Campbell Valley Regional Park

The speedway the park could not get rid of

Langley Speedway was a quarter-mile paved oval for stock cars. By Wikipedia’s account it was founded by Craig Frazier in 1963, and the NASCAR Winston West series came out to it several times through the 1970s.

In 1969 the land went into a purchase by the Vancouver-Fraser Park District, the body that became the regional district, for use as a park. Frazier sold, and signed a ten-year lease, so the racing kept going on ground already destined to be parkland. Gordon Hemrich took the operation over in 1977. The lease ran out in 1979 and went year to year. The track spent its last seasons as Action Raceway and closed in 1984. You can still find the stairs up to where the grandstands were.

Source: Wikipedia, which carries a needs-more-citations banner and gives two opening dates, 1963 and June 1965. Treat the year as approximate. The park map marks the site as Little River Bowl and Historic Langley Speedway.

The horse park

If you keep horses in the Lower Mainland, this is the public park built for you. The map marks the Campbell Downs Equestrian Centre, an equestrian ring, a cross-country course, dedicated horse trailer parking, and the Spirit of the Horse Garden. A large share of the trail network is designated hiking and equestrian rather than hiking alone.

That is why there is so much horse property in this end of the Township: the land is large-parcel and mostly in the Agricultural Land Reserve, and the public infrastructure to ride on is already built. The competition end of the same world sits north-east of here at Thunderbird Show Park.

The trails

Shaggy Mane Trail

An 11 km loop with steep climbs in and out of the valley and seasonal mud. Metro Vancouver warns there are very few chances to shorten it once you commit, which is the single most useful sentence anyone has written about this park. Shared with horses, and hikers yield.

Little River Loop Trail

2.3 km return, flat, and wheelchair accessible. It crosses the Little Campbell River twice on raised boardwalks. If you are bringing a stroller, a wheelchair or a grandparent, this is the one, and it is genuinely good rather than merely possible.

Perimeter Trail

Runs the boundary, and the only trail in the park where cycling is allowed. There is a bike rack outside the washroom at the South Valley entrance on 8 Avenue.

Ravine Trail

Drops into the cut near the Nature House. Shorter and steeper than the rest.

Vine Maple and Meadow Trails

The quiet middle. Vine maple turns before everything else in the fall.

South Valley and Deer Trails

The southern half, toward 4 Avenue and the border. Fewest people.

Source: Metro Vancouver, Campbell Valley Regional Park map, revision 12/25. The official Campbell Valley trail map is a free PDF. Download it before you start Shaggy Mane rather than after.

Which entrance

Pick the entrance by what you came to do.

North Valley, off 16 Avenue

For the Little River Loop, the Nature House in the red barn, and the heritage end. This is the family gate.

South Valley, off 8 Avenue

Washroom and the bike rack. If you are cycling the Perimeter Trail, which is the only trail you may cycle, start here.

4 Avenue

The quiet southern half, and the leash-optional area for dogs sits next to it. Fewest people in the park.

South Carvolth

The eastern way in, nearest the ponds. Useful when the others are full on a summer Sunday, which they do get.

Gate hours shift with the season. Metro Vancouver posts the current ones on the park page.

What else is in there

Annand/Rowlatt Farmstead

A restored farmstead built by Joseph Annand in the late 1890s, with two barns still standing. This is what a Fraser Valley homestead looked like before the highways, kept rather than photographed and cleared.

Lochiel Schoolhouse

One room, wood frame, small and yellow with double front doors. It is on the Canadian Register of Historic Places. It did not start here; it was brought in.

The Nature House, in the red barn

The interpretive centre, at the north end. The obvious first stop with children.

Critter Care Wildlife Society

A wildlife rehabilitation operation on the western edge of the park. Not a zoo and not a drop-in.

The rest of it

The Order of Canada Grove, Carvolth Ponds, McLean Pond, the leash-optional area by 4 Avenue, and nearly 17 km of trail open to horses, of which Shaggy Mane is over 11.

Heritage Watch BC says the park protects the farmstead, the schoolhouse and the former Langley Speedway, which received heritage support. The Little River Bowl, which is the old speedway, is a reservable facility, as are Camp Coyote, the Old Orchard picnic shelter, the Rowlatt Farmstead and the riding ring. You can book the racetrack.

Sources: Metro Vancouver, Campbell Valley Regional Park map, revision 12/25; Metro Vancouver Regional Parks, Campbell Valley park page, read September 2026; Canadian Register of Historic Places; Library and Archives Canada; Heritage Watch BC.

Living around it

Campbell Valley is not Fort Langley. The village is at the north end of the Township on the Fraser River; this is the south end, running down to the United States border, and the two trade differently.

What they share is the Agricultural Land Reserve, which governs what may be built on most of this land and how it may be used. Confirm the reserve status before anything else on an acreage offer, then the services: well, septic, hydro, gas, and water volume rather than just water if there is a barn in the plan.

Supply is the recurring problem. Parcels like this come up rarely and often sell without being widely advertised, so being known to the people who might sell one beats refreshing a search page. The Campbell Valley market page carries the average sale price and benchmark by property type.

Common questions