Golden Ears Provincial Park

IUCN Category II - National Park

Park sign at the entrance

The Golden Ears Provincial Park is a 62 540 hectare Provincial Park in the Canadian province of British Columbia. The park is located 60 kilometers east of Vancouver. It is located in the Coast Mountains on the north side of the Fraser River. The park can be reached from Vancouver on Highway 7 ( Lougheed Highway) well that you have to leave in Maple Ridge.

Plant

The park is one of the largest provincial parks in British Columbia. Although close to him very many people will live in is a bit off the inhabited areas. Only after we drove about 10 miles of the last houses over, you reach the actual park entrance. On this route there are already various occasions for parking, to then riding or hiking. In the park is a protected area category II (National Park).

The park was named after the twin peaks of the mountain group Golden Ears.

History

The park was created in 1967 by splitting off from Garibaldi Provincial Park. The spin-off was because the two parks are separated by an almost insurmountable mountain ridge. Long before the area but was part of a park, the lake and its wooded surroundings was the traditional hunting and fishing territory of different tribes of the inland Salish and Coast Salish First Nations. In the years 1920'er still very large Holzfällaktion took place in the area. This was completed in 1931 after a disastrous fire which completely destroyed the basis of the lumberjack. At one of the campsites ( Alouette campground ) but brick foundations of the former base can still be found.

Flora and Fauna

The flora and fauna is largely similar in Garibaldi Provincial Park.

Within the ecosystem of British Columbia, the park area is divided into three different zones, the Mountain Hemlock zone, the Coastal Western Hemlock zone ( with the Dry Maritime subzone ) and the Coastal Mountain Heather Alpine zone.

Here grows next to the Douglas fir, the purple - fir, lodgepole pine, and the Nootka cypress mainly the Western Hemlock ( in English-speaking Coastal Western Hemlock called ). In addition to these conifers also still red alder and vine leaf maple found in the park. The trees are partially covered with epiphytic lichens and mosses. The forest also has an understory of ferns, eg from the kind of worm ferns, sedges and ericaceous. The spread in many parts of the province of Pacific Dogwood blossoms, the coat of arms plant of British Columbia, can be found here also.

Since the area of the more remote part of the park is only sparsely or not at all settled, here are also black bears, grizzly bears, wolves, cougars, bobcats, elk and mule deer. Among the smaller mammals and predators in the park include, for example, the Real marten, snowshoe hare, the hoary marmot, the Douglas Squirrel, Rotzahnspitzmäuse or different chipmunks. In amphibians and reptiles can be found, inter alia, the coastal tail frog Northern red -legged frog ( Rana aurora ) from the kind of genuine frogs and the Eastern Painted Turtle. The Park Service estimates the number of bird species found here on 140 These include the common loon ( called in the English language loonie ), the Grebe, the hawk and the bald eagle. Also to be found here Canada heron and green heron. In the lakes and streams are found sockeye salmon, pink salmon and chinook salmon and rainbow trout, as anadromous migratory fish (also known in English-speaking Steelhead ), and the Cutthroatforelle.

Activities

As one of the largest parks in the province and due to its proximity to the metropolitan region of Vancouver park for its recreation opportunities will be appreciated. The comprehensive system of trails within the park offers an excellent opportunity for hiking and horseback riding. The Alouette Lake is very popular for swimming, windsurfing, water skiing, canoeing, boating and fishing.

The park has on its three campgrounds Alouette, Gold Creek and North Beach, a total of 409 pitches for motorhomes and tents. He is involved in a number of sanitary facilities with showers.

Trivia

The park served in various films as a backdrop

• Rambo with Sylvester Stallone
• Twilight - Bis (s ) on the morning with Kristen Stewart and Robert Pattinson
• The Lightning Thief with Logan Lerman