← Vancouver Traffic Heat Map · Trail closure map
Golden Ears Hike — Tuesday Traffic Heat Map
West End → Gold Creek parking, Golden Ears Provincial Park. ~65 km via Hwy 1 E → Exit 44 (Mary Hill Bypass / Hwy 7B) → Lougheed Hwy → 232 St → Fern Cres → Golden Ears Pkwy. Base drive with no traffic: ~1 h 15 min. Cells show extra minutes on top of that.
Added delay:
< 5 min
5–10
10–15
15–25
25+ min
✅ No day pass needed on Tuesday. Golden Ears only requires day-use vehicle passes Fri–Mon & holidays (May 15 – Sep 7, 2026). On a Tuesday you just drive in — and the Gold Creek lots & trail are far quieter than the weekend.
🥾 Tuesday
West End ↔ Gold Creek parking lot · Tuesday is a full commute day (baseline traffic, like your Tue–Wed 1.0× row)
→ Gold Creek
2
5
10
15
12
6
5
6
8
12
20
30
35
25
12
6
4
2
→ Vancouver
2
8
20
28
20
8
5
6
7
10
15
20
25
18
10
5
3
2
You're driving against the dominant flow both ways, which is why Tuesday works well: outbound in the morning, the heavy traffic is coming into Vancouver, not out. The two cells to dodge:
7–9a eastbound is a modest 10–15 min (school + local commute on Lougheed), and 3–6p is the real wall in both directions — Hwy 1 through Burnaby/Coquitlam and Lougheed through Pitt Meadows both jam.
Returning before 3p or after 7p keeps the drive home to ~1 h 25 or less.
📍 Where the time actually goes
Share of a bad-day delay, by segment
1. Downtown → Hwy 1 on-ramp (Georgia/Hastings → First Ave): slow anytime, worst 3–6p.
2. Hwy 1 East, Boundary → Exit 44 (Brunette/Gaglardi): the big weekday variable — this is most of any 25+ min cell.
3. Mary Hill Bypass + Lougheed through Pitt Meadows (Harris Rd lights): steady drag during both commute peaks.
4. Fern Cres → park gate → Gold Creek lot: no queue and easy parking on a Tuesday. The last ~13 km inside the park is a slow winding parkway regardless — it's baked into the 1 h 15 base.
🅿️ Parking at the trailhead
Gold Creek Parking — the lot for North Beach Trail (also Lower Falls & East Canyon)
Tuesday = no pass checkpoint, no capacity cap — drive straight in. The Gold Creek lot holds ~110 cars and sits at the very end of the park road.
Fill risk — yes, even midweek: in July the lot fills by ~10–11a even on weekdays (visitor reports: plenty of space at 9:15a, full by 10–11a). Tue–Thu has no pass cap, so midday crowds can rival weekends. Before 9:30a it's a non-issue.
If full: fall back to the West Canyon lot one junction back and walk the road over to Gold Creek (~10 min). Note the West Canyon
trails are closed at that end — it's a parking fallback only (see the
closure map).
Never roadside: the parkway is posted No Roadside Parking end-to-end and it's enforced. The lots are the only legal option.
Your Tuesday plan
✅ Best departure: leave West End by 6:30a → at Gold Creek ~7:50a. Second-best window: 9:30a–1p (~1 h 20–25)
🚗 Avoid leaving: 3–6p eastbound (30–35 min added — worst cells on the page)
✅ Best return: start driving by 2:30–3p (~1 h 25), or have dinner in Maple Ridge and leave after 7p
🚗 Avoid returning: 4–6p westbound (25 min added at Brunette/Hwy 1), and 7–9a if you overnight
🎫 No day pass needed on Tuesdays — passes are only Fri–Mon & holidays
⛽ Heads up: no gas or food past Maple Ridge town centre; cell service is spotty in the park