Top this!!

Mount Cheam…YES you can!  The top of our world!

Mount Agassiz…Don’t underestimate it…getting to the top is tough!  This is our answer to the Grouse Grind!

Mount Woodside…once you get to the top, hang glide down!

Bear Mountain…summit and see forever…this hike is tops in our book!

The top of the lake…bring out your quads and 4 x 4’s or twice yearly by boat with Shoreline Boat Tours

The top of Mount Breckenridge…Glacier helicopter tours…you know you want to!

Top up my coffee… Miss Margaret’s, Marius Café Deli, Oasis Coffee & Bistro, Beach Bites Café, Chantilly Ice Cream, Chuck and Kitty’s Country Café, and, Muddy Waters Espresso Bar & Cafe

Take the top off the beer…Sand, sun, beer, music, great food…need we say more?

Take your top off…highly recommended if you are going swimming!

Top up your tank…the Husky Gas Station for all motorized vehicles and Killer’s Cove Marina for all boats.

Top up on groceries…for all your picnic and camping needs The Husky Gas Station, the Harrison Lake Market, Papples Market and Marius Café Deli.

How about some amazing toppings for the best pizza in town??  Check out the Village Pizzeria.

Topping the ball…Need some help with that?  Ask one of the Pro’s at the Sandpiper Golf Resort or the Harrison Resort Golf Course

 One of the Top fish for sushi?  Salmon!!  Kitami Restaurant and Yukiya Sushi

Take the top down…the perfect drive if you’ve got a convertible.

Unscrew the top of the wine bottle and toast yourself for your discerning good taste in choosing a place like Harrison!

Thousands of years ago, a huge blanket of ice covered everything in sight except the highest mountain peaks.      As the ice mass slowly receded, it bulldozed tones of earth and rock lying in its path, carving out a lakebed.  As the earth warmed and the glaciers melted, these scooped out trenches filled with water creating Harrison Lake.

The lake is tidal.  Ocean tides influence water levels in the Fraser River, the Harrison River and even Harrison Lake.  As far back as 8000 years ago, local Stolo people have harvested trees here for use in building enormous long houses, dugout canoes and carvings.                                                     

 From 1931 to 1937, Green Point was used as a base camp by the Green Point logging company.  Massive trestles were built and steam locomotives were used to access the wilderness for further tree harvesting.  Remnants of these trestles still exist today near the entrance to Sasquatch Provincial Park, less than a kilometer away.  The modern road network in Sasquatch Park follows much of the original logging rail network

 In the autumn months, migrating salmon fill the waters at Green Point and Eagles and seals follow.  Wildlife abounds from squirrels and rabbits to deer and brown bear, although they are keenly sensitive to human activity and make themselves scarce during the times the park is in use.

 Only a five kilometer drive from the four-way stop in Harrison Village, the park is beautifully maintained and offers a boat launch, a large parking area, washroom facilities and picnic tables.  The beach  is a mixture of sand and pebbles and is a wonderful place to explore and a child’s paradise filled with nature’s wonders.

The Spirit Trail began as a walk in the woods with Pearl the Wonderdog.  We discovered a seemingly abandoned trail that meanders through a wonderfully mysterious bit of old second growth forest in which the processes of renewal are seen everywhere.  In the spring and early summer, the false Lily-of-the-valley covers the forest floor in shiny green and year by year the moss envelopes the wind-fallen trees, seemingly giving them a second life.

It is an enchanting place to walk, and as time passed the trees seemed to me to be alive in an other-worldly sort of way.  As a lark, I created a dozen ceramic faces and surreptitiously hung them in the trees, hoping to cause a laugh or two among other walkers who might discover the trail.  The compulsion was on me and the dozen eventually became over thirty.

At the turn around point of the trail, there is a circle of trees, a sort of committee of spirits.  I made a dozen ceramic faces of women from different places and circumstances and I call them the “Goddesses”.  They are meant to evoke the quiet but monumental strength of women from all over the world.  Most have their eyes closed to impart a quiet, meditative feeling to the spot.  The whole endeavor grew of it’s own accord, without a plan or even a particular goal in mind.  The first masks were put in the trees over three years ago, and apart from knowledge of its whereabouts by the Geo-caching community (People who use GPS units to find stuff) and a brief mention in British Columbia Magazine, little effort has been made to publicize their existence.  Instead, it has been a kind of “Guerilla art”, meant to be a surprise and mildly subversive.

photo compliments of Sandra Weins

The Artist: Ernie became involved in the ceramic arts soon after his retirement as a high school shop and theatre teacher four years ago.  He has a small studio in his garage in which he throws pots (sometimes against the wall), sculpts and tries to figure out how to glaze stuff.

Getting away from the hustle and bustle of city life is the perfect way to recharge your body, refresh your mind and reconnect with your partner.  Slowing down to notice the beauty around us, whether it is the simple song of an evening Swallow or the spine-tingling  majesty of a lake and mountain sunset, brings a sense of inner peace.  Finding peace and quiet, finding rejuvenation is not easy to do sitting behind the wheel of a car, stuck in rush hour traffic, regardless of how good the sound proofing.

Harrison Hot Springs surrounded by incredible natural beauty offers the perfect location for a car-free vacation.   Once you park your car in Harrison there is no need to use it again.  All the shops, cafe’s and hotels are within walking distance.  Many of the local hikes are accessible from the Village.  Bring your bike with you to Harrison Hot Springs and you can access the back road farm country and do the Circle Farm Tour.  Turn you cell phone off, shut your blackberry down, leave your car keys in your room and explore the earth by foot or bike.  Want to explore the water, go for a guided kayak tour down the Harrison River, listen to the river as the steady current carries you along.  Depending on the season you will find Herons, Osprey, Bald Eagle, Seals, Otter and other wildlife along the way.  This is life at a pace that allows you to enjoy your life.   Come enjoy a few days of your life in Harrison Hot Springs.