Saturday 3rd August 2013, day 24 - Jug Island Hike

I went hiking today :) It was a MeetUp event, and there were 14 people in total. We went to Belcarra Regional Park, about an hour north-east of Vancouver. I took the Skytrain (like the Tube but elevated overground with only three lines) to Lougheed and got a lift from the event organiser with two other girls. We met the others at the Belcarra Picnic Area, a nice large grassy area on the waterfront with a dock, a couple of rocky beaches, kayak rental hut, small cafe or snack booth, and a barbecue area with lots of covered picnic tables. A very nice place to go even without the hiking trails.

The Jug Island Trail is a fairly easy hour's hike through the forest to Jug Island Beach, so named because said island is right in front of it. We got there at about half eleven and stayed for a while to rest and have something to eat, then made our way back to the Picnic Area - where some of the group stayed to relax when the rest of us decided to do the shorter, easier trail as well. That one took about half an hour to get to a smooth rocky outcrop overlooking where the Burrard Inlet meets the Indian Arm, the larger of two side inlets and where Belcarra RP and Jug Island are located. I didn't realise but Burrard Inlet and the Indian and Port Moody Arms are actually fjords.

Most of the group left after we got back to the Picnic Area but five of us decided to go for a late lunch/early dinner (4pm-ish) of fish and chips at an all-you-can-eat place in Coquitlam on the way back to Lougheed. The two other carpooling girls and I just had the 'smaller appetite' portions, just one peice of fish with chips instead of the all-you-can-eat, which was enough for me. But the organiser ate 10 peices of fish and a full plate of chips, and the other guy 13 peices and a full plate of chips. (The fish portions were half the size of what you get at home but still) Haha!

So I enjoyed all that, and had a nice day :) The weather was good, the hike wasn't too strenuous and I talked to a few people.

Tonight was the last night of the Celebration of Light, basically a series of big firework shows. Apparently it's international, and a bit of a competition between different countries. This week was Vancouver's turn, so the first show was last Saturday, the second Wednesday and the last one was tonight. The fireworks start at 10pm and last for about 25 minutes, and are set off from barges in English Bay between the Downtown peninsula and Kitsilano. I hadn't been to watch the other two so I walked about ten minutes to a park at the end of the road where there was a good view and lots of people. It was really good =]

I have my first WWOOFing experience sorted out! I'm going to a farm in the south of Vancouver Island, on September 8th or 9th for a couple of weeks. Hopefully that'll go well :)