West Coast Wonderlust : Quarry Rock First Hike of 2014: North Vancouver, BC, Canada

Quarry Rock

Location: Deep Cove, North Vancouver. British Columbia, Canada

Aaron C. 2014- Deep Cove

One of the most amazing views we have yet to find in North Vancouver

Day 1 of Training - Start working in the boots

Today's hike was mildly chilly with light rainfall and fog. There was low traffic on the trail, only a few runners and walkers with their dogs. The trail wasn't too muddy, but it did have small patches of mud and puddles.

Aaron and I woke up around 10am this morning. The house was very cold so we stayed huddled under the blankets. We laid around for serval minutes enjoying our pressure less morning. NO School, NO work until 5pm. The day belonged to us.

We have been wanting to hike the Quarry Rock trail for ages and have tried on many occasions in the previous month, but we continued to get sidetracked by other priorities, but today we decided to set life aside and enjoy the outdoors, which to us feels like an escape from our daily grind. Aaron and I are both Lifeguards and Swim Instructors for the local recreation facilities and I am also a full time student doing a Diploma in Early Childhood Education. This is my last semester of school and I could not be happier to be completing my program.

We finally gained the will to crawl out of bed to face the cold that is our basement suite. We scrambled for our boots and rain gear, grabbed our pack and hit the road. Today we decided was the day that we were going to break in our new hiking boots. Aaron and I are doing the West Coast Trail this summer and have began to collect equipment and gear for the trip. At first the boots felt incredibly foreign on our feet, but we were happy to discover that not that long into the hike, with some minor adjustments, the boots felt quite comfortable.

The air was cold this morning, the rain was lightly falling and the trail was silent. The air was moist as were our jackets. The fog had not lifted, but it gave us a sense of comfort on the trail. It's white mistiness contrasted with the moss covered trails creating a heavy blanket over us as we hiked. Our new boots felt hefty and stiffly awkward. We approached the heavy roar on Cove Creek and crossed the bridge. Aaron and I stopped to look up at the forest canopy and began to truly appreciate the west coast beauty we have become immersed in. As we looked up, our focus fell on the rain drops as they fell on us. Both of us began focusing on individual drops falling from the branches of the trees overhead, and we tried to catch them as they fell, like you would when it snows. We both sighed and felt the freedom of the trail wash over us. Along the way to the rocky outcropping overlooking the cove, we did some quick bushwhacking up to the top of a hill that ran parallel to the trail and found a neat little clearing. After turning back and continuing along the trail, we reached our look out point of Quarry Rock and the view consumed us.