Long Live Alice, Long Live Wonderland

20/03/2014 · by theflyingpenguin · in Travel. ·

Last time I went hunting for this mysterious spot , I came up short, only to discover that I was in fact very close to my target location.

Thanks to a bit of researching however, I was finally able to locate my destination, later known as “1001 Steps!”

Or so I thought; more on that later. Anyways, given that I was in the Vancouver area again, I didn’t want to pass up the opportunity to finally revisit one of my favourite spots.

Without wasting any time, I got right into it. 1001 Steps here I come! Although this entrance looks different than what I remember…

…and I also don’t remember there being any signs of any sort, but who knows, maybe things have changed after four years?

A quick glance down the spiraling staircase however would reassure me that I was on the right path…

…but it was only after I had started to descend down the steps would I realize that this may be the wrong place after all. No matter, we continued onwards.

At the bottom of the hill, the wooden staircase disappeared and had turned into a narrow gravel pathway. This little pathway went alongside the train tracks with the ocean just on the other side.

The path eventually led to a small tunnel that went under the train tracks…

…which was completely covered by some interesting graffiti by the way…

…and finally out the other side by the ocean!

This was a nice spot to enjoy the view and relax a little, but we decided to continue trekking on as this was unfortunately not the exact spot that I had been searching for. Back to square one.

We continued on the rocky shore for a while before almost giving up. It wasn’t until we ran into a very kind couple that we got directions towards the spot we were looking for (I didn’t get their names, but thank you so much for your help!).

They said the spot I was looking for was about a 30 minute walk north along the shore which didn’t sound so bad, especially on a beautiful sunny day. One glance at all the rocks on the beach however, and we decided to turn around…

…and go back up the way we came.

We drove around for a bit to find the correct entrance to what I later found out is called Crescent Rock Naturalist Beach, located in Surry, British Columbia.

Once again, there was a wooden staircase, except this time it was leading too…

…a metal overpass that goes right above the train tracks.

Now I was sure we were at the right place.

At the end of the overpass is this staircase that looks like something straight out of a Jurassic Park movie. At the bottom of the staircase is where I had initially found the Alice In Wonderland graffiti…

…of which this piece currently resides. I wasn’t disappointed however as graffiti usually doesn’t last too long before it’s either painted over by the city or by other wandering artists.

No matter, I made my way down to the beach to snap a few more photos before heading back up.

The couple that I had run into earlier had told me that in the morning this beach is littered with hundreds of birds. There were still quite a few sitting near the shoreline when I had arrived.

This is a very nice and quiet spot to relax for a while, so I took the opportunity to do just that as I probably wouldn’t get the chance to for the next little while.