So I haven’t been out doing much hiking at all lately. Aside from a couple of hours along the Baden Powell Trail in North Vancouver a month ago, I haven’t spend more than an hour on my feet in many many months.
Aside: I bought a new car almost exactly a year ago. It is a Volvo station wagon, but the Cross Country version. It is lifted about 5 cm from the regular wagon, and has all wheel drive. I wanted one with the smallest available rims (18″), so that I could put beefy tires on it, suitable for driving on rough gravel logging roads. The one I ended up buying had all the bells and whistles I was after (honestly, it offers to hold a kleenex for me if it thinks I may sneeze…) and for a screaming good deal – but it had the largest rims available (20″), with the lowest profile tires (245/40 R20). Moreover, the tires were summers. I haven’t (legally) been able to drive up to Squamish since October.
After intending to do so for months, I finally got around to buying new rims and tires for the vehicle. I got my 18″ rims, and some all-terrain, all-season tires, which I will keep on the car for, well, all seasons. Good in the snow in winter, and good off paved roads in summer… The reason I went into all of this? Because for the first time this year, I was also able to drive up the road to the Mount Seymour ski area, to access the trail to the First Peak of Mount Seymour!
Anyway, conditions looked good this past Tuesday, and it was time to try out my five day old tires on a trip up to Mount Seymour. Of course, the roads were well plowed, and the tires didn’t touch a single flake of snow.
On the drive through the city, the weather was very pleasant, with a few puffy clouds around, but no precipitation. There were some fairly thick clouds over the mountains, though. Once I turned up the hill for the final 11 km winding road to the parking area, the rest of the drive was in the shadow of those clouds.
To cut a long story slightly shorter, the weather was cloudy and snowy for 2/3 of the way up to the first peak, then cleared up beautifully. The wind remained sharp and cold in exposed spots, especially on the summit. I could only stay for a couple of minutes, despite the brilliant sunlight.
It was a lovely trip out, I managed to open up the lungs a bit, and burned a few calories off. It was a good day out!
