Grouse to Mountain Highway

On the Baden Powell between Grouse and Mountain Highway.

Today Neil and I decided to go back to the Baden Powell trail and run from Grouse to Mountain Highway. We parked the car at Grouse Mountain. It is a great work out with lots of climbing out of Grouse! Once we arrived at Mountain Highway we were both not motivated to do the return trip. Maybe we could get a ride back to Grouse? We phoned Craig who lives at the base of Mountain Highway - he picks up but darn he is in Steveston. We decide to run up Mtn Highway for a bit and then descend to the Starbucks at the bottom of the hill. Once there we asked the Barista to call us a taxi to take us back to the car at Grouse. 3 hours today = 15 hours for the weekend so far. And, I rode the stationary bike for 40 minutes tonight during the hockey game - the stress was getting to me! The Canucks lost 4-3 in overtime - game 7 Tuesday night in Vancouver. Plan to get out locally tomorrow for a couple of hours and then it will be rest day!

West from Grouse on the Baden Powell

Myself with Craig and Liza on the Baden Powell.


Lots of Deep Snow!


Working through the snow.


Craig and I on the Skyline trail.

Today Neil and I met Liza and Craig at Grouse Mountain to do a run on the Baden Powell. We decided to go West on the Baden Powell. This meant running down the hill to the Cleveland Dam - why didn't we park down there I asked? The climb out of Cleveland Dam on the BP is a good warm-up! It is up up up! We then went right on the Brothers Creek trail and ran into plenty of snow. The snow was perfect today for running on - not too icy - just the occasional post hole. We stayed on the snow for about 45 minutes and then decided to turn back. We took the Crossover trail to the Baden Powell, down the BP to Skyline trail which we then headed west to Cypress. We stopped for a bite to eat in the warm sunshine at the view point. Retraced our steps to the Baden Powell back to Cleveland and up the road to Grouse. I know now why we met at Grouse so we could do the nasty road up to Grouse when we were tired! Tired we were after yesterday's bagging and 5.5 hours today. Planning to get out again tomorrow for a few hours - wow I love these 4 day weekends. We knew we had to kick the training up and made minimal commitments for the weekend so we could do that. We have Vancouver 100km and West Highland Way 95 miles in June in our sights.

The First Bags in the 2011 Bagger Challenge!

Neil -running in Las Vegas.


The Ferry Ride to Bowen Island - Mt. Gardner in the background.


On the Ferry with my bike.


Running on the road on Bowen Island, looking for the trail for Mt. Collins


Honeymoon Lake - the watershed.


Bushwacking to Mt. Collins.


The sign at the start of the Mt. Gardner Trail


Going Up Mt. Gardner.


Neil and I at the Top!

Great views of Vancouver's coast line.


Another Great View.


Running Down Mt. Gardner.


Heading back on the ferry - 2 Bags Done!

Last weekend we had a quick trip to Las Vegas to participate in our niece's and husband to be - bachelor and bachelorette party! It was an action packed weekend with the bridal party and family - lots of good fun (and shopping). The girls had a visit to the spa at Caesars Palace and my new claim to fame is the lady who did my pedicure also does Celine Dion's! Neil and I did manage a quick 40 minute run on the Saturday morning dodging the crowds.
This weekend we both have 4 days off for Easter weekend and plan to catch up on some training! Today we did our first bags in the 2011 Bagger Challenge. We took our bikes to Bowen Island and bagged Mt. Collins and Mt. Gardner. It felt great to be out there and back bagging. Nothing like a big climb to get us moving again. Wow - I forgot how steep Mt. Gardner is - it's a great work out! Mt. Collin's was a bit of an ethical dilemma for us - ignoring the signs to stay out of the water shed area. Looking forward to tomorrow's training adventure. Weather forecast is good!

Our Trail Companions are Back!!

This weekend we discovered Bear tracks and scat in our garden. They are back! We usually don't notice them until a little later in the summer. Last year when we were away for the West Highland Way a bear made itself comfortable on our front porch - just wanted to keep Craig company who was Kitty and house sitting. Today we were running at Hayward Lake and came across Cougar prints and fresh Cougar scat. A good reminder that we are not alone out there on the trails. Spring is here and so are our trail companions! The wasps will be next. ;-) Saturday Neil had a good run at the Diez Vista 50km Trail Race. My knee was still a bit tender last weekend for the registration deadline. It was feeling better on race day and I was a little disappointed I wasn't out there. After seeing Neil off at the start I joined Marilyn and Ron for coffee. Ron has accepted a teaching job in Saskatoon so we had lots to chat about over coffee. Neil and I lived there for 4 years when he was studying for his Doctor of Veterinary Medicine - so the chat brought back many memories (cold winters, static electric shocks, extension cords on cars, bugs in the summer, thunder & lightning, tornadoes, hail storms, lots of indoor exercise, great people!) I managed to fit in a run while waiting for Neil to finish and I did 3 repeats of a hill to test the knee - it felt fine. I made it to the finish line just in time to see the first runner come in.