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. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
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. <\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n 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!<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n 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.<\/p>\n\n\n\n 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.<\/p>\n\n\n\n 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.<\/p>\n\n\n\n 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!<\/p>\n\n\n\n