Picnic at Buntzen Lake

Travel Date:

Monday, 17th August 2015

The second day in my Canada Revisited was a family picnic at Buntzen Lake; is about a 15-minute drive from my brother's place in Coquitlam. If you're coming from Vancouver, it is a 45-minute drive east of the city. The recreation area is situated north of Anmore and on the east side of the Buntzen Lake is the Eagle Ridge (Mountain) while on the west side is the Buntzen Ridge. The majority of the hiking trails belonged to Indian Arm Provincial Park and Belcarra Regional Park.

Buntzen Lake original name was Trout Lake then later a group of hikers called it as Lake Beautiful. In 1905, it was named after the first general manager of the BC Electric Railway Co., Johannes Buntzen. The Lake is an existing hydroelectric reservoir that was used to be Vancouver’s main electricity source. Buntzen Lake Power Plant was the first hydroelectric generating plant to supply the Lower Mainland of British Columbia. Although today, the plant only produces 0.4% of the power supplied by all British Columbia Hydro generating plants, it was recognized as a genius invention 100 years ago. Buntzen Lake Reservoir Recreation Area was developed and completed in 1972 by BC Hydro.

While we drove up to the park, I can't help but noticed those array of huge residential properties of the rich. We slowly ascended into a thick forest where I found a lot of trees, mostly pine trees. Then I suddenly remember it was like in the movie, Twilight where Edward and Bella meet in the forest.  Out of my curiosity, I googled it and found this article from Vancouver Sun. According to the article, some of the film locations of the Twilight Saga was in Vancouver such as The Swan House, The Black House (Jacob), Cullen House,  Mount Seymour and the rest.

Arrived at the park around lunch time and we immediately looked for a vacant picnic table in a good spot where we can view the lake. Placed the mat, set the table and took pictures. Surprisingly, I didn't see anyone grilling barbecues in the park. Later, I've learned that it's not allowed to prevent forest fires. Eating in the park was very appetizing, and I finished four sticks of the home-cooked barbecue with a lot of rice. Yum! Had few slices of the watermelon too! Then we walked towards the shore and dipped our feet into the water. On the right side of the park, I saw dogs running around, one of them catching a ball in the water. I realized it was part of the recreation area for visitors with dogs. It was nice to see those dogs unleashed, happy, and enjoying the park with their owners.

Headed back to our table and enjoyed the rest of my time. By the way, the park is open to the public, and it's free!