The Grouse Grind day!
The alarm wakes us up at 6:00am. I’m a little bummed this morning because the weather man said rain was heading our way in the afternoon and will stick with us for a week! This is our cruise week! It can’t rain! I go on line to check, and sure enough, each and every single port we pull into is supposed to be rain. Oh, well. We’ll just have to do this all over again until we get sunshine!!
After lying around in bed for ½ hour contemplating if we REALLY want do to that Grouse Grind thing, I finally get up and tell Ray if we’re gonna do this, let’s go. Secretly hoping he says something like “I don’t really feel like it”. But noooooo, he hops up, full of energy, and we head for the Mountain. We figured if we get to the Grouse by 7:00am and give ourselves no more than 3 hours to complete this “Grind”, since we have NO idea what were about to get ourselves into, we’ll make it back to the hotel by 10:30am – plenty of time to shower and head to the ship.
While in the car on our way I look at our little handy booklet all about Vancouver that I didn’t pick up once while here and notice a section on Grouse Mountain. It says: “. . .Grouse Mountain is also the location of a very popular hiking trail known as the Grouse Grind. It is an extremely steep and mountainous trail that climbs approximately 3,000 ft over a distance of 2 miles, with an average grade of 45 degrees. The trail, nicknamed "Mother Nature's Stairmaster", is known for being notoriously grueling due to its steepness and mountainous terrain. There are approximately 2,800 steps leading to the top of Grouse Mountain. Hikers, who often time themselves on the trail, reach the top in approximately 90 minutes on average although some who are very fit can finish in 45 minutes.”
Ok, my legs are starting to hurt and I haven’t done anything yet! I haven’t done anything like this since our climb up to Mt. Lassen in California back in 2003. Honestly, I was thinking twice about doing this hike. What if I slip and fall? What if I break my leg? What if I twist my ankle and can’t walk on the ship?! Unfortunately, the more I read to Ray, the more excited he was getting about this Grind thing. Ain’t no stopping him now!
So, we’re here. We grab the backpack filled with nutritious snacks, just in case we get lost and run into some psycho killer or something, and some water. Stretch out our legs, and approach the trail head. It’s through a 12 foot tall chained link fence and a gate! HUGE warnings to hikers, a whole list of “We’re not responsible for . . .” Ok, and after 6:30pm they lock this thing up and you’re stuck?! Man, that’s a bummer!
It’s 7:02am. When we first walk in we’re taken aback by the beautiful trees. Extremely tall and extremely still. A few times Ray would clap his hands and yell. I asked what he was doing and he says “Letting the bears know we’re here.” You’re supposed to do that, you know. Sort of like “Here we are, come and get it.” But really, they go the other way, unless you run into one and it has cubs, then you’re toast.
The first 10 minutes were not all that bad, really. It’s like taking a regular hike on a regular trail with some hills. This ain’t all that bad! I don’t know what all the hype was about this hike! We should be done in an hour! Seems like we were the first ones on the trail, although we were told last night that most people start at 6:00am when the gates open. It was kinda spooky quiet, really. We kept stopping and looking around to make sure no psycho killers were around.
15 minutes later, we run into this sign. I guess they want to keep us on the trail. This way, folks. For the Grouse Grind! BURN THOSE CALORIES! My legs were sort of burning. No gasping for air yet.
20 minutes. We have people passing us up. I ask the question of all time “Are we close yet?” I just got laughing from them, nothing else. Oooook. That was a serious question, you know. I ask Ray what time it was, cuz it felt like an hour. He said “7:30”. We just looked at each other, saying nothing, turn, and keep chugging.
More people coming to pass us up!
Another sign. OK, I GET THE POINT!
Jeez – this is starting to hurt! More people are passing us up. They don’t say anything. These are serious Grouse Grinders and probably timing their trek.
30 minutes. Ah! The ¼ mark! We’ve gone a ¼ mile in 30 minutes! And it’s 2 miles long?! What did we get ourselves into here?! Finally a guy comes up and stops for a breather. We chat for a bit and find out that the ¼ mark is not referring to a ¼ mile, but ¼ of the way up. Ok, that’s much better! But after reading the yellow sign “ATTENTION HIKERS: You have reached the ¼ mark of the ‘Grouse Grind Trail’. The remainder of the trail is extremely steep and difficult. Proceed at your own risk.” After what we just hiked through, how in the heck can it be any steeper and difficult than it already was? I want to turn around and forget about going any further.
