First let me tell you why Mt Seymour is such a good thing at this time of the year. It’s a short drive which is good because it saves time, lowers your personal carbon footprint, and you don’t need to charge your passengers so much for gas. The road gets you some much-needed elevation, and it’s paved; no need to trash your car on lumpy logging roads. There’s a big parking lot at the top, and you can park within 100m of the toilets, except when it’s ski season when the preferred parking spots are reserved for those who pay to ski. On a sunny fall day with no snow, you can see about a million people up there going for walks of one kind or another and many have dogs. Say nice things about their dog and they will love you for a while. There’s about five summits of varying effort, if you count Mt Dog and Mt Brockton, which is really only a small lump. If these are too boring you can try for Depencier Bluff or even Suicide Bluff. You might even find a lost ski. If you don’t get too ambitious, you can be back in town for a dinner date.
So, how did we do? I invited Hannah because Shuyu had persuaded her to join VOC and it was looking like she might be too busy with academic pursuits to go on any trips. Then Shuyu decided she should come. I advertised on the VOC notice board for a couple more passengers and quick as a wink Taniya and Gaurav decided to come, and I had a carload. No pre-trip meeting. No need to create cars for surplus people; how wonderful is that?
In due course the Expedition happened. We didn’t do anything interesting on the drive; the hike was all that could be hoped for; some people forgot their lunches at home, but still we all survived. When we got to peak #2 I decided to have a nap while the others continued to #3. This was the right choice for me as i was pretty short of breath trying to keep up with the others.
My most memorable moment on the trip was when I came across an extremely happy couple who looked like they were capturing and eating ants, but it turned out that the tiny screw that held her glasses together had just fallen out, and one of them had just found it, down amongst the gravel on the ski run.
Sorry no pictures; I didn’t bring my camera.