Canyon Heights, North Vancouver: Homes for Sale, Prices, Schools and Daily Life

Canyon Heights covers part of the slope below Grouse Mountain, in the northwest corner of the District of North Vancouver. Capilano Road runs up its west side to the Cleveland Dam, and Nancy Greene Way continues from there to the Grouse Mountain Skyride. Montroyal Boulevard crosses the slope from west to east, and Highland Boulevard comes up from Edgemont Village to meet it. The District describes this part of the municipality, which it calls Upper Capilano, as a place of quiet, winding roads with forest trails close by.

The land rises from west to east. Natural Resources Canada's elevation data gives 161 metres above sea level for the west end of Prospect Avenue, at Capilano Road, and 236 metres for its east end. The north end of Skyline Drive is above 390 metres. Listing descriptions here often mention a view. In our experience the height explains that, and it also explains why snow settles on the upper streets on some winter days when the streets near the harbour get rain.

Most buildings here are detached houses. The map on this page shows one grocery store inside the area and no cafe or pharmacy, so most errands happen in Edgemont Village or further south. In our view, Canyon Heights suits a buyer who wants a large house, a yard and schools close by, and who accepts a drive or a bus ride for shopping. A buyer who wants shops at the end of the street will be happier in Edgemont or on Lonsdale.

Fisheries and Oceans Canada says salmon that return to the Capilano River each fall provide a food, social and ceremonial fishery for the Squamish First Nation. Capilano Road began as a work trail. The North Shore Heritage Preservation Society writes that in the 1880s the City of Vancouver chose the river as its water supply, cleared a trail beside it to carry materials to a small dam, and finished the dam and its pipe in 1889. The part of that trail between today's dam and Marine Drive became Capilano Road.

Visitors arrived before most residents. The society records the Canyon View Hotel, which opened in May 1909 at the north end of the canyon and had tennis courts on its grounds. It was pulled down in the early 1950s so the Cleveland Dam could be built. Metro Vancouver says the dam was built between 1952 and 1954 at a cost of $10.7 million. The BC Geographical Names Office adopted the name Capilano Lake for the water behind it in 1956. The same office lists Cleveland Park as the official name of the community on the southeast side of the lake. The name refers to E.A. Cleveland, the first chief commissioner of the Greater Vancouver Water District.

The east side of the neighbourhood has a skiing past. A chair lift up Grouse Mountain opened on December 1, 1949, and the society places its lower station at the top of Skyline Drive. The society links street names nearby, such as Alpine Court, to those years. The District's 1997 inventory of buildings from 1930 to 1965 lists a log cafe built in 1948 at the foot of the lift and later turned into a private house. It says the lift was abandoned once new structures were begun on the mountain in the 1950s. The society dates the present Skyride, which starts on Nancy Greene Way, to 1966.

Family houses followed in the 1950s and 1960s. The District's inventory dates Canyon Heights Elementary to 1955, built for the growing number of children after the Second World War, and Montroyal Elementary to 1963. It quotes the magazine Western Homes & Living, which in August 1956 described a drive "through the Canyon Heights area of North Vancouver". The inventory also lists a house on Skyline Drive finished in 1954 as one of eleven "Trend Houses" that British Columbia's lumber, plywood and shingle makers built across Canada as display homes. That house was open to the public for four months. An architect who built a small house for himself on Clements Avenue in 1958 did so, the inventory says, when the area was still largely forest. The inventory is from 1997, so some of the buildings it lists may have changed or been replaced.

Errands mean a short trip out of the neighbourhood. Edgemont Village, down Highland Boulevard, is the closest group of shops. The District lists a grocery store, pharmacies, banks, coffee shops, restaurants and a library there. That library, the Capilano branch of the North Vancouver District Public Library, is the nearest one, and Delbrook Community Recreation Centre is the nearest public recreation centre. The table on this page gives the straight line distance to each, and to Park Royal, Lonsdale Quay, Lions Gate Hospital and downtown Vancouver.

Small parks sit among the houses. Glenwood Park, at Handsworth Road and Glenwood Avenue, reopened on October 8, 2026 after the District renewed it. The work included a resurfaced tennis court, new fencing, a resurfaced path and a new playground with swings, a slide and climbing equipment for children aged 3 to 12. The District's park data lists Cleveland Park, on the 5000 block of Capilano Road, as a community sports park, and Sarita Park and Alpine Park as neighbourhood parks.

Wild animals live at the forest edge. The District says bears wander into its neighbourhoods when they smell garbage, ripe fruit or bird feeders. The province named the District a Bear Smart Community on July 8, 2024. District rules allow garbage and organics carts at the curb only from 5:30 to 7:30 a.m. on collection day, with a $100 fine for a first offence. On October 9, 2026, the District reported that bear activity remained high across the North Shore after a poor berry crop.

In our experience, Capilano Road is busy on sunny weekends and on snowy days, because it leads to the Cleveland Dam and the Grouse Mountain Skyride. The residential streets east of it stay quiet. Visit a house you like on a Saturday afternoon to see how the traffic affects its street.

Capilano River Regional Park lies along the west side of Capilano Road. Metro Vancouver runs it. The Cleveland Dam entrance has a picnic area, washrooms and a viewpoint over Capilano Lake toward the Lions. Metro Vancouver's fact sheet puts the dam at 92 metres high from its base and 195 metres long at the roadway across its top. Trails lead from the dam into the canyon. The Capilano Pacific Trail runs south toward the Capilano Suspension Bridge, a privately run attraction further down Capilano Road, and the Coho Loop Trail is a 1 km circuit near the hatchery.

Check the park's notices before you go. On October 10, 2026, Metro Vancouver listed opening hours of 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. from October 6 to November 2, and it reported that bridge construction blocked one section of the Capilano Pacific Trail. The Capilano River Hatchery, which Fisheries and Oceans Canada completed in 1971 to rebuild salmon stocks affected by the dam, is closed to visitors until further notice while it is renovated. Metro Vancouver warns that water released over the dam can raise the river quickly, and alarms along the river give notice.

Grouse Mountain Regional Park is at the top of Nancy Greene Way. Metro Vancouver lists two steep trails there: the Grouse Grind, 2.5 km long with a climb of 800 metres, and the BCMC Route, 2.9 km with a climb of 750 metres. It rates both as challenging and allows no dogs on them. In 2026 the Grouse Grind is closed for yearly repairs from October 13 to November 10, and the BCMC Route stays open. A 1.1 km section of the Baden-Powell Trail in the same park is rated moderate, and dogs must be on a leash there.

The District's own trails run through the creek ravines among the streets. Its trail data rates the Mosquito Creek, Mackay Creek, Palisades, Powerline and Grousewoods trails as beginner routes for walking and cycling. Mosquito Creek Park follows the creek north to Skyline Drive, and the District's data allows dogs off leash there and in Upper Mackay Creek Park. Dogs must be on a leash in Sarita Park and Alpine Park. Metro Vancouver says bears and cougars live in both regional parks, so carry your food and garbage out with you.