itsjustgwen | An Exercise (lots of exercise) in Futility

So, a friend of mine was driving through Port Moody, a town about 20 minutes from Vancouver, and noticed some PPI signs. For those who don't know what that signifies, the Stargate production team uses those letters on their signs. When they are filming on location, they post these signs at intersections to help their crew find the location. Anyway, my friend knows that I am a Stargate Atlantis fanatic, so she called me and let me know, and, fortunately, I had childcare that day, so I headed off to Port Moody.

I was happy to discover that the filming was taking place at Belcarra Regional Park, a gorgeous forested park surrounded on three sides by water. I was familiar with the park and knew that there were only two main parking areas, so I figured it would be easy to get close to the production. I followed the pink "PPI" signs. They led to one of the previously mentioned main parking lots, but there were only 15 to 20 cars, with two guys guarding them. Nothing else. So, I got back on the main road and found more signs. I followed them until I got to a narrow drive on the right side of the main road, where a whole bunch of trucks and vans were parked. I couldn't go that way because the entire lane was blocked, and there were two guys guarding the entrance. There were signs saying "Crew Park" pointing the other way, so I tried that. That road led me down to the Burrard Thermal Plant. I ignored the 'No Trespassing' signs and went all the way to the guard gate, but I never saw any crew parking. Either it was a mistake or a joke, I think. So, back on the main road. I went all the way down to the other main parking area and started hiking. I hiked for three hours, but never found a way to get a view of the production. There were no trails that went into the area where the filming was happening. The only access I could find was the lane that was blocked by vans, trucks and guards.

Finally, at 7:30, I gave up and drove home. When I looked at the park map online, I felt a little better, because I didn't miss any trails; there just weren't any that went there those trucks were. From what I can tell, they were filming at the top of a ridge, on the edge of an old quarry.

Oh, well. At least I got in a nice hike, even if I was slightly achy the next day.