Very early Saturday morning my friend Kathi and I arrived at the base of Grouse Mountain in North Vancouver. We love the Grouse Grind, a 2.9 km trek up the mountain, committing to the climb at least once a week. Each time we begin we see the sign pointing the way to BCMC – another option for getting up the mountain. So this time we decided to climb the alternate route.
The beginning of the BCMC is a bit easier, the incline not so aggressive at the start. The rest of the climb is, for the most part, challenging with much less maintenance than the grind and much more natural rock and root present on the trail. The destination is the same, the top of Grouse Mountain, although we did deviate from the trail near the top for a bit of added adventure. Climb time is roughly the same.
And the view from the top ~ absolutely spectacular
From about the 3/4 way up the climb the flies became bothersome. I didn’t really enjoy their presence and they continued once at the top. After grabbing an iced coffee we wanted to enjoy the spectacular view and made our way to an outdoor seating area. Surrounding the tables are long planters filled with fresh herbs, so great! Unfortunately, the scent of lemon thyme did not help keep the flies away… We were hoping it would.
Needing to keep moving, we walked behind the chalet to the wildlife habitat where two grizzly bears have found sanctuary. Grinder and Coola were both orphaned as cubs and now live on top of Grouse Mountain.
The paws & the claws are large and quite intimidating, but we watched two very calm bears enjoying a swim and chewing on some plants. Pretty amazing sight right in my ‘backyard’ and an amazing way to begin the weekend.
Live Explore Enjoy 