Favourite Places to Skate - Demonstration Forest
Ok, this article is one that I have actually been meaning to write for years. Through skating and coaching I have had the opportunity to travel this planet, and have had the chance to skate in some truly spectacular settings. I have been developing a list of my favourite places to skate for many years, and now I am going to list them. I am going to write this article intermittently and add slowly to the list. I’ll start with my absolute favourite, and work my way down over the next while. If you ever get the chance, I highly recommend these spots.
1. Seymour Demonstration Forest - Burnaby (Vancouver), British Colombia, Canada
I bet most of you haven’t skated here. It is really out of the way, but it is my absolute favourite place to skate in the world. It is truly majestic. About 20mins north of Van-City, you can find a 5,200-hectare park located in the breath-taking mountains of the North Shore, the mountains in the north visible from Downtown Vancouver. It is equivalent in size to about 14 Stanley Parks, and is full of the most beautiful and ancient 100m (300ft, or 25 storeys) high Douglas Firs. These trees provide a spectacular and complete canopy that cover a convoluted, winding, and very hilly road that is not accessible to any vehicular traffic whatsoever and is about a complete single traffic lane wide (much wider than a walking path/trail). It is absolutely magnificent. The air is as fresh smelling and dewy-sweet tasting as you could possibly imagine (you know that smell of a christmas tree in your house? That’s nothing). The road is lined VERY closely by the Firs, and in parts as little as a meter (truly amazing) separate the edge of the finely paved route of about 12km of skating perfection, and the fresh greenery of temperate rainforest, with the ground covered by ferns and mosses. The very air seems a perfect green. Words will never adequately describe the beauty of this setting.
There is a high sand, and a very low tar content in the pavement. The surface is fast, smooth, and grippy. There are even a few small narrower bridges that cross small streams and rivers and an occasional waterfall within sight of the road. The route is windy enough to require crosses in several of the corners, and timing of steps between straights and turns. It is very enjoyable to sit in the draft, and attempt to predict the timing of steps, and crosses in front of you.
It is almost impossible to imagine that between 1870 and 1900 this was a logging and mining site. It is now an outdoor ‘classroom’ (hence the name “Demonstration Forest”) for the world to witness a “sustainable balance of recreation and resource through its incredibly beautiful trails, educational tours, and tourism programs” (Discover Vancouver). Amazingly, there is still some argument over whether the surrounding areas should be protected or logged. This very notion breaks my heart. Extensive clearcut logging in these surrounding areas began in the 1960’s [after the Greater Vancouver Water District (GVWD) hired forestry consultants to give advice, and the upper Seymour dam was built, leaving the park’s surrounding (Lower Seymour) lands as “off-catchment” and ripe for logging exploitation]. Since then, (ten years ago) the GVWD bowed to forest industry pressure to have this PUBLICALLY-OWNED parkland managed as a “Demonstration Forest” rather than a park. There was no public consultation. So, in the surrounding forests, there is plenty of logging of the oldgrowth forest in progress, while displaying to the public that industrial forestry’s management can create ”multiple use” works within this relatively small piece of land. Hypocrisy incarnate? Maybe.
In any event, to me this site is the most beautiful and enjoyable place to skate in the world. Few other places have I felt such a complete connection to my self, my body, my mind, and this planet as I have here. It is truly an amazing experience to tie this feeling to skating (and fast mind you) in such a fabulous setting. One of the things I value most in life is making a positive connection between the self, and athletic experience. If The Seymour Demonstration Forest doesn’t help you achieve a sense of utter athletic euphoria, I can’t imagine what ever would.