The Grouse Grind

One of the many activities Vancouverites recommend is the Grouse Grind if you enjoy the outdoors and hiking. It's not an easy-going trail, but rather an intense 2,800 feet climb that at some points is close to rock climbing. It's also known as Mother Nature's Stairmaster. An estimate of 90 minutes is given for the average hiker.

Nothing about this trail sounds appealing to me at all, but when I went with some co-workers and their family, we decided to give it a shot since the price for the gondola ride up the mountain is $33 and with a family of four that quickly adds up. We figured if it was too hard, we'd just turn around. We all knew from the beginning it would be tough and being that we are not avid hikers, we guessed it would take us two hours or more. Before making the decision to attempt the hike, a lady told me she had done it once and would never do it again. It definitely gave me pause to rethink, but at the same time I thought it never hurts to try.

Finding the trail required a bit of help, but once we started at an average walking pace, we quickly grew tired and needed to stop for a short break. We stopped quite a lot the first quarter of the hike, but when we reached the quarter mark we decided to keep going even though some wanted to turn around. I'm really glad we didn't because it was such a great feeling of accomplishment when you reach the top.

The hike got much more difficult after the quarter mark, but I found that if I paced myself, it was much easier to go slow and steady than go fast and stop many times for breaks. Most of the trail is rocky and covered by tall trees so you don't see much of a view below except at a few points. The hike requires a lot of concentration and most of the time you are looking for your next step and deciding which path to take as there could be a short path but bigger steps on one side or a longer path to the right with shorter steps. Being a novice, I'd usually go for the latter since it would take less effort.

We saw quite a number of hikers on this trail going up and down. We even saw some old men walking backwards down the mountain. You would think it's easier going down, but actually it's more difficult and much more dangerous. I can't imagine climbing down some parts where it was quite tricky even going up. The fastest time officially recorded was by some guy at about 26 minutes, believe it or not. To achieve a time like that would mean running through most parts of the trail, which I can't imagine doing. 

It took me two hours to finish and now I can look out from my balcony and say I've conquered that mountain, which I must say is an extremely gratifying feeling. And the crazy thing is I'd actually do it again! Pics are posted in my gallery.