Having an adventure buddy is always fun, but an adventure buddy who happens to be one of your best friends who you haven't seen in nearly 4 years? Hell that's verging on insane! So when the timing seemed to line up perfectly with a seat sale your partner in crime from back on Canada's east coast (Ontario) jumps at it!
I hoped and prayed to the weather God's that out of 2 weeks we'd get at least one nice day, and man did we ever luck out. Only 1 or 2 days of miserable fog & rain, but the rest we're great. Dare I say beautiful for Vancouver in January/February :) and no day was more perfect that when we took off on a snowy adventure to new heights. We had originally wanted to check out the snowshoe trails up at Cypress Mountain having gawked over photos of the magical snowy trees up there (to put it in perspective I loathe winter, but those trees had be itching to explore) but with a less than ideal shuttle schedule, some poor customer service & a lack of me wanting to feel stressed we opted to check out a trail I'd always wanted to hike up at Mount Seymour. This past summer I had a friend visit from the UK and we attempted to go hiking up Dog Mountain for some killer views..sadly the fog was so thick on this particular day we didn't get to go up. But alas winter gifted us with clear skies for miles & perfect conditions for a snowshoe adventure!
With minimal elevation gain and only about 5km round trip we set off to start our snowshoe hike. To find the trail head, get up to the Mt. Seymour parking lot, and head past the cafeteria/bar building straight towards the chairlift. From there you'll see a trail marker on your left and follow along the orange bamboo trail markers until first lake. At that point continue following the RED posts and not the orange or you'll end up going the complete opposite direction (like we ended up doing). Once you get past the lake, the trail gets a bit steeper every so often until the last 5 minutes or so when you'll be cursing under your breathe, but when you come over the last ridge the view will be SO FRIGGEN WORTH IT! But don;t take my word for it, take a little journey through the trail via photo & then tell me you haven't packed your snowshoes & grabbed your nearest adventure crew & headed up the mountain for the day!
And to end the perfect day up on the hill, the sunset was next level over the mountains. For someone who really does not like winter, I had a great time. So if you're like me and really aren't a snow/winter fan but love hiking, take a chance on snowshoeing, you might be surprised!
