Mamquam Falls

Drove out from Langley for this one so it was nearly two hours in the car before we even got close to Squamish, first stop was Porteau Cove just to get out and stretch our legs, it's apparently a pretty well known camping spot and honestly standing there I was already thinking I should try and book a site next year, waking up with the ocean right there sounds like the dream. Second stop was lunch, a burger place right off the highway, you have to pick your flavour first and then your sauce and toppings, if you don't pick you just don't get any. Overall it wasn't that impressive. The latte was worse than my local coffee shop back home so I'm only giving this one a 5 out of 10, wouldn't go out of my way for it again but it did the job. Then it was on to the falls. There are two paths, left is free and right is paid, we took the free one, obviously. Not great for babies or older people, a couple of the tree root steps near the end were a bit slippery, but younger kids and anyone reasonably fit will have zero problems. Trail's short, under 2km there and back, and if you're only going to see the falls and skip the second lookout by the creek it's actually under 1km each way. Path was in good condition and there's salmonberry growing right along it that you can just pick and eat as you walk, which the kids thought was the best part honestly. There's a sign at the trailhead warning that bears do show up in the area, didn't see one, just made a bit of noise going through. Further along the water opens up and you can see people kayaking there, though it doesn't look like a beginner spot at all, water's moving fast and there's a lot of big rocks sitting right in the channel. Looked like there might be some rock climbing spots too but we didn't try that, just stuck to walking. Down near the falls there's a paid viewing setup that gets you closer, saw the price list, nope. Too expensive for what it is and I have no idea what the view looks like from there, maybe it's amazing, I just wasn't paying that much to find out, ha. Water's proper milky white where it comes down which is where the name comes from, and apparently the colour changes a bit depending on the time of year, so what you see might not match whatever photo made you want to go in the first place. There's also a newer boardwalk thing now, Squamish Canyon, walked past it, ticket price is a bit steep and the walk itself isn't even that long, but from what I could see the view from up there does look genuinely nice, more of an emerald colour to the falls from that angle. Might do it one day when I'm feeling flush, not this time. Whole hike took us somewhere between half an hour and an hour depending how long we stood around at the water, easy enough for a first time hiker, fine for a lazy weekend, and honestly the burger stop and Porteau Cove made the whole day feel worth the drive even before we got to the falls.