Hikers about to call a hike. Q: “Dude, this weather sucks.” E: “Hmm…but we have such awesome rain gear!”
Adrienne: We aimed high for our hike this week. Like, really high. Up Mount Seymour high. And it kind of blew up in our faces, but not in a bad way. More in a ‘what were we thinking, are we ever ridiculous and isn’t it super hilarious that we even attempted this??’ kind of way. In short, we decided to hike Dog Mountain. What we ended up hiking was the parking lot at the base of Dog Mountain. Oh, and we also hiked around MEC for awhile. And then we hiked all the way into White Spot for lunch. It was a hiking fail of epic proportions. The weather was not too bad downtown when Q and I left our place at 8:30a.m. We dropped D off at work and then headed towards the Lion’s Gate bridge. Unfortunately, the bridge was down to one lane heading to the North Shore (which was to be expected, but still annoying and slow), so it took us 30 minutes to get across the bridge. I breathed a sigh of relief when we got onto highway 1 heading to Mount Seymour, but we were soon at a dead stop on the highway for some reason. I assumed there was an accident, but after creeping along the highway for 20 minutes the traffic suddenly cleared up and we were on our way again. By the time we started driving up the mountain, Q was at her wit’s end. We’d been in the car for an hour and twenty minutes and she was pretty pissed at me. Meanwhile we were in the middle of a torrential rain storm that was looking more and more grim by the second. We pulled into the lot and found A’s car parked all by its lonesome, with A and E huddled together in the back seat.
serious shit storm (and this is not even the worst of the fog!)
Amanda: We had gotten to the mountain about 15 minutes earlier than A & Q. It would have been even earlier (no bridge traffic on my end!) except I was deep into an enthusiastic rendition of She’ll Be Coming Round the Mountain and I drove right past the Mt. Seymour Rd. turnoff. I did not realize this until we arrived in Deep Cove. Oops! I was already operating under some fairly dark premonitions. The night before, I’d been doing research on trail and hiking safety – which really is just research on all the terrible and terrifying things that can befall you and yours on the trail. The heebyjeebies didn’t stop then, though. After missing my turn (and adding to my feelings of unease), E & I were finally on the right road, watching the fog thicken and rain worsen with each kilometre marker…there’s 13 of them. No surprise there. By the time I got to the top and creeped my little car at a crawl through the fogged out lot, all I wanted to do was curl up with E under blankets and snuggle! But, Hikehitchers don’t go down without a fight (or hike!). When A and Q arrived, I think all 4 of us had pretty much decided we weren’t going to hike Dog Mountain, but we weren’t ready to leave Mt. Seymour just yet. The girls needed outside time…and perhaps we needed to not feel quite so much like failures. Or maybe that was just me! So we suited up (Q loaned E some bear paw mitts!) and we did a bit of a tyke hike on the gravel trails around the parking lot. It wasn’t much, but at least the girls got to get their feet wet (literally) and we got to get damp and cold enough that we felt we deserved a trip to MEC and White Spot.
How do I look?
The Nitty Gritty:
Hike Length: According to Vancouver Trails, this hike is about five km in total and takes about two hours round trip. Both of us have hiked this one on our own (Amanda has done it in the summer and Adrienne has done it with snowshoes in the winter), and both of us have finished the hike in less time, though you might want to leave extra time for yourself for when you get to the top of the mountain. It is such a spectacular view that you’ll probably want to hang around on the top for awhile (not that we could see any of that view on this particular day!).
Hike Difficulty: From what we remember, not too bad! As Vancouver Trails says, it’s easy, but perhaps the tougher end thereof. Like, there are some elevation gains and some root systems and rocks to contend with, but for the most part the hike itself is relatively easy. It gives you a nice workout but you can still carry on a conversation with your hiking buddy without gasping for breath. And the view at the top is a huge payoff. At the top of Dog Mountain you can see the entire city of Vancouver, as well as the water and several mountain ranges. It is truly spectacular. …Which is another reason we thought we might want to give it a pass as a rain hike and do it on a day when we can really appreciate it.
I was super ready for a hike
Getting There and Back: From downtown it should normally take about 45 minutes in good weather. You may want to consider listening to the traffic report before heading there so you can decide which bridge you want to take. Since Mount Seymour is so close to the Second Narrows bridge, it might be worth it to go over the Georgia Viaduct and head into East Van instead of doing the Lion’s Gate route. From East Van you can be at the top of Mount Seymour in about 20-30 minutes. (cut out the Deep Cove detour!)
What’s nearby?: Not much, since you have to drive about 14 km up the mountain before you get to the start of the hike. There is a lodge there that is usually open and sells hot dogs, hamburgers, and fries as well as our much coveted hot chocolate. It’s hard to tell what the hours are, since it wasn’t open when we were there.
What to pack: The usual diapers, wipes, extra clothes. Since the hike is quite high up we definitely recommend bringing extra warm clothing. We brought mittens and hats for the girls, and dressed them in layers with their muddy buddies on. Unfortunately we weren’t great at bringing extra clothes for ourselves, which is something we both need to work on. On that particular day it felt about ten degrees cooler on the mountain and we both could have benefited from long johns and extra sweaters. Along with extra warm clothes, extra food is a must on this hike. While it’s a safe and populated hike, it never hurts to have extra food and layers in case something goes wrong. It’s also good to bring your emergency kit and obviously lots of water. Bear spray and whistles are a good idea as well. (Can you tell Amanda’s been reading about trail safety?) And make sure your cell phone is charged up and that someone knows your hiking plan (where you’ll be and what time you plan to finish).
