"Look at those suckers in the gondola!" we laugh. Before the rain starts, before we're 4 hours into the hike and stomping through icy snow, before we start desperately counting the inches between trail markers. When we're still being treated with views of Howe Sound and the Squamish Valley as if the world won't soon be obscured by a thick, wet fog.
We are still dry and naive, hiking the Sea To Summit trail as dark grey clouds gather overhead.
We are still dry and naive, hiking the Sea To Summit trail as dark grey clouds gather overhead.
. . . .
For those who may not be aware, the Sea To Summit trail runs 7.5 km from the base to the top of the Sea To Sky gondola. It begins as part of the Stawamus Chief trail, and then diverts to climb 900 m to the lodge overlooking Howe Sound. On a good day, the view from the top is incredible. It is an intermediate hike which found us climbing stairs, logs and ropes through coniferous forest, large boulders and exposed rock. |
As difficult as it sometimes was, there was certainly a sense of adventure accompanying every challenge we faced. We learned how to balance along wet bark, how to scramble up steep areas with the aid of the rope, and how to keep our footing on rain-slick rock. We would often pause to admire how much we'd overcome before diving head first into the next obstacle. Before we reached the cloud cover surrounding the upper parts of the trail, and before the rain fully set in, we were treated with the occasional view of the valley below. We chose this spot about 3/4 of the way up the trail to have our lunch, managing to finish our food just as the creeping mist turned to a steady drizzle: |
From here, we entered a steep section of trail which took us higher and higher into the mountain. As the trees began to thin out, we were treated with glimpses of the snow that would eventually cover the whole trail. The rain, now falling steadily, also began to freeze into drops of wet slush which dripped down from the conifer trees and onto our dampening heads. Fortunately, the snow we trekked over was mostly frozen and well-treaded by hikers before us, making it easier to keep our footing. Clinging to freezing, soaked rope in order to haul ourselves up some final sections of trail was another story. Those are the moments where you have to take a slow breath and do some serious soul searching. Really dig deep. Find your inner Lara Croft or Indiana Jones or insert-other-action-adventure-hero-here. And then just go for it, because that's who you are as a member of the 2nd West Coast Area Trex, right?!
This is the beauty of Trex - tackling things you might not face in your regular life, embracing the challenges and working through the discomforts that come with trying new things and putting yourself out in the world. Here are the girls who took on this adventure, 3.5 hours in to the hike and very much still enjoying themselves:
It was wonderful to be able to experience such a rugged part of nature so close to home, especially in the company of these girls. While the climb was by no means easy, it was certainly fun! We managed to reach the top in just over 4 hours - soaked, sore, but still somewhat sunny*. Once there, we enjoyed some hard-earned french fries and poutine, as well as various other treats and nice, steamy cups of hot chocolate. The best part of any hike is, after all, sitting down and having a big meal at the end ;) Everyone survived without injury, and even if we didn't get our grand view, we did get a fantastic gondola ride down the mountain. It really gave us time to reflect back on the trail. On what we'd done. On how much faster and easier it would have been to take the gondola to the top, instead of being those suckers struggling to hike the trail in the pouring rain.
* the weather itself was nowhere near sunny
* the weather itself was nowhere near sunny
For more information on the Sea To Summit trail, visit the official website. If you would like to participate in more activities like this one through Trex, let us know!