Anni Adventures

I'm very privileged to live in a city where I am minutes away from the ocean and the mountains. There are so many options for a nice sunny day. As I've mentioned before, I've really gotten hooked onto climbing this year. I've made a huge list of climbs I want to accomplish. There are so many choices here in beautiful BC that one year just wouldn't cut it.

I went on a hike with my classmate to Buntzen Lake in Belcara. There are lots of trails in this region and because it's such a popular destination, on a good day, you can expect to see a lot of people on the trails. We opted for the Diez Vista trail which is one of several trails that makes a loop around the lake. The only difference is, this one shoots up the mountain. It is a 15 km trail that has a 4-6 hour RT time.

**warning if you opt to do this trail, there is horrible reception up here**

We started around 10:15 am at the south end of the parking lot and made our way down on the trail going clockwise. This trail can be done in either direction and as I learned later on, it is easier to complete the hike in the reverse direction because the incline would be more gradual. By following our route, we reached the very anti-climatic viewpoint in about an hour/hour and a half. We didn't even realize it was the main view point because reading on the trail they said there were about ten view points along the trail. The view, while beautiful, wasn't spectacular. And because it happened so early on in our trail, we had nothing really to look forward to but the long descent down. The rest of the trail, which was more than half the trail was longer and more taxing on the legs. There were roots and loose rocks that made the hike more difficult. Once we completed the descent, we weren't completely done though. The descent ended at the top of the loop, meaning there was still half the loop to get back to the parking lot. While I thought it would be all flat on the remaining trail, I was proved wrong. The trail along the beach was full of ups and downs, which weren't particularly difficult, however after a long hike, it felt difficult.

As I've said before though, even though the trail was long, having completed it made it feel so rewarding and satisfying. The food we devoured afterwards was that much more delicious too.

Have you hiked the Diez Vista trail? What did you think?

We had yet another weekend of beautiful summer weather this past weekend. I was invited by a friend of mine to join her and a friend for a hike up dog mountain. For those who don't know where that is, the trail is just off of a run at Mount Seymour, about a 45 minute drive from home (Surrey). Its about a 5 km hike roundtrip, which is about a 2 hour hike.

We met up on the mountain and started our hike around 1:45 pm. The trail is not particularly hard altitude wise, as you're already fairly high up in the mountain. However, it is rather technical. There are lots of rocks and roots on the trail that makes stepping very difficult. There was also a LOT of mud too. Just before we reached the first lake, which acted like a checkpoint, my friend and I both managed to slip on the same rock and fell in mud. We managed to clean ourselves off somewhat at the lake and witness some fellow hikers playing on the half frozen over lake. One of them decided to run across the lake and, as if I really needed to explain what happens next, without warning he falls through the ice. Luckily for him the lake is very shallow and he is alright, albeit a bit wet.


We continued on our hike and finally reach Dog Mountain after hiking for an hour. The view was amazing. Although we didn't have a unobstructed 360 view, the weather was so nice and clear we could see the entire lower mainland and as far away as Mount Baker. The feeling of climbing to the top really was amazing. It wasn't as crowded as Quarry Rock a week ago, which was awesome. You could just sit and relax and soak it all in.



The descent was equally long as the ascent. You would think it would be faster but because of all the technicalities on the trail, it took just as long. We made it back to our car dry but muddy. So a word of advice if any of you ever decide to hike to Dog Mountain. DON'T wear your nicest, cleanest sneakers/runners/shoes. You will get them dirty and they WILL be hard to clean. I learned that the hard way.