Destination: Grouse Mountain

Looking for a nice calm hike up a gradual bluff in Van?  You’ve wandered to the wrong spot.  Grouse Mountain (wiki) has among the best hiking trails North Vancouver has to offer, that is if your idea of hiking is akin to throwing yourself on a natural stair master for well over an hour.  Though the trail distance is only about 2.9 km (2 miles), the average grade is 28% or 15 degrees, sometimes reaching as steep as 40 degrees.  Doesn’t seem all that bad until you compare it to typical residential stair set at 35 degrees.  Overall, you cover over 850 meters (2800 feet) of elevation in the grueling climb.  As you progress, half way and three quarters completion markers mock your efforts to conquer the beast.  This site, built by an advocate and regular, chronicles the grind quite well.

I’d been told about the Grouse Grind by a few friends and though a handful of folks would hesitantly nod along that they’d do it with me, no one actually took the offer seriously.  I’m the furthest thing from an experienced mountain hiker but I’d done a fair share of hikes and even some bluff runs in La Crosse, a task some would consider borderline asinine.  Yesterday I decided it was time to tackle it on my own and get the damn thing out of the way.  It was a solid hour bike ride through downtown and Stanley park to get there and even the base is located at an elevation of 300 meters (985 feet).  That’s a pretty considerable pedaling precursor to the true workout to come.  I may consider the bus next time.  Beyond warmed up, I hit the mountain hard and in the end walked away both very satisfied and impressed.  The average time for a climber is about 90 minutes with many hitting the 80 minute mark and the die hards reaching the summit in 45 strokes of the clock.  The unofficial record for this trail is 24:22, an astonishing feat for any human being (imagine running 3 consecutive 8-minute miles up a rocky, winding stair set. Yea!).  I hurried up the initial part and conquered the first half in about 25 minutes.  I figured an hour total was reasonable enough but had little idea of what to expect from the second half.  Sure enough, it got steeper and I was nearly at the point of collapse on the next quarter.  I powered through the end pretty well and finished the grind in 1 hour and 2 minutes.  A good baseline and very satisfying for a newcomer.  The 1 hour mark should be easy to beat and I think I’ll set a challenging goal of 50 minutes for the next few tries.

The top is spectacular with a breathtaking view of the city and a glacier fed lake below.  It’s a great sense

proof of awesomeness

of accomplishment to reach the summit and for only 5 bucks, you get rewarded with a crowded and stinky gondola ride down.  I look forward to going back soon and maybe even making the trip during winter for some snowboarding.  If I were filthy rich I’d probably partake in the other activities including paragliding, gondola and helijet rides offered at the top.  I’m satisfied with a hike for now but perhaps another day.

Destination: Stanley Park

I mention over here that I’m hosting a couple of cool cats that some of you UW-L folks probably have a connection with.  But along with hosting people who are trying to see the city, comes the responsibility of making suggestions and even playing tour guide a bit.  So I figure, why not plug my favorite spots to take my visitors?  What could possibly be more relavant to this blog?

I’m inclined to say that mode of transit is almost as important as the destination.  I obviously advocate for bike travel for many reasons but most importantly because you experience your surrounding more intimately than any other mode of travel.  Seeing, smelling and touching the city on the way is integral to the overall experience.

The first place I took my current surfers and I think I’d take about any visitor is Stanley Park (wiki).  This should come as no surprise considering just about every Vancouver city guide  will direct you straight to stanley park without passing go in the first 10 pages.  If it doesn’t, it’s wrong.

Per wikipedia, Stanley is a 405 hectare (1,000 acre) monster of an urban park extending from the north west end of downtown Vancouver.  Most of the park is forested with an estimated half million trees, some of which reach as tall as 76 meters (250 feet).  Looking up and up and up (and up) to see the canopy above is truly an experience in itself.  Few outdoor experiences are as large and in charge as exploring a temperate rain forest.  Perhaps best of all, an 8.8 kilometer (5.5 mi) seawall path circles the perimeter of the park, which is used by 2.5 million pedestrians, cyclists, and inline skaters every year.  I’ve lapped it maybe four times since I’ve been here and can’t foresee it getting old any time soon.  It’s one situation where I really wish I had my hands wrapped around the handlebars of a cruiser rather than my shiny hybrid.  The nearby Lost Lagoon sports a fancy fountain and is actually where my current silly facebook picture comes from.  The southern edge of the park hosts nice little a pool which I mocked initially and then ate my words when recalling the drawbacks of swimming in the ocean (salt water is icky).  Cricket games, festivals, an expansive aquarium and many festivities lurk within the park but that’s for money having travellers.  Maybe I’ll be able to get back to you on those happenings later (fingers crossed for the aquarium.  Ahem Kathleen).

Though I’ll include some pictures from each of my trips, though wikipedia’s gallery is far and away better.

In other news…

This week it finally time to dive into the job search seriously, which I think adequately explains my lack of posting.  Turns out it’s more exhaustive of a process than I remember.  Overall, I’ve applied for upwards of 30 positions all within the IT support realm.  This coming week I’ll be doing a lot of the same but in the weeks following I’ll have to open a few other options and allow for something less than ideal.  The aforementioned idea of persistence job hunting might end up having more truth to it than I hoped

Business aside, I still feel very much on vacation and the temptation to spend the day at the beach or park has overtaken me more than once.  I intend to  blog about a few specific places I’ve hit around town but for the purpose of this post I’ll just throw up a few pictures I’ve taken while spelunking about random places.

One difference I’ve taken note of is the amount of park use here as opposed to the midwest or maybe even the States as a whole.  Weekends at parks are absolutely packed, making it considerably difficult to do a playground workout or even find an open bench.  Still it’s quite nice to see happy people using the public space.  Huge barbecues and picnics are everywhere.  I’ve seen soccer, ultimate, volleyball, baseball, and even a little bit of a cricket game in action.  Akido lessons, yoga, and various musical instruments often find their way to the parks.  Lots of variety.  Gotta love that variety!