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 Peak bagging, bushwhacking, zamboni driving, snowshoeing, self portrait artist, and speed demon who loves to hang out on Mt. Seymour
4000 Posts |
Posted - 08/08/2012 : 6:47 PM
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My friend Alex and I get off work and head up the road to Mount Seymour picking up some good beer along the way. The beer of choice is created by Granville Island Brewing and is named for an area and Provincial Park on The North Shore.
This got me thinking about GIB's naming of their beers. If you take Main Street in Vancouver as the dividing line between east and west and extend it northwards to The North Shore across Burrard Inlet - there is nothing representing the east side.
English Bay Pale Ale, Kitsilano Maple Cream Ale, Robson Street Hefeweizen, Brockton IPA (named after the Point in Stanley Park and not the Point on Mount Seymour), False Creek Raspberry Ale, Island (Granville) Lager along with 2 North Shore west side products - Cypress Honey Lager and Lions Winter Ale.
Yeah, GIB is situated on the west side but they could at least come up with a couple of east side products. Maybe a Trout Lake Shandy, PNE Pilsner or Commercial Drive Beatnik Wheat or something.
On the eastern side of The North Shore something like Seymour Stout would really hit the spot after a pleasant hike to it's namesake peak.
These are the thoughts that cross my mind as we make our way up the trail bypassing the construction area where a new enclosed chair lift is being built to Mystery Peak. It's been a while since I've been up Seymour (nearly 2 years) and it's good to be back. Plenty of cloud around in Vancouver but as we drove up the road things got sunnier and we left the haze behind.
There was also a halo effect around the sun which very accurately was telling of inclement weather to come later (thunderbolts and lightning) but for now we had sun and some cloud as we bypassed 1st Peak and headed towards 2nd where we met Gearhed and some friends. After a few minutes of chatting we continued onwards to follow the trail over the shoulder of 2nd, down a bit and then up 3rd (main summit) to enjoy some clear views to the north and east along with haze filled valleys to the west and even more haze over Greater Vancouver.
 Alex on the summit.
Plenty of bugs around to keep us company. I wasn't too fussed but Alex seemed to be getting the worst of it. Maybe I was too focused on taking pictures but in the end he left before I did as I wandered around.
 The usual view northwards with Runner, Elsay and Bishop lined up. The biggest change for me here is that I now can identify Jukes and Bivouac which are basically 2 bumps along a dark ridge.
 Rays of sun pierce the haze over Greater Vancouver and English Bay.
 One of a few cairns strewn around the summit add to a zoom on Mount Garibaldi.
By now the bugs were becoming a bit too much and I packed up and headed back. Thoughts of beer and a swim now in my mind. At least until the picture below.
 Madonna's "Ray of Light" was stuck in my head for a while after taking this shot just below 3rd Peak.
 Western view at the 2nd/3rd Peak col area.
Hustling to catch my friend I retraced my steps quickly and caught him up just past Brockton Point. Here we took a different trail to end up at Mystery Lake. More cloud around now and more bugs but it was still very warm so I jumped in the lake which was very refreshing and then we sat on the rocks with some snow chilled beer.
 Good beer, wrong park.
 100% refreshed.
About this time it then started to rain. That was okay, I was already wet and it didn't last too long.
 Rain drops on Mystery Lake.
Mystery Lake was living up to it's name as there were some interesting looking creatures just below the water. Some type of newt I think. There are reported no fish in this lake. These guys have four legs but also the tail is more fish like and they have this strange looking growth coming off their neck. Any help on an ID would be appreciated.
 Mystery Creature.
The rain stopped and we continued down. The ski run comes very close to the lake which I don't remember from before and we soon reach the parking lot where a man asks us if we've seen a couple of backpackers.
We hadn't and I found out later the NSR was out searching for them today and they were found (near Theta Lake area). After dropping off Alex I headed for home with some cool displays of lightning on my left and right as I drove over the Lions Gate Bridge. Shortly after that the whole Lower Mainland got hit pretty good with a rare display (for here) of Mother Nature doing her thing.
This Is A Pump Free Seymour Report |
Edited by - simonc on 08/08/2012 6:51 PM
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North Shore
17 Posts |
Posted - 08/08/2012 : 6:59 PM
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That would be a salamander.
