We were missing the mountains, so decided to head for the nearest one to Vancouver, Grouse Mountain (1,231m 4,039ft). This is home to the Grouse Grind, a popular workout trail also known as "Nature's Stairmaster".
It's a steep trail which climbs 853m in 2.9km (2,800ft in 1.8 miles). The record for completing it is about 25 minutes, though the average time is apparently 1 hour 30 minutes. We managed it in 1 hour 20 minutes, but it was pretty hard going.
It's a one-way trail, you're not supposed to go back down the same way to avoid collisions. Fortunately there's a gondola that can be used as an alternative.
At the top there are various tourist attractions - bird-of-prey shows, lumberjack shows, paragliding, zip lines etc.
Here they'd rather you didn't walk to the top but prefer you to buy a chairlift ticket. Guess what we did...
Highlight of the attractions was an enclosure with two grizzly bears, which have been there for the last 11 years after being orphaned as cubs.
After taking the gondola back down we went for a drive in West Vancouver, visiting Lighthouse Park.
Saw some Douglas squirrels, but no bears!
We ended up in a seaside village called Horseshoe Bay where we stopped for a drink.
Dinner was in a local restaurant in Kitsilano called Local Restaurant, where we had nachos and burgers.
No comments:
Post a Comment