What better way to get wet than to go outside in December in Vancouver?
Today Jeff and I decided to get wet in style by hiking up Burnaby Mountain with his Vancouver Mountain Biking group. There were nine of us altogether and we started out near the base of the mountain on North Road. As with the bike ride yesterday the sky was again filled with clouds and the promise of much rain to come. As we headed out the weather held, though. Those of us dressed in cotton were thankful.
Burnaby Mountain is not exactly out in the boonies but the trails can still be rugged and demanding. There are points where the hydro wires are tucked out of view and the latest condo developments can’t be seen and you can almost believe you’re truly out in the wilderness. It helps if you stumble across a bear, too, which Jeff has done. The bears are smart enough to sleep through a Vancouver winter, though.
The ascent was on trails rated from easy to advanced. The easy stuff is just that — the grade allows for a leisurely pace and lots of idle chatter. When we reached Velodrome Trail (handy PDF of Burnaby Mountain trails) a sign at the bottom notified us that there were 500 wooden stairs leading up. Way up.
500 stairs is a lot of stairs. My excellent math and engineering skills tell me it worked out to the equivalent of 20-30 storeys. It took me back to the one time I walked up to the 15th floor of the apartment building I lived in ages ago. The one time.
When we reached the top we took a few minutes to pose for pictures, take in the totem poles and look up to the oh-so-expensive Horizons restaurant. That wasn’t what a bunch of sweaty, grubby hikers want so we continued on to the SFU campus in search of a simpler cafe. The SFU buildings were eerily quiet given the semester break and one hallway was completely unlit, as if it was auditioning for a part in a horror movie. We continued on until we got to Renaissance Coffee. They serve their free range/organic or whatever it was beverages in cups that feel all comfy and quilted. Jeff and I had hot chocolate, me going for the small, Jeff opting for hill giant size. I added a chocolate chip muffin, convinced I had burned sufficient calories on the way up.
Sated, we headed out and the rain had returned. Those of us who had brought non-cottony jackets donned them, the others prepared for The soaking. We headed down an unofficial trail that required lots of skidding, jumping and light praying. We all made it down intact, fortunately.
All told, it was a fun combination of easy and hard, everyone was friendly and chatty and no limbs were broken.
The stats:
Total distance: 11 km
Average pace: 3.7 km/h
Total elevation gained: 1132m
Total descent: 1201m
Total time: 3 hours
Small gallery of photos available here.
