Seymour Mountain

The weekend before school started we had the most beautiful weather... warm and clear blue skies.  We all wanted to be outside, so we decided to go exploring at the Seymour Mountain Provincial park in North Vancouver.  Seymour Park   It was a great long twisty drive up with beautiful views to arrive at the upper mountian trail head.

We started the afternoon with picnic lunch... Molly wouldn't tell us what happened, but I think Minnie mouse had a wee bit too much to drink and passed out on the table.

View from the top of the chair lift at the parking lot.

Looking at the map we decided to explore the Dog Mountain trail, which was a few kilometers out through the woods, ending at a viewpoint of the city.  Here I am with my little hikers at the beginning of the trail.

 The trail was mostly groomed, but had long segments covered in tree roots that were quite beautiful and Owen loved climbing over and around them.  At this point, we put Molly in the backpack and she became my hiking partner for the duration.  Here's Owen & Allison on the trail.

Unique tree along the way.  Appeared that something fell on it decades ago, causing it to grow around before reaching skyward again.

There are many rock faces along the trail. 

Owen was suprised and quite excited to find a patch of snow on the back side of the mountain.  This was early September!

This is First Lake, about half-way point along the trail.  You can see a small cabin on the hill which has a  history through the 20th century.  It's now used as a base for a search and rescue teams.

Allison and Owen on the trail between First Lake and Dog Mountain.

Me and my backpack buddy.

The trail culminates at a stunning view of the lower mainland.  You can see clear the entire region, all the way into Washington State.  Here we are on the lookout.

In this shot, the city center is in the middle of the picture.  You can just make out the sail roof on Canada Place.  In the distance are the mountains of Vancouver Island.

The hike to the lookout is a one way trail, so we backtracked to First Lake, where we were able to head off and continue the loop around the mountain back to the trail head.  Owen skipped out to this rock and climbed on for this picture.

My partner fell asleep on the return hike.

Stitched together shots of the view.

This was such a memorable afternoon! As far as hikes go, it's only 5K and a reasonably easy trail for the kids.