We had some really nice weather over the weekend and decided to ease into our climbing season with something simple. after much deliberation (not really), we chose to hike to Norvan Falls! It is a relatively easy hike, with minimal elevation change. It is about 14 km round trip. Vancouvertrails website estimated it to be about 5 hours round trip. Since I had work in the afternoon, We decided to meet up early (7:15 am early) and carpool up. after delays here and there and getting lost without my GPS, we arrived at Lynn Headwater around 8:50. The boards around the start of the hike estimated the hike to be 6 hours! That set some nerves off, as we were worried we may not make it back in time, however, we took it with a grain of salt. Since we knew these are always horrible estimates.
The hike starts off as part of Lynn Loop and since we were headed north along the water, it was easy with minimal elevation. We reached the top of the loop in about half an hour to 45 min and took a short water break before continuing on to Norvan falls. The latter half was more technical with 3 or 4 small ridges/valleys to traverse across. It was a lot of roots and rocks but still, I would consider it easy. We made it easily to Norvan falls in an hour and a half. We spent about half an hour or so taking selfies and having a snack. The falls was breathtaking. It is not as big as Shannon falls, however locally, this is the next best thing, and you can even get close if you wanted to.
The hike back was just as fast, however we were starting to notice the fatigue and hunger kicking in. Besides enjoying the hike, it was a nice opportunity to catch up with close friends and having interesting conversations, such as who would last the longest in a battle royale situation. Hint, I would probably be the first to go. Hahaha.
Now that the first hike is checked off, I'm looking forward to a season full of interesting and technical climbs. My goal is to at least do the Lions Binkhert this year as well as Black Tusk up in Whistler. Stay tuned!
