| Time | Description (map available here / profile here) | km |
| 07:00 | Meet at Lower Seymour Conservation Reserve (LSCR) Rice Lake parking lot. | |
| 07:30 | Start – LSCR Parking Lot (NW corner – in front of the toilets) | 00.0 |
| LEG 1 (10 – 15 min): Varley Trail. This section of the route follows the Varley Trail, providing a good warm-up on easy, mostly flat, well-groomed trail. Enjoy it! The grunt work starts soon! | ||
| - leave LSCR parking lot heading west past round-about at end of Lillooet Rd. and straight on downhill to pipe bridge | ||
| - turn right after crossing bridge along Marion Rd. | ||
| - after about 150m, take second right (at Varley Trail marker -- don’t take first right – that leads into someone’s driveway). | ||
| - follow Varley Trail to Lynn Headwaters Parking Lot | ||
| 07:40 – 07:45 | Reference Point (RP) #1 – Lynn Headwaters Parking Lot. Toilets approx. 50m past far end of parking lot (on the right). Water just before the bridge over Lynn River. Our route doesn’t go by these facilities and you probably won’t need them now but you might on the return trip. | 1.5 |
| LEG 2 (5 – 10 min): BP Trail: Lynn Headwaters – Mountain Highway. This short, mostly uphill section starts the Baden Powel Trail portion of our route. Keep your eyes open for orange triangles with the “BP” written on them. There are some tricky portions of the trail to follow on this section so make sure you can see those markers. | ||
| - turn sharp left onto Lynn Valley Rd. as you exit Varley Trail. | ||
| - after approximately 50m, turn right onto BP Trail. | ||
| - head up long, steep, calf-burning staircase | ||
| - at top of stairs, turn left (follow BP Trail sign post) onto small gravel road | ||
| - almost immediately turn right, following BP markers (if you miss this turn you’ll end up in somebody’s back yard) | ||
| - after a short climb, you’ll come to a fairly open section with lots of mountain biking obstacles (keep your eyes open for BP markers here as it can be tricky to follow the route) | ||
| - keep following BP Trail, generally uphill for another 5-10 minutes until you reach a good gravel road – this is Mountain Highway | ||
| 07:45 – 07:5 | Reference Point (RP) #2 – Mountain Highway. Top up your fluids at the water fountain as the next guaranteed water is at the top of the Grouse Mountain Skyride. Important! Don’t drink the creek water here or anywhere else on the route unless you want to go on a very quick weight loss routine. All streams in this area have the potential to carry the Giardia protozoan (also known as “Beaver Fever”). There are better ways to lose weight! | |
| LEG 3 (25 – 35 min): BP Trail: Mountain Highway – St. George’s Trail. This technical section of the route is mostly uphill but, for the most part, is quite runnable with some nice rolling sections. Remember, keep looking for those orange “BP” markers to make sure you’re on route. | ||
| - continue straight along BP Trail heading uphill beside water fountain | ||
| - take left of two trails as right one is intended for mountain bikers and it is a lot easier for them if they don’t have to stop to pick body parts out of their spokes | ||
| - head decidedly uphill for approximately 10 minutes before any real reprieve (don’t be fooled by a couple of flatish “false peaks”) | ||
| - after this initial climb, the route has lots of nice rolling sections on the way to St. George’s trail but with general upward tendencies (not that there’s anything wrong with that!) | ||
| - after 15 - 25 minutes from Mountain Highway, you’ll cross over a nice new bridge at Abelard Canyon. | ||
| - another 5 - 10 minutes gets you to the bench at St. George’s Trail. | ||
| 08:10 – 08:30 | Reference Point #3 – St. George’s Trail Bench. Enjoy the only view on the BP Trail between Nancy Greene Way (at the base of the Grouse Mountain Skyride) and Indian River Road (above Deep Cove) | |
