Hiking Grouse Mountain, Losing Brooke, and Gelato on the Waterfront

Friday morning was the morning we were going to conquer Grouse Mountain, the mountain directly north of Vancouver.  In our prep for our Canadian Trip of Greatness we came across this highly recommended adventure and knew it was for us!  Grouse Mountain is part time ski resort, part time summer view point.

The climb up is 2800 ft in less than two miles, so pretty much straight up.  Elise wasn't feeling 100%, so she took the gondola up and Brooke and I set out to meet her at the top.

About 1/8 the way up I knew I wasn't going to be able to keep up with Brooke's ridiculousness, so I took my first (of many) breaks and let her know I'd see her at the top.

The average time to get to the top is about an hour and a half.

I did it in an hour fifteen.

Brooke did it in 45 minutes.

Blah.

Anywho, as soon as I rounded the corner at the top she was there cheering me on!

Then we climbed up the stairs (a bit ironic) to get to the lodge to see Elise.  We grabbed some coffee and pastries (we earned them), then set out to see all the fun things Elise found while she explored the top of the landing area.

We were a bit bummed the mist and fog was so thick - the view is suppose to be killer.

But it was all part of our adventure and we had a great time!

As was seeing the grizzly bears.  Separated from us by this teeny, tiny electrical fence.

Then it was time to head down.  Elise and I took the gondola and Brooke decided to run down an access road from the top.  We saw where it came out when we parked the car, so we headed down to meet her.

After waiting for about an hour without seeing her, we realized something must be wrong.  I went back in to Guest Services to find out where that road actually came out and found out it ends about 12 km east of where we were, and that it takes about an hour to get down it by car.  Not sure what road we were looking at before, but it was definitely not the one Brooke took.

Now we were in mild panic mode.  Amanda in Guest Services gave us instructions how to get to the end of the road and how to contact Search and Rescue if we couldn't find her (awesome).  Elise stayed at the mountain and I hightailed it in the car over to the end of Mountain Hwy.

Unbeknownst to us, Brooke realized about a third of the way down that she was going the wrong direction and sprinted about 7km to get down as fast as she could.  Once out of the trail system she found her way back to our parking lot, but not seeing our car she thought we left (she didn't see Elise either).  She went into Guest Services and they immediately knew who she was, called Search and Rescue to make sure I hadn't already alerted them (I hadn't), and one of them offered to drive her back to where I was looking for her.

So as I'm parking, letting Elise know where I am, and starting my hike in to find her, she pulls up in a car next to me with the most perfect timing possible.

Needless to say, Brooke is prohibited from ever running down an access road again!

So we stopped on our way back to pickup Elise and got the lovely girl who drove her back some flowers.

With that adventures firming under our belts, we headed back to the hotel to clean up then hit the waterfront for dinner and further exploring.

The Olympic Torch

The Digital Orca

The Three Girls

We found a great spot on the water for dinner and drinks.

After we polished off the nachos we decided to re-wander around the waterfront to see what we missed without sunlight the night before.

We definitely missed gelato the first time around.  Time to rectify that situation.

We spent the rest of the evening wandering around the sea wall and enjoying the views before calling it a day.

(Thanks for humoring me for this pictures, ladies!)