This weekend was a blur of sleeping in to recover from Minnesota/Kansa, short hike at Rice Lake before dim sum, and then eating as much as I could... Weekends are too short.

Got these little seawood, almond brittle snacks in the mail the other day, called Super Snaps. They’re pretty delicious, $4.99 at select stores, apparently. I keep forgetting to bring them into the office so people can try them out. Crispy, sweet and salty, pretty fair price for the resealable packaging.

Speaking of the office, I think we need more nature in there. Mainly to bring some new life back in, since the office fish has passed away. Nature helps people destress as well, and with all the changes, the ups and the downs... "If it's good, it's wonderful. If it's bad, it's experience."

Beautiful day for a drive and a hike, and H & I wanted to take the new Veloster up on the highway, so we decided to hit up Joffre Lake yesterday. I came here last year with L & A: http://luwesa.blogspot.ca/2014/06/joffre-lakes.html 

The lower lake was amazing (the Veloster was amazing too. I really missed it.):

Traffic heading up the Upper Levels highway was horrid, we were side tracked by the Squamish farmer’s market, and there was construction along the Duffy Lake Road, so by the time we arrived at the lake, it was already about 3:30PM. Not enough time to go up and come down before dark. We ate our snacks by the parking lot and left. Harrison brought Astronaut ice cream by Mountain House that came with his Cairn box a while back:

Tasted like real ice cream, but the texture was stickier and well… dry, ‘cause that’s essentially what it was.

We were planning to get to the parking lot at Cypress by 7AM to hike 5hrs, 11km, to St. Mark’s Summit, which is a part of the Howe Sound Crest Trail, but we ended up leaving the McDonalds by Boundary and Lougheed at around 730AM. After a hearty meal of Sausage Egg McMuffin and hashbrowns, purchased using the coupons available on their mobile app, we were ready to hike.

The view from the top was spectacular, with a few low hanging clouds. This was from the 2nd farther viewpoint after reaching the summit (takes a bit of searching to find the correct path to get here… go around!). Snacks for this hike included a 6 plums from the tree in my backyard and a 90 calorie fibre1 chocolate chip cookie, split between the 4 of us…

Things to note if doing this trail next year at this time…

-It’s wet and muddy up there at this time and it was drizzling a bit this morning. Wear hiking boots, bring a jacket.
-There were no ravens this time.
-Go earlier as this trail is becoming more popular.

More info at Vancouver Trails: http://www.vancouvertrails.com/trails/st-mark's-summit/

What’s an intermediate hike with a view near Vancouver that isn’t congested?

  

Last last last weekend, we did an easy local hike. A good 5 hour hike at an easy pace, lots of stairs, pretty well groomed and well marked path. H was dehydrated and cramped pretty hardcore (sucker, who told you to drink the night before?). The trail head at Lynn Canyon was packed with people and the trail end at Quarry Rock/Deep Cove was like walking around downtown. The middle of the trail had less traffic. Mostly mountain bikers in the middle of the trail. A few of them passed us while we sat down for a few snacks…

This Munk Pack Oatmeal Fruit Squeeze (Blueberry Acai Flax flavor) was actually quite delicious. H got it for as a sample in his Cairn box, but I think I would definitely get it again for the next camping or hiking trip.
Here’s more info on the trail at Vancouver Trails (pretty damn awesome website…): http://www.vancouvertrails.com/trails/baden-powell-deep-cove-to-lynn-canyon/


Note: Photos were all edited with Instagram! I like that Gingham filter.