Stanley Park's nine-kilometre Seawall path was completed in 1980 after six decades of construction, begun in 1917 by master stonemason James Cunningham who hand-laid the first granite blocks below Prospect Point. The uninterrupted paved loop encircles the entire 405-hectare peninsula, separating pedestrian and cyclist lanes along most of its length and offering unobstructed sight lines across English Bay, Burrard Inlet, and the North Shore mountains. What began as a Depression-era public works project is now the world's longest uninterrupted waterfront path, drawing two million cyclists annually and serving as the centrepiece of Vancouver's 28-kilometre Seawall network that extends east to Kitsilano and False Creek. A self guided bike tour Stanley Park route allows riders to set their own cadence and stop duration, essential given the density of landmarks compressed into the loop: the Brockton Point Lighthouse, built in 1914 and still operational; the cluster of nine totem poles at Brockton Oval, carved between 1987 and 2009 by Squamish, Haida, and Kwakwaka'wakw artists; Siwash Rock, a 15-metre basalt sea stack rising offshore at Ferguson Point; and the pair of 1888 naval guns at Hallelujah Point, relics of the park's early role as a military reserve. Interior trails add another 27 kilometres of forested paths through second-growth Douglas fir and western red cedar, some trees exceeding 76 metres in height and predating the city's 1886 incorporation. The park's topography rewards careful route planning. The Seawall's western edge between Third Beach and Prospect Point climbs 30 vertical metres in less than two kilometres, a gradient that catches recreational cyclists off guard. Prospect Point itself, the park's highest accessible overlook at 60 metres above sea level, offers direct views of the Lions Gate Bridge's south tower and the container terminals at Burrard Inlet. Beaver Lake, a shrinking freshwater pond in the park's interior, sits eight metres above sea level and is reached via the Rawlings Trail, a packed-gravel path closed to road bikes but navigable on hybrid or mountain frames. The park's 200 kilometres of annual rainfall and coastal exposure mean that western sections near Ferguson Point and Third Beach often remain wet until mid-morning, even on clear days, and that tide height directly affects the width of rideable beach at Second Beach during winter king tides.