Whistler Day One: Part Three

Andrew really wanted to drive up to the end of the logging road and see if you could see any of Cheakamus Lake from the parking lot. I was scared - the road was so narrow, windy, rough and sometimes steep - plus on my side it sloped right down to the river! But we decided to do it. Along the way we encountered our first Whistler Bear!!



We didn't see any more. When we finally got to the end, this is how dirty our poor car was!

We spoke with a lady in the parking lot who assured us that this was an easy hike. And she added, "And you won't feel bad if you decide to turn around after 20 minutes. After all, you see one forest, you've seen them all..."!!

So we decided to start out and see how far we could get before we needed to be at the hotel to check in. I think we gave ourselves 2 hours and 20 minutes before registration would be over.

The first part of the trail was granite (is that what this kind of rock is called?) and gorgeous, tall trees.

We quickly entered a more dense forest. There were enough people on the trail that I was only slightly worried about bears. We made a lot of noise as we walked.

The trail had some rolling hills, and was pretty varied as to what we got to look at. We hit the half way mark and checked our watches. We decided to try and push forward until we could see the lake. Well, we finally made it and the view was totally worth it...though I think we could have been better if we'd gone a bit further but unfortunately we were out of time. At this point I think we had a little more than an hour till registration for our conference closed!


So, after having done an almost 2 km hike earlier (which had quite an incline!) and then 3 km so far on this hike, we had to RUSH back to the parking lot. My kids are amazing! We averaged 25 minutes for each 1.5 section of the hike. *I* was exhausted. They must have been too!



Very close to the parking lot - just in case you've begun to lose hope - here was a sign for the village.


We made it just in time! Registered, unloaded, bathed (even my socks were black from the dust!) and read while I cooked dinner. And both kids insisted on going to kids' camp tonight so I'm enjoying some quiet while I clean up the room and catch up on some work I brought with me.