45 minutes. This camera is getting heavy! I’m now gasping for air and my legs are shaking. No one stops, no one says anything as they pass. One guy looked like he was ready to pass out, but kept going. Ray seems to be enjoying himself. I am too. No, really, I am.
Now the steps are getting higher. I have to switch every other leg because my thigh shakes so bad when I have to step higher than usual. You see what we’re dealing with here, don’t you?
Yeeeeeees. Those were more people passing us up!
This really hurts! I have to stop from time to time just to catch my breath, we both do. At one stop, this old man, I’d honestly say he was pushing about 90 years old, passes us up. He’s moving slow, but he’s passing us up. I was so shaky I couldn’t lift my camera to take a picture of him! I told Ray we have to pass him up, we can’t let him get there before us.
We never saw him again.
This is getting really steep. It’s steeper than steep! I can’t even take a clear picture anymore from shaking and gasping. We’re too far to turn around now!
I hand my camera over to Ray, I just can’t hold it any more. Poor guy – he has the backpack for pete’s sake! And a smile I wish he would get rid of by now. He’s really enjoying this. I am too. No really, I am.
I find that keeping my head down and not looking up helps. Seems like I can go a little further each time.
There are no plateaus on this hike. It’s all steps or rock scrambling. And we never passed anyone!
Here comes someone else!
And there goes an older man, I’d say in his 70s. Now I’m really feeling out of shape.
We passed the ½ way mark a while back, I was too tired to lift my camera and capture that precious moment. But here’s the ¾ mark!
And the remainder of the trail! For those of you who by now can’t imagine how grueling this is, it’s like step, gasp, step, gasp, step, gasp. Yep, that’s about how it is.
We’re almost there. It’s 8:45am. I now believe it when that guy said “You two look pretty fit, you could probably do it in 1½ to 2 hours.” People would pass, feeling sorry for us as we gasp off to the side while they fly by and say “You’re almost there!”
FINALLY! It’s 8:59, and we made it! That’s the café where we were sitting, rather relaxed yesterday, enjoying a cold beer! No sore thighs, no sore calves, no gasping for air, just sipping a cold beer.
I turned around and see this sign. Oh, NOW I understand why!
We stuck around for about 15 minutes, chatting with the other Grinders. We’re being told “Yep, 2 hours is about right for first timers.” I was starting to feel GREAT! Forgetting how good it feels to clear out your lungs after a hike was making me want to do it all over again. Seriously! I want to move to Vancouver and do the Grind every Saturday morning! Do all the hiking around here. That’s all I want to do is hike, hike, hike. I want to conquer all the Mountains here! I’m ready for anything now (as the theme song for Raider’s of the Lost Ark plays in the background).**snap, snap** Deb, you okay?
yes, i am.
We jump on the Gondola for a ride back to the car. Head to the Hotel, and on over to the ship.
We return our rental car back to it’s location and a nice gentleman from the rental agency gave us a ride over to the Port. Giving us a history lesson about Vancouver all the way. And some tips on Crusing. Great tips! We get stuck in traffic for some time, but finally we pull in and see our ship.
We made our way through checking in, then we’re heading to the ship.
Great! It has lifeboats! 
Ray had a smile on his face since we got in the cab. He was so excited. Yes, dear! We’re really doin it! 
The last look before walking in - just making sure those lifeboats are still there. 
The crew was on hand to welcome and hand us a glass of Champagne. We found a seat, enjoyed our drink and then headed to our room to drop off our carryon. 
Surprised at the size of the cabin. For some reason I thought it would be much smaller. I think next time we may get one with a balcony. 
We headed up and outside to scope out a place for the Bon Voyage. Took a few shots of the inside as we passed.Spa Area:
Club: 
Grand Staircase:
Shopping area: 
Celebrity Theater – have some great shows here! 
And a Casino. Sharon, you were the first person I thought of when I stepped in here! 
As we stepped outside, I saw a jogging track. Yippee. Yeah, right. Not on THIS vacation! And as we scoped out a spot, we sat down and relaxed! As we sailed away there were beautiful views of the Vancouver skyline, Lion’s Gate bridge, and a beautiful sunset. Looks like the rain is gonna wait until tomorrow. 
This shot is off the back of the ship. That is an outdoor café/bar area we enjoyed. It was great eating breakfast there while we pulled into a port. 
We had dinner in the dining room, and the food was great. Spent time wandering around the ship for a couple of hours, then headed to our room.Tomorrow we are cruising through the Inside Passage. Let’s hope the weather stays the way it is. No rain and smooth sailing!
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