Climb Grouse Mountain They Said...

Day 2 in Vancouver. We had heard that Granville Island and Grouse Mountain were two neat things to do in the area. Granville is a neighborhood that has a lot of fun shops, restaurants, a brewery, and a huge public market. We checked that out first thing in the morning. Though a lot of things were still closed, 8am was actually a good time to be there since all the displays in the public market were all still stocked. There were fresh fruits and vegetables, pastries, nuts, and artisan crafts. We tried a few things for breakfast while walking around.

After a little while we headed off to Grouse Mountain. It's a hike Dad had found. None of us really had any idea what we were getting into. Apparently a lot. It was an uphill climb for almost 2 hours. We had talked to one man before going up and he said he did it about three times a week and took him around an hour. So we thought we could do it. He told us there were markers showing when you got 1/4, 1/2, etc. We started and immediately you start climbing. Up and up and up. One of the people who passed us said this was the "flat" part. Oh boy... We made it to the quarter and weren't sure Dad was going to make it. But he said he would keep going. I think it was partly that there were signs saying you couldn't hike down and partly the two little boys who had just gone traipsing past. Either way we kept going. By the half it was looking a bit more iffy but it was really too late to go back.

Up

And Up

And Up

 We definitely weren't the fastest ones hiking, but we weren't the slowest either. One couple really looked like they were never going to finish. Completely inappropriate footwear and the woman was in a skirt. We went from inappropriate footwear to no footwear! One guy was actually climbing, quite quickly, barefoot! No idea how he managed with all of the rocks. Then came the woman who was doing about the same pace as us, a little slower maybe. She was joking that she had done the hike years before and had finally been convinced to do it again. She was questioning what she was thinking lol. The absolute best though came in the last quarter. We hear a girl coming up behind us and when she gets close we hear her muttering "Do Grouse Mountain they said. It'll be fun they said." Turns out she had someone convince her to do it but then they had taken off. At that moment the barefoot guy was coming back down (with shoes now.) Turns out he was the one who had convinced her to do it. Dad asked him wasn't he the one barefoot before. The girl said he was and had a few smart remarks along with it. She did make it up though as did we. Mom loved it and now wants to hike all the time.

The top had a lot more than I expected. There was a lodge, zip line, amphitheater, and even a lumberjack show! We walked around and saw some great, enormous wood carvings. To get down you take a gondola. Not my favorite part but mom and dad liked it.

After we managed to keep walking and checked out one of the parks. It was neat to see the totem poles and there was a great walkway along the water. I thought the cruise liners were going to be Dad's favorite part. That was before the waterplanes though. They took off and landed pretty close to us and Dad loved it. When deciding what to do next we were debating when we should go back to the hotel and shower. When Mom asked me how gross I felt, my immediate response was "Well I'm not covered in poop." She like that one. Guess your standards change when you're on a goat farm.

Despite that comment we did go back and clean up. Then off to dinner. We went back to Granville. Before dinner we tried a few beers at the brewery. They were pretty good. Had an awesome ginger beer. The funniest part was the Japanese camera crew. Apparently they were filming a promo for Canada to show back in Japan. I tried to sneak out before they started filming since we were sitting at the bar. Oh no, they wanted people there. So we stayed. Haha we'll have to look for it. After that we had a good dinner at a small, casual seafood place. Another good meal for the trip.

Fake Time

Day one of Mom and Dad's trip to the West Coast! Picked them up at the airport in Seattle after a rushed morning at the farm. After a quick hello we were off to Vancouver. On the drive into Canada, figuring out the time was difficult. Apparently I was living in "fake time." Haha guess they know how I feel trying to continuously trying to count 3 hours ahead, seeing what time it is back home. The drive into Canada was fairly uneventful until border patrol. We got through fine, even though Dad had to make a joke when asked about weapons in the car. Great...

