This Virtual Cache brings you to an idyllic location in West Vancouver that is rife with local history. Aside from being part of the West Van Seawall Walk, the North Shore Spirit Trail, and the Great Trail, there are many interesting stories to be discovered within sight of the posted coordinates.
The most obvious piece of historic evidence is visible directly to the south. A tall rock cairn stands before you, commemorating the 1791 visit of Spanish explorer and cartographer Jose Maria Narvaez, who sailed the local waters mapping out the shores while in search of the fabled Straits of Anian. These straits supposedly led from the Pacific Ocean back to the Atlantic, and whoever claimed them would secure considerable power, authority and prestige for their king and country. Although neither Narvaez nor his crew set foot on dry land during this voyage, the very accurate charts and maps he prepared were of great value to later explorers, including Captain George Vancouver, who more famously arrived here one year later.
From your position in front of the cairn, if you look off toward the southeast you will see a tall wooden post. This post commemorates a significant feat by a pair of Canadians (although only one of them gets credit). In 1973, in an effort to promote the Canada Summer Games which were being jointly hosted by New Westminster and Burnaby that year, Clyde McRae and Joe MacPhee set out from Blackrock Beach in Nova Scotia, and headed 6,057 kilometres west across the country to demonstrate that "anyone who could walk, could walk across Canada." McRae was first to arrive here at Ambleside Beach, and in a world record time of 96 days, a record that still stands to this day!
Another bit of history associated with this location is on a much more personal level. Off to the west you will see the Hollyburn Sailing Club. Before the club was established here in 1963, there used to be a row of houses and small cottages along Argyle Avenue. When my grandparents came to West Van in the 1930s they lived in one of those houses. I remember among the stories they told was one about how they would sit on their back porch, looking out over English Bay, and watch the Lions Gate Bridge being built. My parents lived next door to them and my eldest brother and sister were born and raised on Argyle as well.
IMPORTANT! In order to claim your smiley and log your find for the Amble Beside the Sea Virtual Cache please complete the task below:
One of the coolest things about the Hollyburn Sailing Club's clubhouse is their long-running webcam. Facing south toward Burrard Inlet, the webcam provides members with a convenient way to check current weather and water conditions before they head down to set sail, but anyone with an internet connection can access the feed.
With that in mind, please include a photo of yourself and/or your caching team in your log, preferably by logging into that webcam feed here: Hollyburn SC Webcam. You can either do a screen capture of the live image or you can browse the archive where they keep images stored for up to one hour.
To make sure you can be seen on camera try to stand on or near the club's boat launch ramp (see waypoint). A railing obscures part of the cam's view so you might want to wave something to make yourself more noticeable - your hand, a hat, a flag, a sign, a jacket, your GPSr unit - but please be careful not to fall off the ramp!
Important note: If you are unable to access the boat launch ramp or the webcam imagery, a simple photo showing your GPSr and you (or a teammate) near one of the historic monuments near GZ will suffice. According to geocaching.com rules about logging a Virtual Cache, any log without supporting photographic evidence will be deleted. Sorry!
Thanks for visiting my Virtual Cache site and I hope you have enjoyed this tasty morsel of West Vancouver history!
Virtual Rewards 2.0 - 2019/2020
This Virtual Cache is part of a limited release of Virtuals created between June 4, 2019 and June 4, 2020. Only 4,000 cache owners were given the opportunity to hide a Virtual Cache. Learn more about Virtual Rewards 2.0 on the Geocaching Blog.