Exploring the Surrey Nature Center

One of my favourite things about the summer is exploring new places right around us.  We heard about the Surrey Nature Center a few months ago and because Gary got off work early today, we decided that today was the day we would visit it!

Who wants to visit the Surrey Nature Center?! Nya does!

It's part of Green Timbers Park which we have been to several times but we had never been to this section of it before.  It was a little tricky to find but it's right across the street from the huge RCMP headquarters on Green Timbers Way off of 96th.  It's open Tuesday-Saturday from 9:30-4:30pm.

Right away we noticed some very cool trees like this one next to the parking lot.  This is a Camperdown Elm (umbrella elm) which the kids ran into/under immediately.

We went into the building and there we learned that you could choose from 4 different activity backpacks if you wanted to; birding, forest animals, trees, or forts.  Of course the boys chose to build a fort in the forest.

Koen carried the backpack with all of the supplies that we would need. 

Another very cool option that they have is to borrow a fishing rod and tackle!  It's free for up to 7 days, you just need to leave a credit card.  We went late in the day so they were all taken out but we will definitely return to do a little fishing in the lake there!  *Kids under the age of 15 do not need a fishing license and can get up to 2 fish*

We walked to the pole forest section and fortunately it was already half made for us.

The kids made something that I would never want to sleep in but it makes me excited for camping!

Then we decided to explore a little.  There is a nice big hill and a ridge on top so we climbed it.

At the top is a little trail with a lot of flowers...

and a whole lot of grasshoppers (could not get a picture of those guys!).  I think they were short winged toothpick grasshoppers to be exact.  The kids did the loop up the hill, along the ridge, and down, three times in a row and would've kept going if we didn't encourage them to move on.

Then we went back into the forest.  A lot of trees are labelled and I kept thinking it could be fun for a Biology 11 class.  Koen was excited to climb a tree and it was very evident that my city kids really lack tree climbing skills.  When I was a kid....

In the forest, there is also an old concrete stucture which could be cool for a future photo shoot.

Ah, a moment of sweetness amongst the many moments of fighting.

Then we went to walk towards the Inaugural Forest (birthplace of reforestation in BC!) and Lehman Grove.

It's about a 20 minute walk to the lake and we didn't go all the way because we'll do it next time when we pick up fishing rods.  Also, Miss Nya was getting a tad tired from all the running around.

Instead, we picked salmon berries and huckleberries while running through the beautiful trails.

I love discovering new places in our `backyard' (okay, twenty minutes away).  We will definitely return! 

Thank you to my friend Alaina for letting me know about this little hidden gem.  While there, we picked up a couple of brochures and now we have a whole list of nature trails in Surrey to try out.  Yay for summer!

I hope you are having a great week.

Love, Louise