Day 186: Of goats and crowns

Today we went up to Goat Mountain, probably our favourite North Shore hike. We haven't been up there for three years so we felt we were long overdue a return visit. Plus we have our annual pass for Grouse Mountain which allows us to use the gondola for "free", so saving our sanity from the tedium that is the Grouse Grind. The views from the summit of Goat are superb and to my mind represent the best return for the least investment. Crown Mountain dominates the view immediately to the north and I took a couple of photos of the sheer rock faces. In one of them I noticed a group of five hikers perched on the summit of Crown, enjoying the view and the fine early autumn weather. We're thinking of putting Crown on our list for October, if the weather holds, since we haven't done that one yet.

Crowning achievement

Day 81: Another green day

After taking the plunge of buying a new car yesterday we took it in to get its emissions test done (which it passed no problem) before picking up Andrew and Merewyn and heading to the North Shore for another gentle hike. First stop was lunch by Lynn Creek, where we watched a dipper diving into the fast-flowing water to find morsels for its noisy youngster, stood on a nearby rock. We ambled along the Lynn Headwaters loop, enjoying our surroundings, filled with fresh greenery. The new leaves on the vine maples glowed among the tall second growth.

We found many spring things to marvel at and photograph, from tiny fungi to giant skunk cabbage leaves, and dozens of flowers in between. It was a good day to be in the trees as the clouds never left the mountain tops, and the little sprinkle of rain just added to the freshness.

Peering into the heart of skunk cabbage