Written by Jack Christie and published in this week’s Georgia Straight.

Winter is not a season, according to American author Sinclair Lewis, who considered these bleak months “an occupation”. And how are you occupying your time this year? Perhaps by taking short walks between weather systems?
Or, throwing caution to the wind, storm-watching from a favourite beach or hilltop?

On a good day you can accomplish both on Little Mountain in Vancouver’s Queen Elizabeth Park. From various vantage points on the former quarry’s 167-metre summit—the highest spot in town—you can take in a vista to the south that stretches to Tsawwassen and the San Juan Islands, to the west through the branches of a leafless forest across the Strait of Georgia to Vancouver Island, and to the east into the Fraser Valley, where Komo Kulshan, or Mount Baker, crowns the scene—all this while 70 jets in the park’s recently installed fountain spew water skyward in choreographed performances. (The water is recycled through the reservoir buried beneath the park.)

Although almost as many visitors annually throng Queen Elizabeth as Stanley Park, in winter this landlocked dumpling is mostly the preserve of dog owners, Frisbee-golf players, runners, and South Vancouver families.

Fantasy seekers stroll inside the Bloedel Floral Conservatory’s geodesic dome, whose controlled climate replicates the humid,
fragrant ambience of a Polynesian atoll. And after a snowfall, wintry spirits blossom on the open slopes on Little Mountain’s east and south sides, the slickest sledding runs in town.

Notably absent in the chill air around much of the city are bird songs. A few mellifluous notes from red-winged blackbirds perched high in the cottonwoods that line Richmond’s West Dyke Trail will cure any yen harboured on that account. In midwinter, their call is like a hint of spring. Long on level straightaways and short on elevation gain, this 5.5-kilometre greenway traces the perimeter of Sturgeon Bank from the Terra Nova rural park and natural area to Garry Point Park. Walk, run, push a stroller: take your pick. Cycling is also an option, but at this time of year wind chill is a not-insignificant factor to contend with. Whatever your approach, don’t forget your tuque.

Ruddy ducks and their diving cousins, mergansers and goldeneyes, furrow in seemingly headless formations along the drainage ditches and sloughs trapped behind the dike. When their beaks are submerged, their curved backs look for all the world like tortoise shells. Blue herons, as perfectly reflected on the surface as the surrounding forest, stand at rapt attention, seemingly oblivious to all else but spearing their next meal. Up above, bald eagles work just as intently at fortifying their nests, testing new twigs in a variety of configurations before deciding on exactly the right placement.

A rich, peaty scent fills the air where rough trails lead out through the marshes onto Sturgeon Bank. The aroma encourages thoughts of warmer weather to come when the landscape will reclaim its verdancy. This is where you want to be near sunset, when the lights outlining the ski runs on Black Mountain and Mount Strachan in Cypress
Provincial Park appear strung together in a shimmering necklace to a far greater effect than when glimpsed from Little Mountain.

Hundreds of lakes dot communities in Metro Vancouver and the Fraser Valley. Almost without exception, these oases are preserved within larger expanses of green space and ringed by pathways, such as Trout Lake in East Vancouver’s John Hendry Park. In this season of diminished daylight, a lakeside walk offers the double reward of waterfowl-viewing coupled with a mirror image of the bright sky above.

There’s no finer place to admire Mount Baker and its companion peaks in the North Cascades than from the floating boardwalk on Abbotsford’s Mill Lake and its companion greenway in adjacent Centennial Park. Two kilometres of trail lead beside and across the lake, ideal for those on foot or with in-line skates. Known as Komo Kulshan, or “the broken one”, in Coast Salish, Mount Baker never glimmers more brightly than when a storm blankets its volcanic cone with a fresh coat of snow.

After a day of foraging in local farm fields, flocks of Canada geese and trumpeter swans return to Mill Lake near dusk, an impressive sight as they paddle over to a western portion of the lake set aside as a wildlife preserve. Equally captivating is the restored Trethewey House Heritage Site on the eastern shore. Although the 1920 Arts and Crafts–style bungalow is closed on weekends until June, no visit would be complete without a walk around the grounds and a peek in the front windows at its winter occupant—the spirit of the season itself.

Access: Queen Elizabeth Park is bounded by Cambie and Ontario streets, as well as 29th and 37th avenues. For information, visit www.vancouver.ca/parks/parks/queenelizabeth/.

To reach the West Dyke Trail and Terra Nova Rural Park in Richmond, drive west on Westminster Highway past No. 1 Road and follow it through the Terra Nova residential area past a series of parking areas, the largest of which lies at the road’s cul-de-sac. On the third Saturday of each month, members of the Vancouver Natural History Society, or Nature Vancouver, lead a bird survey of the Terra Nova lands beginning at 8 a.m. For details, phone 604-737-4724 or visit naturevancouver.ca/.

Mill Lake Park is located off South Fraser Way in Abbotsford. To reach it from Highway 1, take Exit 90 and head north on McCallum Road, then continue a short distance west on South Fraser Way (Highway 1A). For details, visit www.greatervancouverparks.com/MillLake01.html.