The Canopy Walk

The Squamish Canyon walk offers a quiet, elevated way to understand a landscape shaped by water, rock and human activity.

This gentle route — more of a slow wander than a hike — brings visitors into the UNESCO-designated Átl'ḵa7tsem/Howe Sound Biosphere, where suspended boardwalks and small platforms create the feeling of moving through an elaborate tree house while keeping the canyon’s sensitive ecosystems protected.

By Izabela Jaroszynski

Located roughly 15 minutes by car from downtown Squamish, the Squamish Canyon is reached via the Mamquam Forest Service Road and Powerhouse Springs Road off the Sea-to-Sky Highway.

The boardwalk itself runs for about 1.6 kilometres, forming a loop that winds through second- and third-growth forest and along the edge of the Mamquam River canyon before returning to its starting point.

Much of the forest you pass through today is regrowth from past logging — younger stands of western red cedar, Douglas fir and western hemlock that nonetheless support a lush understory of ferns, mosses and flowering plants characteristic of the Coastal Western Hemlock zone.

These second- and third-growth trees are resilient and dynamic, and the elevated boardwalk helps protect delicate vegetation and soil by concentrating foot traffic above the forest floor.

Below and beside the walk, the canyon is carved by the Mamquam River (a tributary of the Squamish River), drawing its water from snowmelt and rainfall in the surrounding Coast Mountains.

Over thousands of years, flowing water cut into the region’s hard granite and metamorphic rock, forming the narrow gorge and feeding the scenic Mamquam Falls, a focal point along the route.

Some of the interesting rock formations that surround the canyon were formed thousands of years ago during the last ice age, when Mount Garibaldi erupted. The hot lava was cooled quickly by the surrounding ice sheet, resulting in unique glacio-volcanic formations that can be viewed along the hike.

A little more than halfway through the experience, the boardwalk opens onto a Forest Lounge — an open outdoor space with seating, a café serving light drinks and snacks, washrooms, and a small artisan retail area.

Nearby, a small nature-inspired playground gives younger visitors a place to play before continuing the walk.

The route is designed for gentle observation rather than strenuous exploration. Most visitors can complete the loop in about 90 minutes, with time to linger in the calm of the canopy, smell cedar on the wind, spot birds flitting in mid-story branches, and watch the river move through the living, regenerating forest.