On Canadian Olympic coverage at least, we often see a glimpse of a large Inukshuk. It is on English Bay, which happens to be outside the girls' front door, so we walked past it any number of times this past summer, just as we did two years ago. Anyway ... today I happened to remember this photo and thought I would share it with you.
Here are several more photos from English Bay, taken at various intervals during our ten day vacation. The first is of Cuppa, sitting near that same Inukshuk in the evening after our long walk around the seawall in Stanley Park.
Here are a few photos from that 15 - 20 km hike around the Stanley Park seawall.
Finally, a few more photos in or from Stanley Park: note the palm tree in the last photo of Third Beach.
In part 2 of this continuing narrative, which is becoming longer than the marathon march itself, I promised to bring you to Prospect Point and then home: should you still be with us, that is. I can't and won't blame you if you're not. Please recall that we had ascended up into the park at Third Beach and decided to trek back to Prospect Point. That walk, often upslope, through the trails is highlighted by the black line numbered 3 on the ever unfolding map. There is an arrow at each end of line 3 because we returned via the same route to Third Beach before continuing along the seawall to home (see line 4 — red).
Much of the way to Prospect Point was uphill, but it was a nice change to be treading, shady soft forest paths. The vegetation was interesting ... big trees ...
... and big leaves ...
... and company of big and fine company (not vegetation and not big but give me a break, I'm slogging here as this length of this account is beginning to rival the length of the actual walk).
After climbing up one steep grade, we found a nice spot to sit and rest before proceeding ...
... and peer out.
We eventually made it to The Point where we were able to find refreshment and rest our weary limbs ....
... and enjoy the view ...
... as well as a little more of the food that I had been backpacking. Don't I look peaceful? However, this is the very spot where we were swarmed by raccoons just several minutes later.
Then (and we are almost done, believe it or not), it was back to Third Beach where we picked up the seawall once more. As we finally put Stanley Park behind us and headed toward English Bay and Sunset Beach, many pedestrians were also strolling along ...
... and the setting sun was spectacular once again as it once more extinguished itself in the Pacific Ocean.
Because I like to know how heroic we were, I did some calculations the other day. It's slightly more than 8km around the park's seawall, but we had to get there via a detour to the grocery store, and then we had to return to the apartment via English Bay, and we also had to the extra hike to and from Prospect Point. So, I think, that by estimating our pilgrimmage to be 17km/11mi in all, I am not exaggerating, except perhaps for rounding miles up a bit.
Next time, should there be one, I vow to borrow or rent a bicycle. Really: there is a separate cycling path around the seawall that parallels the pedestrian path. There are even separate lanes for both directions. What a concept!
Today, I wish to drag ye reluctant hikers on part two of our epic walk along the seawall of Stanley Park. I hadn't intended to bedazzle you with a multi-part series, but my account of our marathon march was turning into a marathon post, so I decided to split it into two or even three parts, preferring to leave longer works for printed pages between covers.
We left the account with us somewhere along Burrard Inlet approaching Lion's Gate Bridge, and we were next planning to go up to Prospect Point (top red circle on the map). By this time, we had walked to the park, and along the bottom edge (see arrow #1).
As I said, since this was quite a journey for us, we often sat to rest and enjoy the view. In the next two photos we found a bench with a good view of the bridge. Cuppa remained on seated, enjoying the view while I snapped a few pictures: the first of her and looking toward the bridge; the second back in the direction from which we had walked, partly because there was some changing of leaf colour occurring.
Another trudge later, we crossed under the Lion's Gate Bridge.
At this point, just past the bridge, the horizons were beginning to expand to the open sea.
Just past the bridge, UP in the park, is the outlook that I have mentioned called Prospect Point. In theory we were heading there as it offers a fine view, overlooking this very scene. However, we were having trouble finding a way up, so we kept walking ...
... and walking ... to and past Siwash Rock ...
... unable to find a way up. Can you see our problem?
In the end we were forced to walk almost two kilometres past Prospect Point (top circle on the map below) all the way to Third Beach (second circle on the map). Part 2 of the trek is shown on the green line numbered two.
We climbed up from Third Beach, found a refreshment stand, and took this photo looking down toward the water.
It was decision time. We could leave the seawall and follow the trails back up to Prospect Point or continue along the seawall toward home. Plod onwards and upwards would add a few hours and about three kilometres, some uphill, to our quest. However, since we had visited Prospect Point in our previous visit to the park, two year ago, we were anxious get there again. We were also keen to finish the ramble around sunset, so we had time to kill ... to say nothing of our legs and feet.