| LEG 4 (10-20 min): St. George’s Trail. This section of the route is another relatively short, steep, technical climb, taking you up to Mountain Highway just before the sixth switchback. The trail is fairly well trodden and marked with orange square markers as well as ribbons of various colours (orange; yellow; green). | ||
| - say goodbye to BP Trail and its associated “BP” markers and head up St. George’s Trail, angling behind the bench (from right side of the bench as you’re facing it) | ||
| - after a fairly short climb you’ll get to a section of fairly level, runnable trail | ||
| - after another couple of minutes, the flat section ends and you’ll resume the climb up to Mountain Highway – keep your eyes open for the orange markers as the trail can be a little difficult to follow in a couple of places as a result of fairly recent blowdowns | ||
| - shortly before reaching Mountain Highway, you should pass by a lonely Mt. Fromme “this way” marker – follow it | ||
| - another 2 – 5 minutes gets you to the top of St. George’s Trail at good gravel road – this is Mountain Highway (again) | ||
| 08:20 – 08:45 | Reference Point #4 – Mountain Highway (just before the 6th switchback). | |
| LEG 5 (10 – 15 min): Per Gynt Trail. Rather than stick to the road, we’ll get one last bit of technical trail in by taking Per Gynt Trail, bypassing that last two of the seven lower switchbacks on Mountain Highway. This trail is marked with small orange diamonds but doesn’t have too many places to make a wrong turn anyway. | ||
| - turn left on Mountain Highway | ||
| - in no more than 2-3 min you will come to the 6th switchback | ||
| - instead of taking the switchback, take about 5 steps following the road off end of switchback | ||
| - turn right up Per Gynt Trail that starts here (I couldn’t find any sign at this end of the trail identifying it as such) -- don’t go straight along the overgrown road | ||
| - follow orange diamond markers as trail makes its way mostly uphill | ||
| - in less than 15 min from start of this leg, you will, once again, come out at Mountain Highway – you have now successfully bypassed all seven of the lower switchbacks on Mountain Highway (unfortunately, there’s no way to avoid the upper ones) | ||
| - go left on Mountain Highway | ||
| - in approximately 1 min, you should arrive at Quarry | ||
| 08:30 – 09:00 | Reference Point #5 – Quarry. | |
| LEG 6 (30 – 40 min): Mountain Highway -- Grouse Mountain Chalet. This portion of the route keeps to Mountain Highway, starting with 10-15 min of fairly level, easy-going running and ending with some metal-testing uphill and switchbacks. Think: “9-Mile Hill”. | ||
| - follow Mountain Highway as it winds its way along west side of Mt. Fromme above the Mosquito Creek valley (to your left) | ||
| - after 10 – 15 min you’ll see a “Private Road” sign mounted on a tree on right-hand side of road – this marks the beginning of climb up to Grouse Mountain Chalet | ||
| - another 5 – 10 min of climbing brings you to first of 4 switchbacks | ||
| - follow switchbacks up as you wind your way under the Blue Chair – keep going until you run out of switchbacks | ||
| - after 4th switchback, the road straightens somewhat, taking you under Green Chair (at top of “The Cut”), finally ending at Grouse Mountain Chalet | ||
| 09:00 – 09:40 | Reference Point #6 – Grouse Mountain Chalet. There are full water/washroom facilities here (inside the Chalet around the corner to the left as you enter at ground-level). Be sure to fill up your fluids here! | |
| LEG 7 (10 – 15 min): Chalet – Grouse Peak. This portion of the route takes you up the last short climb to peak | ||
| - from door of the Chalet, head back towards peak | ||
| - you’ll pass by several sets of signs pointing to the Grizzly Bear Habitat, Lumberjack show area, and “Birds in Motion” tourist attractions – follow first set; skip second set; follow third set -- the pathways can be a little confusing here -- stick to as straight a route as possible | ||
| - pass Lumberjack show area and Grizzly Bear Habitat on left | ||
| - the last attraction will be “Birds in Motion” area on your right | ||
| - follow gravel road around right flank of peak | ||
