The Chief

What did I do today? Oh, nothing much, just climbed a mountain…yup, re-read that, it’s ok if it takes a minute to sink in, it would take me a while to comprehend that about me also 😉 lol

Today a friend and I went and climbed to the first peak of The Chief which is a mountain about an hour outside of Vancouver, it is overlooking the town of Squamish BC. There are three peaks to the mountain, all three can be climbed in one day if you so desire, I did not lol. Or rather my cardio and knees did not desire that. 😛

It’s a beautiful climb, hard, but beautiful.

If you want to read all the facts from the official website for the mountain feel free to click on the following link http://www.vancouvertrails.com/trails/stawamus-chief/

According to my Runtastic App (of which I am still using the free version but am seriously considering for the first time ever paying for an app and getting the full version) we went a total of 10.33km and it took 3:30:39, we burned 1105 calories and had a 33 minute break at the top to have a snack, a rest and enjoy the view…oh and get to feed the most adorable chipmunks, everybody say awwwww! lol

I took some pics during the hike so sit back and enjoy the prettiness!

Shannon Falls

Ok, so Shannon Falls looks way better in person (obviously) but at least I tried to get a picture of it lol

One of the warning signs

This is more funny than anything else lol Sucks somebody vandalized it but I found the caution sign amusing. This sign is partway up the trail, past where the people who just wanted to see the falls will be, the sign says “The trail is NOT a “walk in the park”.” then goes on to list all the things that could go wrong, talks about some dangerous aspects of the trail and gives a list of things you should take with you. I am not sure why it doesn’t also mention the wild animals you could encounter…perhaps they didn’t want to overly scare tourists?

I really like pictures of water, I find them soothing.

The below pictures are of ladders that are attached to the rock face in two different sections because without them it’d be freakin hard to get up the mountain. I was impressed with how sturdy they are, no wobbling or loose parts. Quite a relief when you consider where the ladders are placed lol

Ladder number one

Ladder number two

You can just barely see that at the top of the second ladder my friend is starting to climb on a steep section, she looks kind of funny because she was using a chain that is attached to the rock face, you basically straddle the chain, grab on to it for dear life and use it while climbing (and descending) because the rock face is so slippery you can’t make it safely up or down without something to anchor yourself to. It is really easy to do and kinda fun. 🙂 Those chains were set up in hmm, two sections? Maybe three, I can’t quite recall right now.

The next four pics are views from the first peak where my friend and I had a bit of a rest…

And of course the day wouldn’t be complete if a cute animal didn’t make an appearance, this little guy and a friend kept darting in and out around where my friend and I were sitting. He was even brave enough to take some of my granola bar from my fingers. They were so cute I wished I could bring them home but of course I would never do that, they make out quite well up on the top of that peak getting food from most of the people that stop and have a snack, it’s like the mecca for little cute furry animals who can beg food from humans lol

I want one!

This was the first time I got to use my water backpack and I really liked it. I sorta wish I’d bought one a little bigger but oh well. I’ll just have to be careful how I pack it when I go for large climbs. It held an apple, granola bar, energy gummies that I didn’t eat, sunscreen, the water bladder, ID, chapstick, phone, small package of kleenex…I think that’s about it, and it was packed. When I bought it it seemed large enough I’d be able to stuff a jacket in there but I’m just not sure I’ll be able to, I will have to see if there is some way to tuck the jacket under those stretchy ties on the front that will for sure secure the jacket and not let it slip out when I am climbing. I’ll figure it out eventually. 🙂

The day was fairly awesome, healthy breakfast, climbing with a friend, home to chill. I was a lot slower than my friend and I felt bad she kept having to wait for me to catch up, that doesn’t often happen to me and I didn’t like being the slow one in the pair, sigh. I think it was because it was a much steeper incline than I am used to, I hike that distance on different trails in a much shorter amount of time but on those trails the inclines are steep but for a shorter distance which is easier on my knees. I’ve been babying my knees since I got home to try to make sure they don’t give me trouble tomorrow, I’ll just have to wait till tomorrow to see if my babying worked! lol

All in all I’m glad we went and yay for getting to check off climbing the Chief from my list of things to do! 🙂

Tags: exercise, fitness, hiking, mountain climbing, runtastic app, Shannon Falls, The Chief, water backpack, waterfalls