Grouse Mountain, Lynn Canyon Park, Vancouver 4 September 2016

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Vancouver – our second visit and the last stage of our 8 weeks in Canada – 2-5 September 2016









We were looking forward to returning to Vancouver after 7 weeks of travelling around Canada. We flew direct from Vancouver to Brisbane with Air Canada.







We arrived in Vancouver from Halifax/Toronto and picked up a hire car at the airport, with GPS. We had booked accommodation for 3 nights through AirBNB in North Vancouver as we planned to see all the sites on that side of the water this time. Where we stayed was in a flat which belonged to Suzie & Jay who came from Korea but have been Canadian citizens for many years. Suzie made us very welcome and the unit was very new and well-appointed.







Suzie told us all about the area including where the shops were and restaurants. She also told us about several walks close by. After unpacking we decided to go on one of the walks. It was beautiful as it was along a creek. This is just what we needed after flying a lot of the day.







The next day we went to Whistler which I have covered in a separate blog. The second full day, we visited Grose Mountain, Lynn Canyon Suspension Bridge Park and drove past Capilano Suspension Bridge Park but did not go in due to the big crowds. It was a long weekend in Vancouver so everyone was out and about.







Our first stop was the Lynn Canyon Park. This was a great little park set on the forested slopes of Lynn Creek. The main draw is the Lynn Canyon Suspension Bridge, which is shorter, less busy but almost as high as the more noted Capilano Suspension Bridge. The bridge connects to hiking trails on the both sides of the creek, with a common 20-30 minute hike being a loop that crosses the suspension bridge and follows the canyon down to Twin Falls. The creek is a popular swimming spot in the summer with pools above the suspension bridge and below Twin Falls. We didn’t go swimming as it was icy cold.







The Park was beautiful sort of earie as many of the trees wer cloaked in hanging moss and reminded us of scene from Lord of the Rings.







Grouse Mountain, was fantastic. Sheryl and I decided to tackle the Grouse Grind which was a steep uphill climb to the top. Tom chose to board the Grouse Mountain Skyride at the parking lot and was carried up the mountain to the "Peak of Vancouver". He waiting 1 ½ hours for us to arrive at the top.







The Grouse Grind is a stiff 2.9km hike, with 1,000m elevation gain, to the peak of Grouse Mountain. It was a tough climb but well worth the challenge. Sheryl was very pleased with herself. It was exhilarating to finish.







When I arrived at the top there was a Scottish bagpipe player piping us in. After we had both finished, Tom took our photos as we beamed with smiles of achievement.







Up the top, there were various activities including hiking, helicopter tours, a lumberjack show and a refuge for endangered animals. Indoors, there were restaurants, two shops and a theatre. The view of Vancouver was stunning.







After an ice cream and good stretch, Tom volunteered to stand in the very, very, very long line to catch the gondola down the mountain. The public holiday had certainly encouraged the hordes to be out and about.







We went back to our unit very happy with our efforts. After a clean-up and a refreshing celebratory drink, we went out to the Hurricane Restaurant on Suzie’s recommendation. It was a great meal and would be our last in Canada. We still couldn’t believe it was nearly 8 weeks we had been away.







We certainly slept well that night. The next morning and during the day we packed up and did a lot of getting ready to go home. All 3 of us were excited about coming home. We have had such a wonderful time.







At about 4.00pm Tom got itchy feet to leave, even though we weren’t flying out until 11.45pm!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! For the next 7 hours we found various thing to do such as drive through Stanley Park, visit Burnaby Mountain Conservation Park as well as Deer Park and the Village Museum. There had been Labour Day celebrations at a Fair but they were all packing up when we arrived.







We stopped off at a Starbucks and this massive shopping centre and walked around for a while. It was then off to the airport. We were on our way home. Ahhhhh!

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