| - the road gets very nasty (steep) towards the top but, fortunately, doesn’t last for long -- if your calves aren’t burning now, they never will | ||
| - touch the “Olympic Express” | ||
| 09:10 – 09:55 | Reference Point #7 – Grouse Mountain Peak. Congratulations! You’ve made it! There’s virtually no uphill on our return route so prepare yourself for a whole lot of quad-burning downhill. Think: “Ring Creek Rip”. | |
| LEG 8 (5 – 10 min): Grouse Mountain Peak – Chalet. | ||
| - say “G’day” to the German tourists | ||
| - retrace your steps back down to Chalet, trying not to trample on too many tourists | ||
| - you probably don’t need to go right to the Chalet (you re-filled coming up, right?) so, turn left just before the little paved downhill to the Chalet | ||
| 09:15 – 10:05 | Reference Point #8 – Grouse Mountain Chalet. Water/washrooms to your left inside the chalet on the entrance level. | |
| LEG 9 (25 – 30 min): Mountain Highway: Chalet – Quarry | ||
| - retrace your route, passing underneath Green Chair (near top of “The Cut”) | ||
| - continue straight across top of “The Cut”, down 6 switchbacks below Blue Chair and back on down Mountain Highway to Quarry | ||
| 9:40 – 10:35 | Reference Point #9 – Quarry. | |
| LEG 10 (30 – 40 min): Mountain Highway: Quarry – BP Trail Water Fountain. Instead of retracing our route down Per Gynt and St. George’s Trail, we’re going to bypass all of the technical stuff and blast down Mountain Highway all the way to the intersection with the BP Trail. | ||
| - from Quarry, just keep on heading down Mountain Highway | ||
| - ignore the Per Gynt turnoff shortly after leaving Quarry | ||
| - ignore the St. George’s Trail turnoff (if you happen to actually see it – it’s easy to miss) shortly after second switchback (going down) | ||
| - follow Mountain Highway down, down, down for a further 5 switchbacks | ||
| - after approximately 30 minutes, you’ll come to a gate across the road – there are toilets on left here, if you need them (even if you don’t) | ||
| - another couple of minutes down the wide gravel road gets you back to the water fountain at BP Trail intersection | ||
| 10:10 – 11:15 | Reference Point #10 – BP Trail Water Fountain. | |
| LEG 11 (5 – 10 min): BP Trail: Mountain Highway – Lynn Headwaters. We’re back onto a short section of downward-leading technical trail again. Be careful! After the long run you just did down Mountain Highway, you’re feet might not be lifting up as high as you think they are. Follow those orange “BP” markers again. | ||
| - turn left onto BP, retracing your route for earlier back down to Lynn Rd. | ||
| - this trail used to be tricky to follow in spots but is all nicely fixed up now thanks to the Mountain Biking community (I think it was them) | ||
| - follow “BP” markers on down steep staircase to Lynn Rd. | ||
| - turn left onto Lynn Rd. and you’ll soon be back at Lynn Headwaters parking lot | ||
| 10:15 – 11:25 | Reference Point #11 – Lynn Headwaters Parking Lot. Water/toilets are available here if you continue through the parking lot towards the bridge over Lynn River. | |
| LEG 12 (10 – 15 min): Varley Trail. | ||
| - as you reach Lynn Headwaters Parking Lot, turn sharp right (almost 180) onto Varley Trail | ||
| - follow Varley Trail, passing by two “Overflow Parking Lot” trails on right | ||
| - keep following Varley Trail markers until trail ends back at a gravel road | ||
| - turn left onto the road -- Marion Rd. – up and over little hill | ||
| - when you get to Rice Lake Rd., take a left over the pipe bridge and up hill, passing by round-about at end of Lillooet Rd. | ||
| - follow short path to right on other side of round-about (adjacent to ranger station) back to LSCR Parking Lot. | ||
| 10:25 – 11:40 | Finish – LSCR Parking Lot. Whooee! You’re done! Stretch. Yammer for awhile. Time to go celebrate your accomplishment (see below). | |
| Celebrate. See Agenda for details. Family and friends are welcome! There will be some draw prizes for the taking but ya gotta be at the post-race event to be eligible. |