Wendy and I at the top of Black Mountain - #3 in the day, #6 this weekend.
#3 for the day.
Almost there!
Strachan, #2 for the day.
Neil and I - Strachan.
Hollyburn, #1 for the day. It was WET!
Climbing up to Hollyburn - nice trail!
A view of Cathedral Mountain - better weather on Saturday.
Working our way down between peaks before climbing back up!
Top of Burwell - 5,080 feet.
#3 Peak for Saturday - Burwell
Working our way between Coliseum and Burwell over the rocks.
Coliseum - 4,755 feet.
The Seymour Reservoir down below where we started climbing from.
The top of Paton - 3,300 feet.
Our bikes hidden in the woods. It was a long weekend which gave us that extra day for bagging some peaks in the Club Fat Ass Bagger Challenge. Saturday's weather conditions were great for climbing mountains, today Monday was not ideal but off we went! Saturday we did what is called a "water bag" were you self propel yourself from sea level to the top of a mountain. We rode our bikes from the ocean into the Lower Seymour Conservation Forest which is a fantastic area to ride bikes(no cars). It was uphill all the way! All 3 of us were on mountain bikes and were passed by several "pelotons" of road bikes. Ah...but we were having a very good warm up for what was to come! 14km uphill later we hid the bikes and some water for the return ride. We found the trail to the right that goes to the 3 peaks Paton, Coliseum and Burwell. 10 minutes on the trail and Wendy shouts "ouch, ouch". Well...that means wasps! We took off - charging up this rooty uphill until we felt we were well away. Wendy took 1 sting on her elbow and she faired well with it for the rest of the day. The first peak Paton had a very pleasant plateau where we stayed for a few minutes for a bite to eat. We could see the next 2 peaks from Paton and carried on to Coliseum. On our way up Coliseum we found a wallet dropped on the trail. Full of ID and cards we picked it up and wondered when it was dropped. We looked at the picture ID and the name and knew the owner was fortunate that we would make sure it was returned to him. Shortly after finding the wallet 2 younger guys (younger than us!) appeared over a rock - first hikers spotted so far. One of them resembled the photo in the wallet...we ask if he is the name in the wallet. He was hesitant and then admitted to his identity. We told him we found his wallet. He took it and grunted...I couldn't resist as we pulled away...you are very welcome I remark. We never did get a thank-you. Our conversation over Coliseum revolved around manners. You never know what interesting characters you will find on the trail. Coliseum was all rock - easy to traverse over. A nice reward from all the climbing we had done to get up there. The rocky surface continued on to Burwell. We did a few downs and ups that looked like the top but of course were false summits. Finally we see the cairn on top marking the summit. We had great views. Another bite to eat, took a few photos and started to retrace our route. We made good time coming down and were pleased to get by the wasp nest with no stings. The bikes were still there (always a bit of a concern) and we now had a 14km ride downhill which was very refreshing. A great day out - 9 hours total including the bike ride both ways. A great way to get us back into the Bagger Challenge. Sunday evening during dinner with friends we received a text message from Craig and Dave. They were spending the night out there where we bagged the 3 peaks on Saturday. Their plan was to carry on and climb Cathedral Mountain. Over night the rain was heavy and we were concerned if they were OK. Monday was the holiday and we decided to head out again despite the rain. We chose 3 Peaks fairly close together to keep it safe in the poor weather. Hollyburn, Strachan and Black are all accessible off of the Cypress Mountain parking lot (where the Olympic Freestyle skiing and Snowboarding were held). It was a quiet day on the hills! Good news from Craig and Dave they were down and fine! Total of 6 peaks for the weekend. We have until the end of the month to complete more peaks in the challenge. ;-)
Wendy and I at the top of Black Mountain - #3 in the day, #6 this weekend. 
#3 for the day. 
Almost there! 
Strachan, #2 for the day. 
Neil and I - Strachan. 
Hollyburn, #1 for the day. It was WET! 
Climbing up to Hollyburn - nice trail! 
A view of Cathedral Mountain - better weather on Saturday. 
Working our way down between peaks before climbing back up! 
Top of Burwell - 5,080 feet. 
#3 Peak for Saturday - Burwell 
Working our way between Coliseum and Burwell over the rocks. 
Coliseum - 4,755 feet. 
The Seymour Reservoir down below where we started climbing from. 
The top of Paton - 3,300 feet. 
Our bikes hidden in the woods. It was a long weekend which gave us that extra day for bagging some peaks in the Club Fat Ass Bagger Challenge. Saturday's weather conditions were great for climbing mountains, today Monday was not ideal but off we went! Saturday we did what is called a "water bag" were you self propel yourself from sea level to the top of a mountain. We rode our bikes from the ocean into the Lower Seymour Conservation Forest which is a fantastic area to ride bikes(no cars). It was uphill all the way! All 3 of us were on mountain bikes and were passed by several "pelotons" of road bikes. Ah...but we were having a very good warm up for what was to come! 14km uphill later we hid the bikes and some water for the return ride. We found the trail to the right that goes to the 3 peaks Paton, Coliseum and Burwell. 10 minutes on the trail and Wendy shouts "ouch, ouch". Well...that means wasps! We took off - charging up this rooty uphill until we felt we were well away. Wendy took 1 sting on her elbow and she faired well with it for the rest of the day. The first peak Paton had a very pleasant plateau where we stayed for a few minutes for a bite to eat. We could see the next 2 peaks from Paton and carried on to Coliseum. On our way up Coliseum we found a wallet dropped on the trail. Full of ID and cards we picked it up and wondered when it was dropped. We looked at the picture ID and the name and knew the owner was fortunate that we would make sure it was returned to him. Shortly after finding the wallet 2 younger guys (younger than us!) appeared over a rock - first hikers spotted so far. One of them resembled the photo in the wallet...we ask if he is the name in the wallet. He was hesitant and then admitted to his identity. We told him we found his wallet. He took it and grunted...I couldn't resist as we pulled away...you are very welcome I remark. We never did get a thank-you. Our conversation over Coliseum revolved around manners. You never know what interesting characters you will find on the trail. Coliseum was all rock - easy to traverse over. A nice reward from all the climbing we had done to get up there. The rocky surface continued on to Burwell. We did a few downs and ups that looked like the top but of course were false summits. Finally we see the cairn on top marking the summit. We had great views. Another bite to eat, took a few photos and started to retrace our route. We made good time coming down and were pleased to get by the wasp nest with no stings. The bikes were still there (always a bit of a concern) and we now had a 14km ride downhill which was very refreshing. A great day out - 9 hours total including the bike ride both ways. A great way to get us back into the Bagger Challenge. Sunday evening during dinner with friends we received a text message from Craig and Dave. They were spending the night out there where we bagged the 3 peaks on Saturday. Their plan was to carry on and climb Cathedral Mountain. Over night the rain was heavy and we were concerned if they were OK. Monday was the holiday and we decided to head out again despite the rain. We chose 3 Peaks fairly close together to keep it safe in the poor weather. Hollyburn, Strachan and Black are all accessible off of the Cypress Mountain parking lot (where the Olympic Freestyle skiing and Snowboarding were held). It was a quiet day on the hills! Good news from Craig and Dave they were down and fine! Total of 6 peaks for the weekend. We have until the end of the month to complete more peaks in the challenge. ;-)
Hi Princess,
ReplyDeleteGood to see you made it back home save. Neil you look kind of wet in that one picture.
I'll email you Carolyn, I have a top-secret question...