I typically wake up between 4-5am during the week when home in Minnesota, so having my normal wake up time be so early at HOME, subtracting 2 hours from that for the time difference and add in the luxury of sleeping through the night and sleeping "in", I was up and ready for my day by 5am British Columbia time. I had planned to head out for Whistler around 9 or 10am so that I could grab some lunch and explore there, and had a little time to kill. I had heard about nearby Quarry Rock, just a short hike from where I was staying, so I opted to park near the trailhead, grab some water and snacks and my Bible and head on up there for my devotions that morning.
Let me start by saying: Don't be like me. Don't be stupid and naiive. Take at very least a whistle and some mace should you come across a bear (which I was fortunate to not have), extra water, and extra snacks. And a water proof jacket. And...oh...I don't know...a MAP?! I mean...I obviously don't hike a lot, but man was I ever unprepared. Fortunately, everything turned out completely fine, as I'm here, but this hike reminded me over and over how stupid I was. I mean...my DSLR weighed more than the entire rest of my pack, if that says anything.
A "short hike", I was told, and I mean...I should've known after the first 45 minutes that I had gone the wrong way. I should've turned around and re-grouped at that point. But...here...at this bridge...immediately across from where I parked, I took a right when I should've taken a left, and well...90 minutes later, I turned around to head back the "right" way, which was actually LEFT at this bridge:
I mean, really, seriously - I had only 3/8 of the "essentials" for hiking, and some tennis shoes on, so if you HAD found me dead on the trail eaten by a hungry bear, it wouldn't have been too far-fetched.
I will say, hiking out in the woods (albeit completely ill-prepared) at 5:30am was extremely peaceful! It was so beautiful, and I saw so many cool little slugs and my first ever snail.
I had these great visions of sitting on Quarry Rock enjoying an incredible, refreshing devotional overlooking the cove with little boats going by out in the distance. Yeah...that just wasn't really a "thing", and I finally just stopped after hiking about 45 minutes and plopped down on a rock along the trail. The Lord led me to Matthew 22, where Jesus walks on the Water. It was a really good reminder to me that even in the midst of this crazy year, the most important thing is just continue to keep my focus on Christ. When I lose my focus and begin to notice just how enormous the storm is that I'm in the midst of with our family crisis in 2017/2018, I am going to drown. And the hike was an incredible reminder to me that I just have to take the next step, even when I'm weary and beat down and overwhelmed. Just the next step.
Before long, I reached this point, and seriously - it was at this point that I should've known better. The owners didn't mention anything about crossing a road. And if there had been a place to park that would've shortened my hike, they would've told me about it, right? The thought crossed my mind, but I convinced myself that I had just forgotten.
As a reference, I should've taken the green path, but I ended up taking the red path...and then having to come all the way back down and THEN following the green trail. WAYYYYYYY out of my way. And did I mention that the hike was pretty much entirely uphill? It was a whole lot of work, and I didn't even bring a hair tie to put my hair up. I thought often that I was so very glad that it was at least nice and cool that morning, so I wasn't in the heat of the summer sun.
In fairness, I kept thinking they were just referring to "Deep Cove Lookout" as Quarry Rock, which was probably stupid, but that's why I kept going. If I hadn't seen that on the guideposts, I probably would've turned around much sooner.
At some point around in there, I ran into a guy going for a morning run (no doubt coming from a home right up the street - gah - I should've known better) who told me that yes, I *could* get to Quarry Rock from here, but it'd be a LONNNNNGGGGG hike, and he advised I turn around and follow the Baden Powell Trail all the way back to where I came from, and then also ran into another guy out mountain biking with his dog who specifically told me where I went wrong, and so I turned around and hiked ALLLLLLLLL the way back to here, which was when I started. By then, it was 7:50am, so I had already been hiking for about an hour and twenty minutes before I got back to where I was supposed to have started ;)
By that point, I was a little tired of pictures, and I just wanted to get there and get back. I made a quick 10 minute pit stop at the car to rest for a short bit and to grab a hair tie and to drop off my empty water bottle and grab my iced latte (that I thought I'd be back for in half an hour earlier haha) It was a pretty crazy, but very short hike to the Indian Arm lookout, which was beautiful, but no more beautiful than the view from my cottage.
Not long after, I made it to Quarry Rock!
It took me all of 20 minutes to take the hike. Twenty minutes! I was there by 8:20am. After my crazy long day of hiking, and my desire to get on the road for the 2 hour drive to Whistler, I didn't opt to stick around very long once I got there. The view was stunning, but again, not significantly better than the view at the cottage where I was staying.
After that whole day, I think I'd do the hike again, but I just would actually PLAN to hike to the top of Mount Seymour, and well...park WAY up at that last road I made it to so I wouldn't have to waste so much time hiking that far lol Quarry Rock was beautiful, but I don't think I'd make THAT hike again.
