This morning, I woke up at 7:30 AM and left the house at about 10AM to meet Lihi at Canada Place at 11AM. Once I met Lihi, we boarded the complimentary shuttle to the base of Grouse Mountain. The peak of Grouse Mountain overlooks Seattle from 4,000 feet above sea level. The base of Grouse Mountain is at about 1,500 feet above sea level. From the base of the mountain, the “Grouse Grind” trail ascends over 2,500 feet in just over 1.5 miles. This extreme elevation gain in such a short distance is made possible by almost 3,000 steps along the short trail. The trail is an excellent training hike, and I might actually visit once again just to time myself and see how fast I can complete it in.
Gondola headed up Grouse Mountain
Grouse Grind Grouse Grind Grouse Grind View of Gondola from the Grouse Grind trail Additionally, the trail is almost completely shaded and very scenic, with surrounding views of tall trees and the forest environment. After about 2 hours of hiking, we reached the top of Grouse Mountain. At the top of Grouse Mountain, we ate a simple lunch at the seating area overlooking much of Vancouver thousands of feet below us. After eating lunch, we continued walking along the top of the mountain area. We walked about ten minutes to the Beaver Trail concession stand, where we ordered a Beaver Tail (1/2 topped with chocolate hazelnut spread and 1/2 topped with Skor Cheesecake). The Beaver Trail tasted very much like Frybread, it was delicious. After eating the Beaver Tail, we watched part of the free “Birds in Motion” show, before boarding the gondola down the mountain. We then parted ways at the Waterfront Skytrain Station.
Top of the Grouse Grind Trail View from the top of the Grouse Grind Trail Photo of me and Lihi at the top of the Grouse Grind Trail Beaver Tail Birds in Motion showAfter we parted ways at the Waterfront Skytrain Station, I headed to a medical clinic near Downtown to have my hand looked at by a doctor. The fee for the clinic visit was approximately $140, which was expensive but I just wanted to get the hand ordeal over with. The doctor reassured me that my hand was ok and there really isn’t a need for an X-ray. Additionally, the doctor provided me with a Tetanus Shot. The Tetanus shot will be especially useful/important to me because of the large amount of time I spend hiking and camping. Overall, I’m happy and a bit more relieved after the clinic visit.
Afterwards, I visited Gastown, and then headed back to the AirBNB.
