It was a stormy, nasty weather week here in Vancouver. High winds, power outages and lots of rain. Friday the skies cleared and the emails started...have you seen the snow on the North Shore Mountains...let's go tonight for a snow shoe! Neil and I were in and so we met Dave and Helen at Grouse on Friday evening. It was cold up top but a beautiful dry evening. There is several feet of snow up there already! Dave led us out on the Snow Shoe Grind to the top of Dam Mountain - a fantastic journey. This is the winter version of the world famous Grouse Grind, the much used lower mountain trail beloved by tourists and locals alike. We were the only ones out there on the snowshoe trails! Doesn't get much better than that. We hope to add a night of snow shoeing at least once a week throughout the winter months.
Today (Saturday) we headed back in to the North Shore for a CFA event called the Seymour Super Fun Run. It was an atrociously wet and miserable morning when we started out. This was the norm for the whole run and I really cannot remember such a wet day on the trails for a long, long time. It was a great to finish at the local coffee shop and warm up with a piping hot cup of java!


Heading out to join the Snow Shoe Grind on Grouse Mountain.


The snow was perfect with a path carved through it.


It was steep at times which was an excellent work out.


Flocking on the trees - so nice!


Dave and I at the Snow Shoe Grind Turnaround. Nice to see the sign to warn us to go back.


The glow of Vancouver below as we head down.


Saturday morning, back to the North Shore for the Seymour Fun Run a CFA event. Craig approaching a little snow.


Me finishing Neds Atomic Dustbin Trail - not my favourite!


Craig - it was so wet. Torrential rain.


Me - in the rain!


Craig and I near the finish - Soaking Wet!

A Change of Seasons

Now that Bagging Season is over it allows the opportunity to reflect of good times and wonderful adventures with our bagging buddies! We encountered many difficult moments on the trail that might have required a push or pull from helpful baggers and so it was that we became known amongest ourselves as "Team Dodgy"! Thanks to Dave and Helen for capturing the memories in a T-shirt for Team Dodgy. My Nike Trail Pegasus shoes have seen better days. 33 Peaks with lots of varied weather conditions and trail wear makes them feel like my favourite pair of slippers but with lots of scuffs and "air" holes! Perhaps time for a new pair.

Saturday we participated in Club Fat Ass's Go Deep Trail Run. The weather was cold/wet and snowing at higher elevations. It was great to have another weekend of running not to mention catching up with trail running friends. We went to Buntzen Lake today for another 2 hours of up and down running. It feels good for the mind and soul to build the running miles up again as well as the legs! Looking forward to some longer trail runs over the winter and judging by the early snow fall this past week some snow shoeing outings as well!

Finding our Happy Feet!

A view from Buntzen Lake Power Line trail with many peaks behind that I climbed during the Bagger Challenge.


From left to right: Mt. Seymour, Runner Peak, Mount Elsay, Mount Bishop, Mount Deacon, Mount Presbyter and finally Mount Dickens.


Indian Arm in the distance with the four tops of Dickens.


With the Peak Bagging Season behind us - this weekend, we hit the trails to get back to some longer runs. We have kept up with the shorter week day runs but for the last few months we have had only the longer endurance outings of climbing mountains without the longer runs. So it felt great to be back running longer on the trails! Saturday Neil, Dave, Chad and I went to Buntzen Lake and did a 2 hour 40 minute outing. It was a beautiful fall day, clear skies with cooler temperatures. The maple leaves are covering the trails and the colours are spectacular. We enjoyed the outing so much that Neil and I went back again on Sunday with a slightly modified route to avoid the dog walkers. It worked out to be about 1 hour 45 minutes. So a good introduction back to the running trails and bye bye bagging trails for another year!