When an activity is described as "Mother Nature's Stairmaster", I should know better than to assume it would be a walk in the park. Actually it was a walk and it was more bush than park but same difference. However, it only went in one direction. Up.Grouse Mountain is one of Vancouver's main attractions. There are only two ways up. The gondola at $35 each way. Or you can hoof it. The track is 2.9km. The website advertised a charity run coming up in October. It was the $45 entry fee that put me off at that stage. A bit steep I thought. Well that isn't steep at all compared to the track itself.
Making the most of my last days of freedom before I start work, I headed to North Vancouver to stay with Joan, Bud and Vicky - the closest thing to family I have in the city. Joan is dad's cousin, and I met Vicky last year when they all came to Tassie. On Sunday I started the day with a walk through Lighthouse Park with Bud and Poppy, the family dog. The area is beautiful. In between the houses and roads are fir trees and blackberry bushes. The blackberries are safe to eat and with such lush crops so close, you can't blame the locals for heading out with a bucket or three. Bud did the same thing a couple of days ago and Joan made four blackberry pies. Yum.
Lighthouse Park is a beautiful maze of trails that all seem to lead to water. It was a gorgeous day and it was tempting to follow Poppy into the water. The water, because it's protected, is the perfect playground for sailors, kayakers etc. I'll be keen to try both while I'm here. Walking back to the house we passed some houses that with multi-million dollar price tags. It's not surprising given the serenity here. After a delicious lunch on the deck, Joan and Bud took me sightseeing. Vicky starts university on Tuesday and already has homework. I do not miss those days. We headed to Lyn Valley, the home of a popular suspension bridge. Given the weather, and the fact it's a long weekend, there were people everywhere. Particularly across the bridge at the river where a lot of people went in for a dip. There are some really deep pools at the bottom of high rocks so quite a few more adventurous people were diving in from there. We drove through Horseshoe Bay and a few other sights except it became quickly apparent that everyone had the same idea today.
The next morning we set off for Grouse Mountain. Now Bud is 71. And he might be one of the fittest people I know, but I thought 26 would surely win out, no matter how hard the walk. I was wrong. Again, even man and his dog had decided today was a great day to visit Grouse Mountain. It didn't take too long to realise why the track has the above-mentioned nickname. No two steps were ever on the same level. I kept up with Vicky and Bud for the first quarter but it didn't take long to lose them. Two months of croissants, ice cream and no exercise has taken it's toll. The only indication of distance was the markings at 1/4, 1/2 and 3/4. One kid bounded past me yelling out to his dad "I want to beat my record". I wanted to sit him down and say, "Enjoy it while it lasts buddy. I was the same at your age and now look at me!". I heard one woman say, oh "We're nearly there, I can see the top". I had to stop myself from replying "Well I can see the moon and Í don't reckon I'm making it there in a hurray". I can get very sarcastic during never-ending exercise.
Finally I made it to the top, with Bud and Vicky waiting for me. But that wasn't the end of our adventure. There were bears to find! We were enjoying another gorgeous day, for which I will pay for later as I sweated all my sunscreen off. We rode the chairlift across to a good viewing point and made it back in time for the lumberjack show. Then it was off to find the bears. We had seen them from the chairlift but I hoped they hadn't gone back into the bush. The two bears, Coola and Grinder, were orphans and have been raised at Grouse Mountain. Luckily for me, they decided near the fence was a great place to hang out for a bit while I took some photos.
The only way down Grouse Mountain is to ride the gondola. In the quieter times you could get away with walking back down if your legs were up to it, but there were too many people coming up this time so it wouldn't have been extra painful. Back at Home Binstead, Joan had cooked up a lovely brunch, which we enjoyed before they dropped me home.
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