E wears bear mittens
What we hiked about today:
Adrienne: Well, I feel like we mostly just laughed at how ridiculous the situation was. We spent all this time and energy in the morning (and Amanda even packed the night before!) getting ourselves and the girls ready, then all this time driving and getting stuck in traffic on bridges only to have to call the hike without setting so much as a toe on the trail. In one way it was lucky that the weather was so unbelievably shitty because we really didn’t have a choice BUT to call the hike. It’s not like we could try to convince ourselves it wasn’t that bad…it really was that bad. The rain was pouring and we could hardly see twenty feet in front of us. We would have made it to the top and we’d be soaked and there would be nothing for us to look at. Aside from not actually getting to do the hike, we had a lovely time together. After jumping in some muddy puddles, we drove back down the mountain and had a very enjoyable time at MEC and then at White Spot. Aside from a Q meltdown at MEC, it was fun to look at hiking gear with the girls on a rainy miserable day.
Q is so done with hiking
I don’t know what my deal is, but I seem to be taking things in stride a little more lately. Normally having to call a hike would be really frustrating for me. I’ve talked about struggling with those kinds of decisions before and I’ve made stupid decisions that probably weren’t that safe because I wanted to finish whatever I was doing. That’s not a particularly admirable quality that I have and it’s not really something I want to pass on to Q. Hiking and outdoor activities are awesome when done safely, but when people start taking stupid risks just to prove something to themselves or to appease their ego, a lot can go wrong very quickly. I’m working hard to focus on making a good judgement call when it comes to hikes, even if that means driving all the way up a mountain just to turn around and drive back down again. Almost every week I hear a new story about hikers that have to get airlifted from the tops of cliffs or other spots where they shouldn’t have been hiking, often without proper gear and no emergency kit or equipment. Recently a couple were airlifted out of a hike wearing sandals. Proper footwear is essential for hiking, but many people ignore this very basic rule of thumb and head out on a trail with only running shoes. Not smart. North Shore Rescue (mountain search and rescue team) has all kinds of fabulous information about keeping safe while hiking. You can also check out their blog for reports about missing hikers and get informed on proper safety techniques. For example, they have a list of 10 essential things you should carry while hiking. We plan to provide several detailed posts on what to do in emergency hiking situations and how to prepare oneself in case of emergency, but we want to make sure they’re well researched and informative before we do. We are huge advocates of safety during outdoor excursions and while we don’t always think of everything we need to bring to prepare ourselves, we are committed to improving our hiking safety to ensure that both of us (and our girls!) are prepared for any worst case scenarios.
Apples that match their outfits
Amanda: “What we hiked about” involved a lot of laughing today. I mean, it usually does, but today it was a lot of laughing at ourselves. At one point, when we were standing in a puddle in the deluge, singing Ring Around The Rosy for the 25th time (E’s request), I just let out a guffaw. “I can’t believe we drove this far and packed this much, just to stand in the rain on top of a mountain singing fricking Ring Around the Rosy!” I exclaimed.
How much is this one?
You have to laugh. Otherwise, it is frustrating. Like Adrienne, I battle with having to cancel plans because of things out of my control. I can get into thought cycles where I constantly berate myself for making the wrong choices. (like, why didn’t we pick a hike nearer to home and with less elevation?) And, like Adrienne this is something I don’t want to pass on to E. I’m not sure when I acquired this extreme aversion to altered or cancelled plans. When I was 20, I spent a year studying in Spain. I relished in the surprise and loved when things were a little amiss, so I could experience new things. I spent my Spring Break in Florence that year and, on my way back to Rome to catch my plane to Madrid, I got on the wrong damned train and ended up in Bologna. I missed my flight home and ended up having to take a later flight which had me spending an overnight layover in Frankfurt. BOOM. First time in Germany. Unexpected plan change suddenly became an awesome experience. Another time, I was taking the train by myself to Barcelona to meet some friends travelling on another train. Theirs hit a herd of sheep (yes, that happened!) and so they didn’t arrive until a whole day later. BOOM. First time travelling alone and I loved it! Again, unexpected plan change that opened up new horizons in my own life. These are the kinds of things I want to pass on to E. (I mean, I hope she’s never dumb enough to board a wrong train and miss a flight and all that…but if she does, I hope she enjoys it instead of stressing the whole time!) My point is…I didn’t intend to go on this whole tangent about Spain. But, my point is that now that E has entered my life, I’m trying not to sweat the small stuff so much, or even the big stuff. I want E to see the fun in when things don’t go as planned. Like, if it pours rain and your mum planned a totally ridiculous hike for a rainy day, you can still sing on top of the mountain, have a snack in the back of your best bud’s car, get a new hat and mitts, and have a rockin’ lunch that comes in a BOAT. Seriously, at White Spot, kids meals are On A Boat.
This is such a fun hike!
Hike Hitchers 