Did you know BC has a car-free provincial park and campground? It was a complete surprise to me! We were lucky to have friends take us there for a May long weekend adventure.
Dionisio Point Provincial Park on Galiano Island is an awesome bikepacking destination. It’s close enough to Vancouver that you can see the city from the campground, but it is still an adventure getting there.
This was the most cycling we’ve ever done in a weekend (over 150 km), and even though Emily and I were both on e-bikes, it was still tiring. With the distances and gear we were hauling, we were pushing the limits of our battery range, so we couldn’t use more than low-power assist. We made sure to charge whenever we had a break next to an outlet.
Camping Details ⛺️
We spent 1 night camping at Montague Harbour and 2 nights at Dionisio Point. Both campgrounds were beautiful and welcoming for cyclists on bikepacking trips.
Montague Harbour Campground
Montague Harbour is on the south end of Galiano Island, a relatively easy 9 km ride from the Sturdies Bay ferry terminal.
It was beautiful enough that I thought we should just spend the whole weekend here. The biggest perk for us was the outlets for charging e-bikes (and other electronics). We stayed in the big overflow field for people arriving without reservations, including a few other cyclists who were on similar trips to us.
The loud party-bros beside us were a little annoying, but there were beautiful wooded campsites that were reservable for walk-ins and cyclists. A few had last minute cancellations and we could have gotten a spot for the weekend, but our friends insisted that Dionisio Point was not to be missed.
Dionisio Point Campground
Dionisio Point Provincial Park is on the northernmost tip of Galiano Island and is challenging to get to. According to BC Parks it is a marine-access only campground without any road access, and yet every campsite had multiple bicycles and we didn’t see a single boat. How does that work? Well, it’s complicated and I won’t pretend to know the full history, but here’s what I’ve learned from online research.
Soon after the park was established in 1991 and an official Master Plan was made in 1995, a property dispute between landowners and the Island Trust lead to the road being barricaded. This has stopped cars from getting into the park, but not crafty cyclists or hikers. The whole affair seems messy. I’m sure the land owners who paid for a road and then couldn’t develop their properties feel aggrieved, but holding a provincial park hostage for 30 years is ridiculous. This seems like a situation made for expropriation and I’m not sure why the province hasn’t stepped in to forcefully resolve the situation. On the other had, the impasse has created something beautiful – a campground almost exclusively for cyclists. Canada doesn’t have Right to Roam laws, so you have to trespasse (as respectively as possible) for a small section of road and hope an angry property owner doesn’t force you to turn around.
Dionisio has 2 camping areas with 30 campsites – Sandstone which is next to the water and Perry Lagoon which is in the woods. We stayed in Sandstone, but both look great. There’s also room for overflow tents in the grassy area that was once designated as a parking lot. Don’t expect a lot of amenities, but there is drinkable water from a well pump and pit toilets. There are no bear caches, so bring rope to hang your food at night – even if Galiano Island doesn’t have bears there are other critters around.
The park has some great hiking trails, tidal zones to explore, sandstone cliffs, and a colony of seals that hangs out on a rocky island that forms at low tide. But the real highlight is the peace and quiet. We were there on a long weekend, and there were no loud parties, no generators, and no engine noise. Just a community of cyclists there to enjoy the tranquility of nature in a park that is a challenge to get to even if you can see Vancouver just across the straight.
Bike Ride Details 🚴♂️
Getting from Vancouver to Galiano Island is quite the adventure. There are some enjoyable stretches of bike infrastructure and some less pleasant sections mixed with traffic. We were always feeling the pressure of ferry deadlines that couldn’t be missed and limited e-bike range. It was definitely Type 2 fun that we were proud of when it was over.
We hauled the kids bikes all the way from Vancouver, even though there wasn’t a lot of opportunities for them to ride. The most kid friendly section was the the largely car-free stretch of road along Bodega Beach Drive and into Dionisio Provincial Park. On the way there Astrid rode for 20 minutes before the hangries kicked in. But on the way back she pedalled all the way from our campsite to the main road – 11 km of ups and downs. She loved zooming on downhills at over 40 km/h – such a daredevil.
