Friday, cloudy. Hiked up the famed
Grouse Grind in North Vancouver. A short but steep trail: 2.9Km, gain 850m.
Parking is $8/day or $6 for 3 hours. A further lot for half the price, which I didn't know. A wolf was sleeping at the foothill north of the parking lot (yes, fenced). GG trailhead is east of the parking lot. 40 labels on trees for progress. Some places nice newly made wooden steps and handrails. Overall, an ugly trail. At the beginning of the trail, there is a stone timer (donated by Columbia), and serious hikers doing stretch. We slowly went upwards, soon passed by hundreds of people, many seem to have come straight from work wearing their access badge. There were two 1/4 markers. The 2nd one is quite discouraging. Two nice benches at the 1/2 marker. However lots of litter. At the top, a big sign forbids people from hiking down the same trail (some still do). At the entrance of the Skyride lodge on the top, another stone timer to read your "PASS". Inside, a big screen displays your name, time, and goal. Most of those complete in 50-60 minutes. In 5 minutes, I saw one less than 50, and two a little over an hour. We made it in 3:20! Probably the slowest record, if we were to register. The fastest ever for GG is about 25 minutes for man, and 30 minutes for woman. Quite impressive.
The top of the hill isn't pretty, but the view down is outstanding: the entire Fraser Valley and clear view of downtown Vancouver, Stanley Park, the sound and boats floating on glisening water, and the dark Capilino Lake. A bit too cloudy today, so limited view of the higher mountains to the west. There's a cafe, few bathrooms, and a restaurant. We took the Skyride gondola down. $10/pp. Other services and membership can be found on this
official page.
Parking is $8/day or $6 for 3 hours. A further lot for half the price, which I didn't know. A wolf was sleeping at the foothill north of the parking lot (yes, fenced). GG trailhead is east of the parking lot. 40 labels on trees for progress. Some places nice newly made wooden steps and handrails. Overall, an ugly trail. At the beginning of the trail, there is a stone timer (donated by Columbia), and serious hikers doing stretch. We slowly went upwards, soon passed by hundreds of people, many seem to have come straight from work wearing their access badge. There were two 1/4 markers. The 2nd one is quite discouraging. Two nice benches at the 1/2 marker. However lots of litter. At the top, a big sign forbids people from hiking down the same trail (some still do). At the entrance of the Skyride lodge on the top, another stone timer to read your "PASS". Inside, a big screen displays your name, time, and goal. Most of those complete in 50-60 minutes. In 5 minutes, I saw one less than 50, and two a little over an hour. We made it in 3:20! Probably the slowest record, if we were to register. The fastest ever for GG is about 25 minutes for man, and 30 minutes for woman. Quite impressive.
The top of the hill isn't pretty, but the view down is outstanding: the entire Fraser Valley and clear view of downtown Vancouver, Stanley Park, the sound and boats floating on glisening water, and the dark Capilino Lake. A bit too cloudy today, so limited view of the higher mountains to the west. There's a cafe, few bathrooms, and a restaurant. We took the Skyride gondola down. $10/pp. Other services and membership can be found on this official page.