Made it into Vancouver. Mom got a little nervous when we were only a few minutes from the hotel and were in Little Saigon. But the area got nicer and the hotel was just fine. We went to the Gaslight district for dinner and had a great southern comfort food dinner at Peckinpah. Funny having southern food in Canada. I was curious what they considered "Southern" since we were on the west coast and had all of the US south of us. Apparently they meant North Carolina and it was good. The place had all of ten tables and was crowded but we were able to get seats at the bar and relax after the long drive. Mom and Dad had been up since 4am eastern time, so they were exhausted and the goats had me running all morning so we all needed a break.

The Gaslight District

Goats are Sneaky

So during my time here I have discovered that goats can be very sneaky. You may think you have closed all the gates, safely tucked them away in the barn, and then an hour later they're all lose eating as much hay as possible. They seem to know to run out right after you check on them. They also love to follow you to a gate or stanchion until they are right next to it and then they quickly veer off, heading far far away as fast as possible. The little ones are funny too. When I play with the babies I let them climb all over me, but every once in a while they still surprise me, jumping from a remarkably far distance from a direction I don't even suspect.

So far though Madrona has been the sneakiest of them all. After p.m. milking a couple of nights ago the other girl I was milking with went to fill the water and came racing back in saying there was a baby. I followed her into the teens pen where she scooped up a little baby. As she cleaned her off I was trying to find the mom, checking all of the really pregnant goats. None seemed like they had just given birth. The only one even making any noise was Madrona, but I didn't think she was too far along in her pregnancy so I didn't pay much attention. She laid back down as I kept looking. A second later though she stood up and turned around. Clearly had just given birth. I called the other girl over as a second girl was born. We took all of them into a separate stall where we cleaned them up and the babies took their first steps. One is all black and the other is light brown with black over her front that makes her look as if she is wearing a hoodie. Super cute! We guess that her due date was wrong, and as these were her first babies she wasn't super big. Like I said, they're full of surprises. No names as of yet, maybe soon.

So How Many Times Have You Summited? Um.......

Back into the swing of things at the farm after the camping trip. It was good to see all the animals again, especially JuJu and the puppies.

I started working at a rental store for guided trips to the summit of Mt Rainer. The owner of the farm is a manager for the company - which also includes a bunkhouse, retail store, and grill - and they needed extra help since people were returning to school. I was a bit nervous since I had no experience with this and I was being trained for literally 20 minutes before being left with another girl from the farm who had been working 5 days. This was going to go well...

Basically people are in a guided group and they get a list of items they need from the guide company, which is associated with the rental store. There are some who do the climb independently but mostly not. We have everything from backpacks, to ice axes, to boots and crampons. Really most things they could possibly. I have to help size them and make sure they get all the gear on there list. Not too difficult but there's definitely a learning curve. Also a fear that I'm sending someone up a snow covered mountain with improper gear... But the guides check that everyone had the right things so at least there's a check. Most things are quick to size but the boot can take forever. One person can take 20 depending on how fussy they are or willing to listen to how they should be sized. One group took at least 30 minutes because the pair of guys were so full of themselves they couldn't stop goofing around. They were back the next day in need of different size boots, a torn parka, and a more sober outlook. I'm curious to see how they make out.

We also check the gear back in. People are generally exhausted by this point and usually impatient to get their stuff back in. They typically fall into two categories - those who made it to the top, are super excited and impatient, and just want to grab food and a drink to celebrate or those who didn't make it, are dissapointed and impatient, and just want to grab food and a drink and try to get it. Either way most just want to throw the stuff at you and get out. Takes less time then giving people gear, but less pleasant. Overall it's neat to learn about the gear and hear about people's hikes. I knew I was getting better with what I was talking about when someone asked me how many times I'd been to the summit. Rather than saying that I've never done it or anything like it I tried to pass it off as just having got there and not getting the chance yet. He was surprised and said by the way I was talking about the gear he just assumed I had. Made me feel like I could at least fake some confidence about this and could make out ok.
Sorry no pics from the store.