As you can see in this reprise of the photo from the previous post, the girls withing a kilometre or two of Stanley Park, which at ~400ha/~1000ac is the largest urban park in North America.
The Seawall (the yellow route around the periphery of the park which is green on the map below) is at least 8km/5mi in length. Additionally, there are approximately 200km/125mi of trails (the brown lines on the map) in this park which is estimated to hold more than a half million trees. (Click on the map to see it twice as large.)
We had roamed Stanley Park a number of times when we visited Vancouver two years ago, but I had it in my head to walk the whole, seawall perimeter. I also would have liked to cycle it, but when push came to shove on the one full day that we had for exploring this recreational paradise, we opted to go by shanks mare (i.e. walk). Maybe we can cycle it next time, should there be one.
We left the apartment ~10 o'clock on that very hot morning, shopped for lunch provisions, which I, the pack mule, was designated to carry on my back. Oddly enough, said back held up extremely well that day, not getting sore as it often does on even much shorter walks. The trouble was that it was so hot at the outset, that I was almost willing to give up our plan to hike the entire seawall. When we stopped by Lost Lagoon for this pictures, for example, I was really feeling the heat and despairing of our plans.
However, once we had struggled to the shadier northern and western side after lunch and more exposed to sea breezes, it became ... a breeze ... so to speak. In fact, it was very pleasant over there. So, after lunching by the seawall while overlooking downtown Vancouver and the harbour on the other side and then purchasing souvenirs at the native operated Legends of the Moon gift shop, we were ready to go for it.
That's just what we did. We took our time, stopped often to relax, enjoy the view, and absorb our surroundings. In this section we were walking along Burrard Inlet (the top of the map) to Prospect Point (top red circle). The following photo, with the Lion's gate Bridge and North Vancouver in the background to the right is as good a sample view as any.
One week ago, we were on our way to the airport. This morning I am sitting in the quietly at 5:30 PDT and typing in the dark. The girls remain sleeping on the air mattress (bless their hearts for giving up their bed) on the other side of the couch, and I sit computing in the dark. I can do that with Pufferpoo's lighted Mac keyboard. Cool, eh?
We've been busy, even when we've been not busy. To wit: yesterday was an unplanned day as both girls had to work and study all day. That left Cuppa and I to our own devices, and we opted to walk the circumference of Stanley Park — around the seawall. We ambled around for much of the day, timing our return to coincide with sunset.
At sunset, we've more than once found ourselves sitting on, oddly enough, Sunset Beach, which is just outside their front door. We watch as Old Sol quenches his light into the cool Pacific. Of course, we've taken photos of this and everything else, but I won't be posting be posting any until I get home. However, I couldn't resist popping in to talk to y'all for a minute since I am up early this morn.
What I really wanted to focus on, although it's taken me three paragraphs to get here, is ysterdays rather unnerving encounter with the local raccoons.
Cuppa and I had been enjoying a snack at Prospect Point in Stanley Park around supper time yesterday. We had finished our munchies and remained in place for some time looking out at the ocean and across to the mountains. When it was time to get up to begin the long trek back to the apartment, we decided to remove some left over food items from our bag to deposit into the nearby trash container.
That was when were were swarmed by four, yes four, bold and frightening raccoons who were desperate to snatch our leavings. Their movements were incredibly bold and more than a touch alarming, let me tell you, especially in light of our experience on the previous night.
We had been sitting in the living room conversing about nothing of consequence when we heard a dog yelping a rather frantic and continuous yelp. When we sprang to the window in alarm, we beheld a large raccoon chasing a woman and her small dog. Really. She fell in the street and was in danger of being struck by a car, but the raccoon was relentless in his aggressive pursuit. Fortunately, she and her dog were able to escape into the apartment building, and the raccoon disappeared into the bushes.
So, you see, when we were swarmed by four of the blighters the very next day, we had every reason to be just a tad alarmed. In retrospect, I don't think they would have actually assaulted us, but I assure you that we were in no frame of mind to test that theory, and we both made haste to leave the rascals behind.
For those who haven't seen it, I leave you with our raccoon encounter of two years past when we last visited Vancouver and Stanley Park. While I'm sure that most locals live here for years without such encounters, we short term visitors seem to attract the blighters. I wonder if anyone captured this latest episode, for there seemed to be some cameras trained on us? In fact, bystanders seemed to think it was pretty funny.