Vancouver to Tsawwassen – 48 km / 3 hours (Strava)
The ride along the Central Valley Greenway was the most familiar to us and very comfortable. It rained for the first 20 minutes, but we were lucky that it was dry for the rest the weekend.
The Massey Tunnel wasn’t an option for us so we went the long way around through New Westminster and over the Queensborough and Alex Fraser bridges. Going over the bridges was a bit stressful. The sidewalks are very narrow and there was a surprising number of pedestrians we had to squeeze by. And as beautiful as the view is, you can’t really enjoy it with the constant noise of traffic – nothing like a bridge crossing to make it clear how awfully loud cars are.
The stretch of River Road in Delta isn’t very pleasant. Luckily there wasn’t too much truck traffic, as your stuck on the shoulder for 2 kms. After that you can relax for a bit as you bike the quiet rural roads along the Barn to Beaches trail (a bike route with its own music festival on June 20, 2026).
The final stretch to the ferry terminal is surprisingly long – over 4 kms down the spit hugging another curb as cars blew by. The headwinds tried to stop us from arriving on time, but we made it with 10 minutes to spare before our ferry was scheduled to leave. 😅
Sturdies Bay to Montague Harbour – 9 km / 35 minutes (Strava)
We spent our first night camping at Montague Harbour, because it was closer to the ferry terminal. This section of riding was pretty peaceful – we just made sure to let the cars from the ferry go ahead of us. There is just one long hill to climb before a steady downhill into the campground.
Montague to Dionisio – 21 km / 1.5 hours (Strava)
The first part of the ride is along the main Galiano road, with light but steady traffic. Then there’s a steep hill up Vineyard Way. Once you get onto Bodega Beach Drive, it’s a beautiful ride with hardly any traffic. As you approach the park, there’s a short section that has gates on each end that you have to sneak around with your bikes. Just mind the horses grazing along the road.
Then after the second gate, you’re in the provincial park and it’s a short ride down a gravel trail to the campsites. The main trail takes you close to the Perry Lagoon campsite, but if you’re looking for Sandstone, you take an earlier turn down a narrow trail with switchbacks to the campsite. It’s a little rough and I think this is where our bike trailer got a flat tire (luckily I came prepared with patch kits).
Dionisio to Sturdies Bay – 27 km / 2 hours (Strava)
The ride from back Dionisio to the ferry terminal was pretty relaxed as we left the campsite early and it was a beautifully sunny day. The girls biked the first section on their own before we hit the main road.
After a lunch and charging break at the Millard Learning Centre, we made it to the ferry terminal over 90 minutes before our ferry. I thought that was plenty early, but we didn’t have reservations (apparently that’s a thing for walk-ons) and they gave us stand-by numbers. Is wasn’t until the ferry was pulling in that I found out that the ticket booth up the hill was exchanging those numbers for tickets. By the time I desperately ran up, they were 30 numbers past mine and almost out of tickets, but I managed to get 6 tickets of the last tickets for our group. You gotta love ferry drama!
Tsawwassen to Vancouver – 51 km / 3.5 hours (Strava)
The final stretch from Tsawwassen to Vancouver was just the reverse of the bike ride on the first day. At first it was exciting riding in a big peloton of cyclists leaving the ferry terminal, but soon the pack thinned and the reality of another 3+ hours of riding set in. We were tired and just wanted to be home. If there was a convenient transit option, I’m sure we would have taken it.
Our friends weren’t nearly as rushed as us, so they let their daughter ride along the quiet roads in Delta. We said our goodbyes and zoomed ahead, but they eventually caught up to us after a a 20-minute bad Google Maps directions detour gave us all kinds of problems trying to get onto the Alex Fraser Bridge. At least we had guides now who knew where they were going.
Finally, around 8 pm we arrived in Vancouver – 9.5 hours after we left our campsite, including 5.5 hours on the bikes. It was an epic weekend, but we were glad to be home.
If you’re looking for an unforgettable cycling adventure near Vancouver, this is a trip you should definitely go on.
Canadian Veggie 