King Mountain

Thu 27 Oct: After a noisy sleepless night for Doug (he who won't wear earplugs - one advantage I gained from doing shiftwork) we headed north. In one of the tourism magazine I picked up on the ferry, there was a 5 mile hike called the Oyster Dome (wasn't sure if this was a one way or return distance, and after doing the hike still not). It wasn't to much of a detour, so we headed for that. The description was: Trail twists and climbs through the Chuckanut Mountains and ends atop a rocky outcropping with views of the San Juan Islands. Would had been wonderful views on a sunny day, but today was very overcast, cold and windy. It was still good to do, and we could still see the islands. On the way back down we did a couple of detours, firstly to Lily Lake and then lower down to Samish Lookout. Hike stars: 14.31 km, 3 hrs 18, elevation gain 787 m. After that we continued on the very scenic road around the coast to Bellingham, where we stopped and got our last amount of US $, and went shopping at the REI outdoor shop for a few items we needed. When we came out it was raining and nearly 7 pm so it was of to a nearby Walmart, however they have a no overnight sign so we will have to find somewhere else for the night.
Fri 28th: After getting a tap on the door and a reminder that not allowed to be in the carpark after the store closes, we finished dinner and drove about 8 miles north to a casino and parked up there. It was about 4 miles down a side road off the main highway, so nice and quiet and the back carpark where there were 6 other campers was well away from the lights and hustle and bustle of the casino, so we both got a good sleep. This morning headed to Vancouver, no issues at border crossing. Picked up Doug's new watch, sorted out storage insurance for the van, and went to the storage place to pay for that, as the repair guy will be dropping it there once he is done. Then we had a disagreement over what to do next. I suggested going to Cypress Provincial Park which was about 35 km in north west Vancouver, mainly because I didn't want to spend the next 3 days just sitting in the city. Doug thought we had no time to hike and needed the 3 days to pack. So while he started parking, I went for a 6 km run and did my core exercises around New Brighton Park (next to the storage place), it was a fairly fine day, and the park bordered the habour looking north to the mountains which had a dusting of snow on, so it felt like I wasn't in the city. I left it to Doug to decide where we were going for the night - he decided to head out to Cypress after all, so after a slow drive through the centre of the city and over Lions Gate Bridge at 5 pm, we starting weaving up above the city - what amazing views, and amazing mansions. Didn't get all the way to Cypress Provincial Park, as found a nice picnic area to spend the night. Steps V 10688.
Sat 29th: Well we ended up getting moved on from our nice picnic spot at 10pm as they close the road to the mountain and make sure everyone is off it. So we drove about a 1 km past the road closure and found just enough side verge off the road to park up, thinking once everyone got moved from the Mt road it would be nice and quiet - WRONG. This morning we carried on back to the top of the road and the Cypress Ski area. And it was a complete white out, plus 4°C - definitely not hiking for views weather. We decided to wait up there to see if it would clear. Doug went back to bed and I packed and started cleaning the van. After lunch, there wasn't much improvement but we decided to do the easy 2 km Yew Lake loop, with the right warm gear on it was actually quite pleasant walking - no wind or wetness. We added on the Bowen Lookout Trail also, although the lookout was completely white but we did finally managed to get a photo of a Blue Jay who in the past 3 months have been to flighty for us to photograph whenever we have seen them. It was then back down the mountain, to Walmart for the night, realizing when Doug set up goggle maps to go to Cypress Mt yesterday, he must had clicked on "avoid motorways", that is why Siri sent us through the centre of Vancouver and up past all the mansion, it was much quicker and easier today. Steps V 8438Read more