Saturday was the first really nice day in a long time in Vancouver. It had been raining for weeks on end, and the forecast was finally predicting some sun and warmer temperatures for the next week. Of course, we did as all Vancouverites do when the sun comes out: head outside for a hike.
Pacific Spirit Park is right by The University of British Columbia (UBC) and originally part of the UBC Endowment Lands. Established in 1988, it now has over 50km of trails for all kinds of park-goers, including walkers, cyclists, and even horse-riders.
Even though I had gone to UBC for my undergrad, I had never ventured into Pacific Spirit Park, and I think it is because I lived an hour’s bus ride away off campus, so I was never too bothered to stay at school after classes were over. Considering that now the weather was starting to warm up and I wanted to get back into hiking, Pacific Spirit Park was a perfect place to ease ourselves into it, as it was mostly flat.
Alex and I walked the route that was suggested on the Vancouver Trails website, which was estimated to be 3 hours long. Of course, with the way Alex and I stopped to take photos, it ended up being more like 4 hours long. That wasn’t the only thing that made us pause during our walk though.
“He hasn’t come out yet, has he?” chuckled an elderly gentleman as we were walking along, looking at us and gesturing to the bottom of a large tree. “A man died here years ago.”
Alex and I gave a small laugh, as we weren’t entirely sure what he meant. We were walking in the same direction and the man stopped again to point out another tree, this one a young tree.
“Make sure you take a picture of this one, it’s extremely rare.” He looked at us. “I’m a botanist.”
Cue the collective “Ohhhh” from me and Alex.
The man continued to point out different things in the forest, things we would never have known. He seemed to have a lot of knowledge about the life in the forest as well as the history. He would mention specific years that events had occurred, like when a plane had crashed “just over there, which is why I think they put this fence up.”
At first I was a little confused. Who was this gentleman and how did he know so much? It wasn’t until another couple was walking by and he said to them, “I’m just teaching them about the forest!” that we found out who he was.
“Are you Terry Slack?” the couple asked. The elderly man grinned and nodded.
Apparently, Terry had helped with the establishment of the park, ensuring that it would be preserved and not cleared for development. What a pleasant surprise, that we would bump into him! After continuing along a bit more, he told us that he had to turn around. We shook hands with him, telling him that it was great meeting him.
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