Do One Thing Every Day That Scares You: Vancouver local hikes – a never-ending discovery of natural beauty

11^th-20^th May 2011

Since returning from Utah I’ve been out and about meeting new people and doing the things that I love. I managed to hike up the BCMC twice which takes us to the top of the Grouse Mountain and the grizzly bears have just come out of hibernation. Also the albino wolves were a highlight as well.

I joined a group called Wanderrung and answered a call out for Panorama ridge in the Garibaldi area. I had been up here in September last year with my friend Greg but camping overnight by the lake, but as it’s a late spring with lots of fresh snow to do it up and back in one day (32km plus altitude gain) is a big task. We drove to the car park and left at midnight, just the 3 of us I had not met either of the other 2 before. It quickly became apparent that the organiser was a very fast hiker who didn’t care if he left you behind and the other lady was a very very inexperienced hiker who was way out of her depth. Lots of lesson learned, we didn't make it to the top this time and I will always find out the experience level of people attending before setting out on a difficult hike again. Still a good day out just not as anticipated.

While living in Whistler I had read and heard about Elfin lakes a beautiful winter and summer hiking destination and on a Saturday I was able to join a meet up group to snowshoe out to 2 huts, on a slightly overcast day but with very little rain its an easy to follow track with the beauty of the surrounding mountains either side, happy smiles and a great group of guys. Yup I was the only girl but not afraid of rain or snow it was great to get out in the snow and mountains. My 4^th time on snow shoes, it would be a great first place for me to try out ski touring next year when I invest in my new setup.

My final hike before leaving Vancouver with mum was out to the Chief in Squamish. I had hiked the chief about 3 or so years ago with friends Michelle and Ben but just to peak one and in yucky weather. Today was a blue bird day and a group of 10 of us hiked peaks 1 and 2 enjoying the fun little via ferrata setup between the 2 peaks. The views around were gorgeous and lying in the sun eating lunch on the top of a mountain is pretty special. A good group of people who mostly hike during the week due to their occupations.