A Baggers Dirty Hat

With the Bagger Challenge now complete for 2010 there were no plans to meet fellow baggers for those long days on the mountains this weekend. Neil and I settled for our favourite local trail, Hayward Lake. There was a chance of rain so I grabbed my hat that I had just washed this week after the end of bagging season. It didn't come clean! I often had the hat clipped onto the outside of my pack and with the descent of many peaks taking place on my backside the hat became indredibly dirty. We had a good laugh when I put it on today with much dirt remaining! The trail at Hayward Lake was a carpet of thick maple leaves today. The seasons have changed since we were last there. It is such a peaceful trail - I said to Neil today that when I run on the trail at Hayward I feel a sense of comfort and peace. The trail is always different depending on the season and the weather. It is a very good work out with technical trails and undulating hills. The direction we like to do the trail finishes with 7km of flattish trail that is a good run out. We were done in 2 hours and had time for a quick shop on Robson Street for a few fall essentials. Weather forecast is for stormy winds and rain tonight and tomorrow.

Baggers Banquet

Friday night was the Baggers Banquet where both Neil and I received recognition for our participation in the 2010 Club Fat Ass Bagger Challenge. Neil and Craig shared the award of the Twisted Quaich and I won for the most bags by the opposite gender of the Champion. This years Champion was Ean Jackson with a remarkable 48 peaks bagged. It was a fun night to celebrate a great effort by all involved. Saturday morning Neil and I joined Wendy for a an outing on the Flint and Feather Trail on Grouse Mountain. We met one of our great local trail runners on a bluff who was having a photo shoot for Trail Runner Magazine. Gary Robbins was very gracious and let us take our own photo with him. Today the weather was another spectacular Fall day and Neil and I went up one of our local mountains - Alouette Mountain. It is a beautiful time of year to be on the trails with the large Maple Leaves providing a colourful covering of the trails.

Bears, Bags, and 1st Baguette! - it's been busy!

It's been a fun filled action packed two weeks!

Neil and I made our annual fall trip to the Canadian Rockie Mountains. Our great excuse is an annual conference for Neil which we tag a few extra days on for some hiking and exploring. One of our favourite places to stay is Emerald Lake Lodge. It is a mountain lodge with many great hikes right from the door step. Since Neil had sprained his ankle the weekend prior he was determined to be able to still hike with the assistance of an air cast to support his ankle. A highlight was a grizzly bear encounter...amazing! Enjoy!


www.flickr.com/photos/carolynneil/show/


The Bagger Challenge came to a close this Thanksgiving weekend. We completed the challenge with 30 Peaks for Neil and 25 for me. I maintained my title of Female Bagger of 2010 - "1st Female Baguette". Visit all the excitement at:

www.clubfatass.com/tags/contests-and-challenges/bagger-challenge-2010

It's also that time of the year when we start to think of goals for the upcoming year. November and December are usually slower months for running events. We have decided to add snow shoeing to our routine this winter. We plan to purchase the small running snow shoes and go on weekly outing's if we can. Winter is not far away - it was snowing today on Mt. Seymour when we were there! Another decision was to sign up again for the West Highland Way - hope the jury let's us in again! That will keep us moving throughout the winter months as well! Other favourite events to look forward to are Vancouver 100, STORMY, Club Fat Ass events and I'm sure a few others!!