Good hike! |
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 | Dru
Mountain Grammar Police
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Sardonic sandbagging scoundrel, Cascade Climbers lobotomized spraymeister, space blanket flyer, new millennium vulgarian betaboy and friend to all squids
Climbing, a mountain
Canada
∞ Posts |
Posted - 08/08/2012 : 7:05 PM
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| Why should GIB stop at the east side? They could make a Surrey Rockabeery Cooler. |
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Vancouver, BC
Canada
1114 Posts |
Posted - 08/08/2012 : 7:07 PM
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| Beer pondering is my 4th favorite passtime! |
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Outdoors addicted flyfishing, skiing, snowshoeing, hiking car crooner and resident motormouth
Da'Wack, BC
Canada
5372 Posts |
Posted - 08/08/2012 : 7:12 PM
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A Juvenile Northwestern salamander I think.
Brittania Buxom Blonde?
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Happy go lucky, plaid wearin, postholin, safeway gaitor sportin, old-school film shootin, giver of many regards
Abbotsford, B.C.
Canada
13466 Posts |
Posted - 08/08/2012 : 7:38 PM
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Enjoyed your report and style, some really nice photos you have of the lake.
Plan of possibly getting up there during the week after this weekend.
K |
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Trail running, bike hucking, fast packing, beer drinking collector of pine cones on a day pass
AKA
Dances with Trees
Forest Gnome Cabin
Canada
13057 Posts |
Posted - 08/08/2012 : 7:43 PM
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Ted's lobbying for Frew Brew!
Nice collection of rare shots, considering the weather especially.The last time up I was trying to recall how many ascents of Seymour I've done, it's quite a few by now |
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Vancouver, BC
Canada
2661 Posts |
Posted - 08/08/2012 : 9:19 PM
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| Ya, juvenile salamander. They start out looking like tadpoles. |
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Port Coquitlam, BC
Canada
169 Posts |
Posted - 08/08/2012 : 9:31 PM
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| Great trip report! :) |
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Manitoba's misadventurin' bushwhackin', dog sloggin', dehydratin', beer drinkin' biggie - who's eager to peak bag Mt Currie in a dress
Squamish
5048 Posts |
Posted - 08/08/2012 : 10:08 PM
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Pump free!!
Beautiful, Simon.
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Squamish, BC
Canada
160 Posts |
Posted - 08/08/2012 : 10:11 PM
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| Beautiful photography. |
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Vancouver, BC
Canada
44 Posts |
Posted - 08/09/2012 : 06:10 AM
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| Nice photos! Love the sunrays poking through the clouds. |
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Utah's canyon trekking,deck chair packing desert explorer who dreams of visiting Canada someday
3988 Posts |
Posted - 08/09/2012 : 08:44 AM
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I've gotta grab some Sierra Nevada's next week and do some swimming. What a fun summer, so far. Great pictures of a cool destination. You get to some of the coolest places. Thanks for the views. Oh, on another note, I remember back east we were talking about hockey and this guy's wife said her favorite part of the hockey game was when they brought out the
spumoni machine. Spumoni? We all looked at her like she was from another planet. I kept seeing images of Italian Ice cream at Hershey Bears Hockey game? OH!! Zamboni!! h'heee!
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Peak bagging, bushwhacking, zamboni driving, snowshoeing, self portrait artist, and speed demon who loves to hang out on Mt. Seymour
4000 Posts |
Posted - 08/09/2012 : 11:15 AM
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Thanks for the salamander ID.
Mick, Seymour is probably the mountain whose summit I've visited the most. Dam near Grouse probably a close second.
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Surrey, BC
Canada
949 Posts |
Posted - 08/09/2012 : 12:07 PM
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| 1st PUMP PEAK FREE!!!!! |
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Popkum, BC
Canada
5887 Posts |
Posted - 08/09/2012 : 2:39 PM
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| Wonderbar~! |
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Vancouver, BC
Canada
606 Posts |
Posted - 08/10/2012 : 01:27 AM
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Speaking of beer, I was this evening at Mystery Lake. There was a fresh beer can (still dripping a bit when I picked it up to take it down). Why is that necessary??
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Victoria, British Columbia
Canada
391 Posts |
Posted - 08/10/2012 : 11:09 AM
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| GIB can stay west of Main. |
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Mount Seymour and Beer Pondering - Aug 07 12