Finally Took A Hike

In the morning I woke up early and took a walk along the beach. I thought I'd be able to go a lot farther, but the land jutted into the ocean and looked like it could be passed only at extremely low tide. It was still nice. I sat and watched the sunrise and the mist fade away. There was one extremely brave older couple who were actually swimming. It was fairly cold water, especially for a chilly water.

When I got back the other girls were up so we packed up and took the trek out. We passed some other early risers along the way, but not many others who had camped out. When we got back to the car the person parked next to us started asking what we were up to (our large amount of bags, etc made us stand out a bit). When we told him we had camped along the beach he told us it was pretty brave and he wouldn't have tried. I think he was just trying to make us feel good because it wasn't scary at all and the older couple out camping only emphasized this. It was funny to hear him say that though.

From the beach we went back to the rainforest, but a different area. We had thought about camping with a backcountry permit again, but it was going to be a few miles and we just weren't packed properly for it. The campsite was great though. We had a lake view and were surrounded by huge trees, creating a secluded feeling.

We did a 7 mile hike in the area around the forest and down to the lake. There wasn't much of an elevation change so it was a nice walk. We saw some enormous trees. We missed "the Big Spruce Tree." It was even marked on the map, but it was an extra mile that we weren't up for. Along the hike were pretty waterfalls and even a bog, which was surprising. When we got to the lake we were all warm and ready for a swim. The beach was empty and the water was crystal clear. From there we missed the turn for the trail so we ended up walking the rest of the way along the road. We made dinner out of whatever we had left. It ended up taking a while because once again the wood was wet and didn't light very well. This time we couldn't even get a good fire going but we managed long enough to some bean burgers cooked.

Would have been a better picture without my finger...

Backcountry

Saw an elk in the campground while on my morning walk. I made sure to give him plenty of space.

 Day two and it was time for the beach! After getting used to seeing it everyday for two years, I felt this was long overdue. On the drive over we decided to get a backcountry permit and camp right on the beach rather than a normal campground (a bit of a misnomer in our case since we wouldn't actually be in the woods). We thought it would be fairly early to get the permit, but thanks to limited ranger station hours this actually took quite some effort. First we went to the ranger station nearest the beach and found out they were closed. The sign however said to go to one of two other ranger stations or call a number. The number was useless so it was off to the next closest ranger station. Again, closed. At that point we gave up finding a ranger station (the next was about 2 hours away) and took a hint from other campers and just fill out the form sans official signature. Not the most proper way to do it, but oh well.

After wasting at least an hour doing all that we still had to find a bear canister to keep our food in. We almost threw in the towel at this point but luckily we drove past a general store and I remembered seeing the name on the ranger station's list of places to get one. Turned out to be a pickle bucket. Not really what I was expecting... We took it anyway though.

Our "bear canister". At least it didn't still smell like pickles.

Finally, we made it to Rialto beach. We took a nice walk and scouted out our campsite before grabbing our stuff. You have to walk about 45 minutes to get to anywhere you're allowed to camp. We found a perfect spot right at the beginning of the camping area - above high tide level, soft sand, and sheltered by a couple of large fallen trees. Back we went to the car to get our stuff. Since we had nothing to claim the site with we were a little nervous and kept checking for other people looking like they were going to camp on the beach as we walked back. We saw no one with packs until we got to the car. There we ran into a group of women all geared up and heading in the general direction of our camp site. Rather than lose the perfect spot one of the girls grabbed her backpack and took off powerwalking. Luckily she did because she got there just before the group who were starting to look interested in our area. While that was going on the other girl and I loaded up the rest of the gear and food. It was pretty heavy and a little awkward to carry since we hadn't planned on doing this before leaving, but we got it all to the spot.

There were enormous downed trees all along the beach

The largest seaweed I had ever seen!

The sunset that night was beautiful and we had an amazing fire thanks to all of the driftwood around. Dinner was ratatouille one of the girls had made at the farm. Before going to sleep I walked the pickle bucket with any scented items and food a good 5 minutes away just to be on the safe side. At least if the racoons found it they would still be far away from us.

The birds for mom

A more successful fire