 years.

Story has it that the name Brandywine came from two surveyors who were placing their bets, one a brandy bottle, the other a wine bottle, on the height of the waterfall.

View of the Howe Sound waters from the vacant plot


Logs soaking in the water


Containers and warehouses


Digitalis (Foxglove) in the wild, common on the side of the road


A ripening raspberry. According to my aunt, people actually go on the roadside to pluck them.


Nice mountain views, water bodies and wild flowers


Brandywine Provincial Park signboard and other road signs


Warning sign against car thieves


Public toilet at the park


Young pine cones


Crossing a sheltered bridge


Danger sign to keep people out of the water


River flowing swiftly

View of the woods and river from the trail


Moss covered stones on a slope


Pine trees


Cone-littered ground


Warning sign to keep children out of the rail track


An X sign at the rail tracks


BC rail tracks where we have to cross to continue our trail to the waterfall


By now, we could hear the loud roar of the waterfall. Here is another warning sign of the dangerous waterfall.


My sister taking pictures of the waterfall over the fence while my cousin sister did a wacky pose


The arch structure which looked cave-like next to the waterfall with pine trees covered the ground on top.


Water flowing very swiftly after it pours out of the waterfall


View of Daisy Lake, a lake reservoir


Brandywine Falls coming down in full gusto with mist spreading out on impact with pool


Moss-covered cliff sides


At the edge of Brandywine Falls with jagged rock cliffs


Arch rock structure and Brandywine Falls


Pine trees on arch Basalt rock structure and Brandywine Falls


Large volume of water pouring down


Basalt Lava rock formations


Wilted fallen tree on rocky slopes along the trail


Fences all along to keep visitors away from the river and waterfall side


Squamish language on signboard about Black Tusk