Conquered Bowen Island

Today Lisa, David and I went hiking on Bowen Island. This was not the easy, relaxing little hike I was expecting. Infact, the picture above may be somewhat deceiving. The picture above was from our walk TO the mountain. The walk TO the mountain was flat and stable. The mountain... not so much. 

FIRST we started off at Horseshoe Bay where we caught a ferry to Bowen Island.

Got to Bowen Island :)

The Public Library

So we began our hike up Mt. Gardner, first to the North Summit. It was quite the hike. In total we hiked approximately 15km in trail length, with a total of 1800 ft in elevation gain. It was a really challenging hike, both up and down the mountain. We did it in about 3.5 hours. There were stretches that lasted about 15 minutes of nothing but steep, uphill climbing. It was a good workout though!! 

Here's Lisa and I about halfway up to the top.

This is the view at THE TOP that we eventually made it to - this is the North Summit.

And then we hiked for another 10 minutes and found the South Summit.

South Summit at the top of Mt. Gardner.

On our way back from the mountain, we had about a 20 minute walk back to the ferry dock. A bus drove by and Lisa waved her hands in the air in desperation and moaned "Oh bus, if only you could give us a ride" AND SURE ENOUGH it stopped. We RAN to it like starving children running to turkey dinner. The bus driver said he saw our desperate wave and stopped for us. That 4 minute bus ride felt so good. My quads, calves, knees... just about every muscle in my lower body was aching. 

Once we got back to Horseshoe Bay, we got some (well deserved) Baskin Robins ice cream :)

T'was a long day, and I'm pooped. 

Tomorrow the Canucks play for the Stanley Cup! If they win tomorrow night, the Stanley Cup belongs to Vancouver!! My friends and I are planning to watch the game downtown, outside on the big screens. Should be fun!!

LET'S DO THIS CANUCKS!!!