Road Trip :: Grouse Mountain

In North Vancouver is Grouse Mountain, which is a bit famous {or at least I thought it was but apparently no one I know has actually heard of it}. I've wanted to hike up the Grouse Grind, as the trail is called, for awhile but probably should have been a bit more transparent on its difficulty to Mark. If I had properly prepared him, he most likely would have eaten something better than two donuts for breakfast. Click here to read a great short article on this beast of a trail, which is likened to a fire escape up the mountain.

You can take a cable car to the top for 39 dollars or you can hike. It's only 1.8 miles but I can say with absolute certainty, this is the second hardest hike I have ever done {hiking to the top of Yosemite Falls still holds the lead}. There is actually a warning sign on the bottom, removing anyone from liability should you die on the way up.





The struggle here is the elevation gain. It's a lot of steps. A LOT! 2,830 to be exact. And they are all of uneven heights, most made of just rocks and roots. The image above was actually a welcome sight on the way up - nice, small, relatively even steps.

The record for reaching the top is 25 minutes. 1.8 miles in 25 minutes by someone who is in amazing shape should be a clue as to how difficult this is. It took us about an hour and a half {Just for reference, the record for running 3.1 miles is around 12 or 13 minutes. This is only 1.8 miles}.



They totally capitalize on your sense of accomplishment once you reach the top. Mark and I each bought a t-shirt. Seriously, it's a brilliant idea. If there had been a t-shirt stand on the top of Yosemite Falls, I probably would have bought one of those too.

It was absolutely freezing at the top and there was still snow everywhere. We paid 10 dollars and took the cable car back down, looking at the mountain we hiked up as we went.



So thank you Grouse Mountain. You were difficult but by far my favorite part of this whole trip. This probably had something to do with the absurd amount of endorphins that got released on the way up.