September 3, 2016 – The weather improved today, a lot, and unexpectedly. So we decided to go for a walk around the neighbourhood.
That walk ended up being about 11km in length. It was a good walk, through residential neighbourhoods, through schoolyards, through greenbelts, across creeks, through temperate rainforest, and back again.
It’s hard to believe that school starts again in a few days, all the kids will be back in their classes, the playgrounds will be full, and kids will be hopping through the court.
One of the things that I both love and hate about living in North Vancouver is the fact that if you go for a walk you either go up or down, North Vancouver is wedged between the ocean and the mountains and it is hilly terrain, and so whatever direction you choose, the return trip will be the opposite. So I tend to head up initially, because I always figure down is easier when I am tired.
Today we did a lot of up!
Another thing I love about North Vancouver is the fact that there is so much forest, many creeks, and it’s still wild just above the houses. It’s a real forest, full of bears, and deer, and cougars, and other wild creatures that those of who live here try to coexist with. And almost any street you walk up, particularly when you run parallel to any of the creeks, has some connecting greenbelt path to another street.
Some of those greenbelts have salmon bearing streams running through them, and some will lead you directly into the wilderness of the North Shore Mountains, where scores of idiots get themselves lost and need to be rescued, every…single…year….
We gained significant altitude by climbing some impressive staircases, wandered up residential streets and took away garden and driveway and fence ideas. We ‘tsked’ over all of the construction and shook our heads at some of the ghastly new homes, so many devoid of any soul, built to the edges of the properties, with a thin strip of yard circling them.
I just don’t understand. Why are these huge homes, basically without yards, seem to be more desirable than a normal sized house on a large lot. Things have been so crazy around here where purchase precedes demolition, which precedes the construction of a monster home, that care and attention to detail seems an afterthought. Apparently this house will be “built to suite”.
Hardly anyone bothers to renovate older homes, even solidly built ones. Everyone needs brand spanking new to be happy.
We climbed up into Malaspina Park and walked the powerline trail for a distance before descending back into a residential area. But before we did we crossed a brand new bridge over the creek, and when we looked down the trickle of water we were reminded of how much water can flow down the North Shore Mountains, and how quickly.
To see a debris flow barrier this big on a trickle this small, reminds us where we live. It may look small because of perspective, but it wasn’t small at all.
It was a pleasant surprise to get a day that included sunshine, it started out rainy and just got better and better, and some good exercise.
Awesome day!
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