The Grouse Grind...via the BCMC Trail

Our good friend and exceptional host Deb with Wendy and Samara at the base of Grouse Mountain... just before showing me the way to an extrordinary journey up to the top

. There was a genuine warning out for sightings of bears and a cougar on this trail current as we climbed, which made for a very interesting little venture up the "grind" (the bears were OK, but Deb was not at all fussed on the cougar thing). They call it "the grind" for a very good reason........it pretty well does does go straight up.

If you think you have heard "quiet" in Australia, you aint heard nothin" we stopped a few times on the way up this trail, and on both our behalves, that was to listen for wild beasts...eg cougar and bears, (as they are a real threat) and I mean, it was QUIET. You could not hear a thing except for Deb and my own breathing, not even a single bird twittering...even though we were only about 10 or less minutes drive from Deb's house in north Vancouver, and Vancouver is a pretty big city.

Wendy and Samara took the skyway gondola up to the summit in about 7 minutes while Deb and myself took about one and three quarter hours to ascend the summit via the BCMC trail, (which I was told by the "lifties" there, is about 1 to one and a half kilometers longer than the "Grouse Grind") with a lot of stops in between to revive. I have to say that this climb was one of the more memorable moments of my travelling life, and would be up there as far as steepness. and degree of difficulty goes with the " Napali Coast" trail on Kuaii in Hawaii. Anyway.............Canada has been all fun and totally enjoyable so far, and now we start heading out to Banff and Lake Louise.