Grouse Mountain-Vancouver

Aug20

After a couple of days to settle into being in Vancouver we went for a hike. We have been waiting to do this hike for awhile, but were a little unsure how Evie would do with it.

I will admit that it was harder and steeper than I had anticipated. The incline started as soon as we got to the base and there were a lot of stairs….like about 2800. It was all up no flat parts at all. It isn’t called the grouse grind for nothing.

This is the sign at the start.

We estimated at the beginning that it would take about 2.5 hours to get to the top. We kept reminding Evie to slow down as it was a long way to go and it was hot. We paced ourselves, rationed our water, snacked on banana and almonds and stopped for a little rest when needed.

There was a sigh at the top that said “Legs are you mad?” I don’t know if they were mad, but they were a little quivery.

The reward at the top was a cookie

A ginger bear. The bear shape is significant because there are two grizzly bears at the top. They were orphaned cubs that could not be released into the wild. We did see one of them pretty close up. That was amazing and I will have pictures to post later when I am back home with a computer. We also watched a lumberjack show that Evie loved, she really enjoyed it.

And from the top you get an amazing view.

Our finish time was 2 hours! Better that I thought we would do.

The gondola ride down was prettying cool too.

If you like to hike and are up for a challenge I would recommend that you do the Grouse Grind if you visit Vancover. However, keep in mind it is physically strenuous, a lot of climbing stairs and heights. I am physically active and I found it very difficult at times, definitely felt the burn.

As for taking small children I would say don’t, some places were very steep with a huge drop off. Evie is 8, very active, regularly does strenuous activity and has good balance so I wasn’t too concerned that she could handle it. Though I was holding her hand at times and keeping her close to me on the inside edge.

If you don’t have the time or physical ability you can take the gondola up as well.

I will post more about the lumberjack show and the Grizzlies once I download the pictures from my camera.

A Winter Hike with Little Friends

Jan26

No words today, just a few pictures of our walk in a winter forest….

Hope everyone has a happy week.

Hiking D’Iberville Trail

Aug11

This morning we got up early to get a small hike in before the rain came. This area is in a small town in Newfoundland and the trail runs along the side of a large hill that spans between two communities. At the start of the trail is an old sod cellar, these were (some still are) used to keep vegetable over the winter. The trail follows some mysterious rock formations, which appears to be old rock walls and houses. When these were found archaeologists visited but were unsure because they haven’t seen these type of formations and not sure why they are in this location and the “wall” is in a strange place and why would it be there. They did find a distinct house formation. There is also a lot of small pottery pieces in the ground around there which they dated from the 1700s. We found some small pottery pieces just walking the main trail. I think if this was excavated they would find a lot as they has been 300 years of erosion and overgrowth to hide what is actually there. I think this was a small fishing village that was colonized as to what happened after that who knows. There are also a lot of caves around there that have grown over, we saw a few. It was always rumored, when my Dad was a kid, that Beothuk Indians used to live around in those hills on that point of land. There was also talk of pirates and one particular one who this trail is named after. If we were brave enough to go in one of those caves maybe we might have found pirate treasure…not brave enough. There are also a lot of pretty brightly coloured mushrooms growing in the dark moist environment. Dad said in the fall some of these are really nice pink and blue colours. We picked a few handfuls of blueberries along the way. We saw a big Loon just floating on the water, every few minutes it would stick its head underwater and then come back up.