Sucks Getting Old

We humans grow old. It's a tough pill to swallow. But it's a reality none of us will escape...unless of course we die before we get the chance to age. I used to teasingly use the mantra "die young, stay pretty," when I was a teen. How dumb is that?

Thankfully my years of worrying about retaining my youthful beauty are behind me. In fact, age itself has become quite beautiful to me - it's given me perspective and wisdom that my childish self could only mock.

Though there is something about becoming old I could really do without: having your body fall apart on you. My dear friend, Heidi, has really had to deal with this lately. But thankfully, with the help of modern science, she is being rebuilt! Back to back knee replacement surgeries. Ugh. It's been a really tough summer for her. I know Julie has had her health struggles too. Sucks getting old.

Though Heidi has been completely out of commission for the entirety of this year's hiking season, and I know it has added tremendously to her already large amount of pain. So I've been trying to think of ways to help her enjoy the summer that don't involve double digit miles and sleeping on the ground. I know my friends will help me out too when life decides to put me on the bench. 

So if you are a person that for whatever reason wants low miles and no tent, this trip report is for you. I didn't think I'd write anything up for this short girl's weekend getaway, but both trails we did are in my Alltrails App so I figured, why not?

A trail is a trail, no matter how short. Happy "for creaky and healing knees" trails. Oh, and stay tuned for Heidi's master plan for adventure requiring no major hiking coming up soon. It's going to be good! 

LOG: 

1) It's a long drive to Squamish, so a stop at The Beach House in West Vancouver for brunch is a nice break. There's some very nice boardwalk beach walking you could do here, but we opted to just be ridiculous instead.

We chose to stay at the Howe Sound Inn and Brewing Company in Squamish because of it's proximity to the Sea to Sky Gondola, NOT because of the beer 😉though if you do have a couple beers, there is a bus you can catch just a block from the Inn, and it's free on weekends! Plus it's much easier than dealing with the parking at the Gondola. 

You could actually hike up to the summit and take the tram down, but you can also go after 4 pm and get 40% off a round trip fare, which is of course what we did. Our only hiking was the less than half mile Spirit Trail Loop you can walk after crossing the very cool suspension bridge at the summit. I think it may even be wheelchair accessible? I know you can at least get a chair across the bridge because we saw it done, though it took a few helpers and did not look easy. 

2) We tried to stop at the Shannon Falls Lookout on the first day, but it was a madhouse with not a parking spot in sight. But now that we had mastered the bus system (and knew it was free!) we used it again and went to see the falls after all. This is also only about a half mile of walking (maybe wheelchair accessible too?) though there is a short side trail that is mostly stairs that will take you up for a closer view. Heidi pushed herself to do that too, even though her knee was really hurting. She is such a beast! An old beast 😆but still a beast.😍 

Heidi's bionic knees will be fully activated in no time!

To end I'll give a shout out to the Copper Coil Still and Grill as being a super cute and quirky place to eat, and a warning that even though you see a line out the door at the Fox and Oak doughnut shop all weekend making you think they must be amazing...they are not.  

I even did some rock climbing! I just needed to push the children out of my way first 😉