a Sunday stroll

We hiked the Sendero Diez Vistas at Buntzen Lake on the weekend. The name refers to 10 viewpoints along the ridge portion of the hike. I couldn't find any explanation for why the route and all the points of interest have Spanish names. The area is historically significant for hydro-electric power generation.

There are two things to remember when hiking for spectacular views. The first is that you likely have to climb (a lot) to get there. We started at lake level....

But eventually got to here:

and here:

The second thing to remember is that you also have to climb down. And going down is never as easy as you think it's going to be!

At this point in the trip, I was glad there were only 2 in our party!

Oh yeah! And we saw a bear! A small one -- not small enough to have a mama close by to worry about though -- more like a nervous teenager bear! Cute, awkward, and, once we got over the initial shock of rounding a bend and seeing a bear, more afraid of us than we were of it. Sort of.