Pain

I can walk, but my legs are stiff. If I sit down for too long, when I get up, I have to take a few steps to let my legs recover primary functions (i.e. not trip over themselves).

I'M SO SORE!

I blame Sarah. We went hiking yesterday (BC Day, woot!) and had an amazing afternoon going up and down Goat Mountain (pictures here). The sun was shining, it was hot, and we had some company on the trail, but nothing annoying. When we headed back down, we discovered the biggest lineup we'd ever seen for the SkyRide down from Grouse Mountain. It represented probably well over an hour of waiting. We were tired, and getting hungry, but Sarah suggested that we walk down instead. "I can't", I said, "my knees won't survive." But Sarah seemed to think the BCMC trail would be less steep than the Grind.

Not.

The BCMC trail is longer than the Grind and just as steep. We even ended up off trail for a little while, until we realized we were heading straight East (wrong direction). We cut through bushes and unmarked terrain to head back to the trail. It was almost 10 p.m. by the time we came out of the forest, we could barely see. We were both relieved and seriously hurting from this last part of the hike. I don't think we were ever in danger, but people do get lost on Grouse and have to call 911 to get rescued off the mountain. Neither of us wanted to call the rescue team, our pride kept us walking down.

Lesson #1: always pack for a longer hike than originally planned. More food, more water... a headlamp would also have been nice. Lesson #2: never, ever, attempt hiking down Grouse again.