Grouse Grind - I climbed a mountain

---

GROUSE GRIND!

Now, I hear that people run up this all of the time, however, for me I believe that this was one of the most physically enduring activities I have overcome. I am proud of this one. I climbed the Grouse Mountain in Vancouver and boy oh boy was it ever challenging. We started out in a group of four and about 20 minutes up the other two were flying up the hill leaving Sheri and I in their dust. For this, they have earned the nickname "Mountain Goat". I was glad to have another friend who was not as keen to race up the hill and together through many breaks and photographs of proof that we did this we made it to the top! Now the average person does this in about an hour and a half, well I'm proud to say that Sheri and I made it in 2 hours and 1 minute. Would I do it again? Not anytime soon.
About 1/4 of the way up I thought "well, I'm going to turn around now" however by the time we made it to the 1/2 way mark with the end in sight and our bodies adjusting to the steady uphill climb it became easier to endure. I enjoyed the feeling of making it to the top with a soaked t-shirt and all. Sheri and I each bought tee-shirts up there that read "I survived the Grouse Grind" for proof of this defeat.

The top of the mountain was really nice and we were able to get some great photos of the area as well as visit a Grizzly bear habitat where we were fortunate enough to see one of the bears. These are MASSIVE - there is really no experience like it - unless I suppose you were face to face with one in the wild. This one in particular was 9 ft tall standing and weighing just over 900 lbs. Wow! We were also able to get a close up view of a bald eagle and watch the so-called "World Famous Lumberjack Show" which started out good but ended on a rather sour note for me and Sheri. You see, they had played it up that this 'crazy' person in the audience who was falling in and out of the area and behaving out of control was just that, however, as the show progressed and we see this 'crazy' person climbing a 60 foot tree we believe that this is SERIOUS. So, in front of 200 people I am standing up on my bench screaming and yelling at the top of my lungs that the 'guy' is back and that someone is going to get hurt. Mhmmm...don't I feel lovely when I find out that it is all part of the "act". I have to say, I can laugh now but I was not impressed - didn't agree with that feature given a family show and a concerned citizen. LOL. Anyways, the stunts that he ended up doing 60 feet in the air were far too dangerous for me to watch and we ended up walking out. Imagine that.

All in all the day was incredible and I really enjoyed having the opportunity to climb a mountain (it was 3700 feet and 2.9 km) and see the view of Vancouver. I will cross this off of my list of things to do and one day return to beat my 2 hour time.

Miss you all!!
Kerri

---

Photos

Okay
Here goes nothing!