This is a long overdue post.

A month ago or so, my girl friend and I decided to have this road trip outside the city and hike the Sea to Summit Trail.

I don't know if you guys are like me but sometimes you just need to get away from the city life and noises and enjoy the calm and refreshing breeze that mother nature as given us.
Road trips are literally the best thing in the world. Windows down, music on blast, chit-chatting about life, guys and what not with your friends. What's not to like?
It probably took us an hour-ish to arrive at the Upper Shannon Falls Trail. And I have to say that for a first timer, the view and landscape took my breath away. The never ending chain of mountains surrounded by water is a must see for anyone that step a foot in Vancouver.

So, we parked our car and put our game face on. Ready to hike this monster. Or so we thought!?
It was freezing cold that day! I only had a sweater and a sport bra, while Jenny was wearing probably four layers of clothing: a sport bra, a shirt, a sweater, a jacket and a vest. She had everything except a tuque and gloves but knowing her it was probably hiding in her bag.

A true Canadian!

That didn't stop us. Off we went!
The little path towards the hiking trail was easy, nice and relaxing. We could hear the waterfalls and the birds chirping around us.
We were all smiles!

But it took only few minutes before we were faced with a few set of stairs and Jenny's smile turned up side down.
The stairs of hell. That's probably what Jenny was thinking.

Her smile came back pretty quick when she unwrapped her energy bar and a had few bites.
This was our first of many stops!

That day, we opted for the easiest, most peaceful route of ''Sea to Sky Gondola" trail longing the Upper Shannon Falls. You know the best part about this hike is once you reach the peak you can get on a 5-minute gondola ride back to the parking lot.
This was probably Jenny favorite part! I would be lying if I didn’t agree with her.

As for the more motivated, trained and ambitious hikers, there is ''The Chief" mountain peak. A more challenging, long, uphill, and rocky hike with no gondola to bring you back down. So you know what that means? You have to walk it all down.

Good luck!

But, knowing myself I will potentially do it.
I know I said earlier that the trail was easy but as you go along you soon realized that it is a real hike, lots of ups, few downs and a tiny bit of flattish rocky surface.

The mountain is said to be elevated at approximately 915 meters over 7.8 kilometers. But, it is more like 9.8 kilometers.
And you can't enjoy a good hike without snapping few pictures and videos.
This spot was half way to the top. Perfect to enjoy the view and some sun.
Four hours later, after few stops for some videos, pictures, laughter, snack and water, we finally reached the top.
The smile on our faces basically said everything.
We even created a song for it. We made it to the top! We made it to the top!
We took few more pictures.
Okay, I’m lying! We took millions more pictures. Thanks to Jenny. The professional photographer.

I mean we hike for 4.5 hours so might as well take as many pictures as we want.

And it was time for our 5 minutes gondola ride.

Trust me we enjoyed every second of it!
In all honesty, a day hiking is a day well spend. Perfect before her flight back to Taiwan. I miss her already!