Day 4 & 5: My Trip to Vancouver B.C

It was another early morning for me and once again I was found chugging much-needed cups of coffee in order to get that caffeine boost. The final adventure in Vancouver had begun and I really needed to spend it with my eyes open! The day started by exploring Capilano Suspension Bridge Park. We spent the early morning on two separate tours that gave us great intel of how the park was founded and the plants and trees that grow there. There were so many gigantic trees in the park, one of them being roughly 800 years old. *The inner tree hugger in me came through greatly while touring this park (literally). I also walked among the treetops and the path was quite narrow although this didn’t scare me away from continuing on. The view from up above was astonishing which made it so much better! I later crossed the Suspension Bridge once more to do the cliff walk. The view of the rushing creek water below and trees on the suspension bridge was also absolutely breath-taking in comparison to the treetop tour! Finally I reached the start to the cliff walk and completed it as well. The cliff walk was pretty sweet and turned out to be much sturdier than the Suspension Bridge and the treetop tour!  Overall, my experience in Capilano Suspension Bridge Park was fantastic and I would love to do it again!

Capilano Suspension Bridge

Trees and creek water below the bridge

Cliff walk

After visiting the park, we quickly ate lunch at a random food court and then headed off to Grouse Mountain. Here my choir group was given two options.  1 being that we could take the gondola up the mountain or option 2, being that you could do the Grouse Grind which is on average a 1.5 hour hike up the mountain. Our chaperones explained that the Grouse Grind has a difficult terrain and that if we felt light-headed it would be advised that we turn around. I began to feel slightly worried in that moment for I had originally planned to do it but was becoming unmotivated. However, I consider myself to be adventurous and in the future I plan to travel, therefore I knew I would regret not doing it.

I began to trek up the mountain in a pair of hiking combat boots, blue ripped jeans, and a plaid shirt. I never thought to bring active wear, silly me. I found the trail to be easy within the first 5-10 minutes but then the trail changed to mostly rocks and wooden steps. ALL CLIMBING.  My breathing became much heavier and I was having trouble keeping a steady pace. A couple of people from my choir set a goal and planned to make it to the top in less than 45 minutes. The actual record time is 23 minutes and it was completed by an Olympic athlete. I knew that I would never be able to complete the mountain hike in roughly 45 minutes given that I wasn’t as actively fit, but I too set a goal to complete it within the average 1.5 hour ranking.

For the first part of the hike I was all by myself because I broke away from the other couple of group members who decided to give it a go. I soon caught up with two of my choir friends and together we hiked up the mountain. When we finally reached the ¼ mark, one of the two girls I was with had to wait for the others trailing behind because she had asthma and needed to rest. So my other friend and I kept moving forward. I ran out of water then and had to strip a few layers because I was too hot. From there on, the hike was very challenging and a couple of breaks were needed. It was just after halfway point that I had to sit down for a while. I had my face in the palms of my hands when a young lady in her mid-twenties approached me and asked if I was okay. Red-faced I replied yes and then she made sure I was doing ok as my friend and I kept hiking on. It was the kindest thing anyone had done for me in a while and honestly helped restore my faith in humanity!

After a continuation of quick 1 minute breaks and plenty of motivational talks, I reached the top of the mountain! What a proud moment for me! In a total of 1 hour and 30 minutes I hiked 2.9km up Grouse Mountain which had an elevation of 853m. Altogether, I climbed 2,830 steps and I am so happy that I decided to take on the challenge! I learned that by believing in myself I can do anything I set my heart and mind to and that I should never be afraid to try new things! Even though the rating of the Grouse Grind is labeled difficult, I met ladies double my age we would walk it twice a day as a workout routine which just goes to show that age doesn’t matter here either! I definitely recommend doing this hike. Yes it was very challenging and my thighs were on fire, but in the end it pays off!

My friends were waiting for me at the top and were very happy that I completed it as well. Together we all took the gondola back down and talked to many others who completed the Grouse Grind as well! Eventually we headed to the Boathouse for dinner and I ate a lovely pasta spread. We soon watched the sunset on Sunset Beach (how funny) and overall had a rad time.

Closer to 10p.m we departed to the movie theatre and watched The Nice Guys which in my opinion was a dumb movie that had some very far fetched scenes. Ryan Gosling made up for it though! 😉 Once the movie was finished we went to the airport where we pulled an all-nighter. I ended up curling into a ball on the airport floor for half an hour to sleep and then was woken to go on the plane ride home. Our flight was at 5:45a.m and everyone was going through a hyper stage because we were sleep deprived.

Eventually we arrived in Calgary, AB and then boarded the next flight taking us home to Brandon, MB. The scenery had changed drastically from a fresh green with beautiful mountains to farmer’s fields all coloured brown. I began to miss Vancouver so much. What a fabulous trip! I would love to go again someday for a much longer period of time and to explore different parts of the city!

Written By Tessa R. Adamski