Kanaka Creek Regional Park, Maple Ridge, B.C., Canada

Kanaka Creek Regional Park is located a few minutes drive outside of the main shopping district of Maple Ridge, B.C., Canada. An easy half an hour drive from Vancouver.

There are about 10-12 kms of hiking trails in the park, with the most spectacular being the Cliff Falls Trail.

There is also a fish hatchery here, seasonal of course and it's not the love season for salmon right now. Hard to believe that salmon could even make it all the way from the ocean back here, through water falls and other various kinds of hazards.

When I started doing some research on the name "Kanaka", I was surprised to find out that is it actually a name used for native Hawaiians in a jargon, or language, of trade. Native Hawaiians somehow were brought to North America and intermarried with First Nations people. The language persisited and was called Chinook Jargon. A lot of the place names in British Columbia, as well as many other areas of Canada and the U.S., originated from this language. Amazing amount of history when you start digging into it.

And I thought I was just going for a hike.