I wanted an active, but fun family outing for Father’s Day and after some consultation, we decided to go to Grouse Mountain, partially because the Observatory is a fine dining establishment where we could get a good meal to commemorate the day. When you book a table, the gondola ride is included in the meal price, so it’s a good deal.
We didn’t leave Abbotsford till the mid afternoon, so that the outing wouldn’t eat up everyone’s entire day. I would live to regret this. The Grouse Grind is “2.5-kilometre trail up the face of Grouse Mountain, commonly referred to as ‘Mother Nature’s Stairmaster'”. The elevation gain is around 850m, so it’s shorter but steeper than Stawamas Chief, and way harder than the Abby Grind. I had been watching people on Instagram tackle it for the week prior, and I saw extremely fit people (including a 9 year old girl) do it in 45-50 minutes. I was banking on 75-90 minutes for myself. I took both sons along, but my wife opted to take the gondola up; obviously, she’s the brains in this operation.
The stairmaster description was apt. A lot of the trail is stairs, though there are rocky trail sections too. Some of the steps are uniform and sized appropriately for any leg lengths, some others, not so much. At the 25% mark, there was a defibrillator, which was kind of a grim reminder that my blood pressure isn’t in the best zone lately. That waypoint also had a sign for people to check in with themselves to see if they were really up for the challenge of the remainder of the climb, which would only get narrower and steeper.
While that was intimidating, I did note that after that point we encountered far less hikers coming down the other way. I wasn’t expecting any at all, because descending the grind is actually not allowed – you have to purchase a ‘download’ ticket to use the gondola. Luckily, ours was taken care of by my wife’s reservation.
We noticed numbered trail markers that increased in number out of a total of 40, so that made it easier to feel like we were getting closer to our goal (“only 15 more to go” for example). Defibrillators showed up again at the half-way and three quarter markers.
I started getting disheartened when I saw that we were going to take well over 90 minutes. We needed frequent breaks to catch our breath, and mosquitoes found us quickly whenever we would stop moving. Luckily the trail has a good tree canopy to stay out of the hot sun. Eventually we found ourselves clambering over the last few metres. I think they make that last stretch even more inhospitable to discourage people from descending.
By the time we got to the top we didn’t have enough time to ride the coaster like I planned, and the ropes course apparently takes two hours. Next time we come to Grouse Mountain, we’ll make a day of it. I also missed a bird of prey show, but luckily my wife caught a few photos.
She also saw the Grizzly Bears. They are there for rehabilitation and are not capable of surviving in the wild.
Before dinner, we were able to cool down with a drink and enjoy the view.
The Observatory spoiled us with a delicious prix-fixe menu; the boys and I selected the steak option. Luckily we had brought clothes to change into rather than eat in sweaty t-shirts.
I found the Grouse Grind exhausting enough that I’m not in a hurry to try it again, but it would be nice to get it done faster, if possible. I hadn’t stopped the Strava until well after finishing it, and it presents ‘moving time’ not actual time. Maybe under 90 minutes next time..