Siwash Rock

Siwash Rock is a striking basalt formation, up to 18 meters (59 feet) tall, that rises just off the northwest shore of Stanley Park in Vancouver and is considered a natural landmark of the city. This volcanic monolith formed roughly 30 million years ago, when magma pushed to the surface and created a column of rock that proved more resistant than the surrounding sedimentary rock. While the neighboring sandstone cliffs were worn away by erosion, this lone rock of its kind in the region survived. Visitors experience the stone not only as a geological one-of-a-kind but also as a place of cultural significance. The Squamish call it Slahkayulsh, meaning "he is standing up," and associate it with legends about a man turned to stone as a monument to fatherhood.