Dear Sumihal br Sembiring,Last summer Debra and I went to North Vancouver, which is a half hour drive away, to climb "The Grouse Grind". The Grouse Grind is a very steep uphill incline trail, an ascend of 800 metres over only 3 km distance. It is a difficult trail, but very popular for hikers. Certainly it is not for the faintest of hearts. You need to be fit and have a lot of energy and perseverance. You need to have surefooted too, because one misstep can have dire consequences. In summer the trail is crowded with hikers, mostly by young people or people young at hearts. The trail most of the time is narrow, so authority has strongly advised hikers to go one way up only, and to come down by skyride gondola. It took us 2 hours to reach the top with countless stops in between. You could see us on the photo shown here, gasping for air after reaching the summit, totally exhausted but happy because of "mission accomplished". The view of Vancouver from the top of Grouse Mountain was magnificent. You can see Lions Gate bridge, Stanley Park, the city skyline and in the distance to the right was the Endowment Land where the University of British Columbia located. That day the weather was really nice and warm. It was no wonder why there were so many people up there. Most of people coming up by the skyride gondola. After having lunch at the Grouse Mountain restaurant "Observatory", we went for a tour of the ski resort, a "bird of prey" demonstration show, a tram ride going up and down a ski hill, a bear and wolf refuge areas and a lumberjack show. We also watched the helijet took off and landed with visitors departures and arrivals. There were quite a number of wooden sculptures mostly about wildlife, displayed around the place. Coming down from "The Grouse Grind" was the easiest part, just step into the skyride gondola and enjoy the view. A little too crowded perhaps, but the view was spectacular.
PS. The food at the "Observatory" was pricey but delicious.
