Greetings from the trail,
Among many good things about today is that it's my mother's birthday. I called home today first to wish her a happy birthday, then several times more to keep her apprised of my progress.
The day started with a pretty, but noisy trail following close to the shoreline. It wasn't long before I was in Burnaby. I knew I was going to have a little climbing ahead of me, but I wasn't quite prepared for what the trail had in store for me. I climbed the trail to the top of Burnaby Mountain, which my GPS showed at over 1000 ft. That climb took a lot out of me.
From the top of the mountain, I came to a great lookout to the west. I could see all of downtown Vancouver, as well as Richmond and other surrounding areas. A seemingly shorter climb brought me back down the other side of the mountain to Hastings street.
From there, the trail again found its way near the shoreline for quite some time before heading under the second narrows bridge and then veering off well to the south. Instead of following the trail, I followed my own path down Hastings street. I already knew the street was reputed to be the bad part of town, but I saw more than I expected. It was truly sad to see the kind of place these people live in and how they exist. It was also truly amazing how quickly the street turned from the purest form of a slum into a well-kept business district in a few short blocks.
After that I made my way to Canada Place, where I again spent some time taking in the beauty of the day and the place I was at. That is where I've left the trail, with ~3km to go to pass under lumberman's arch and down to the water in Stanley Park. The next two days are off until my family arrives from Alberta. I refuse to count any of the next 3 days in my journey, as I clearly could have made it in 70 days. In my original prediction I said 10-11 weeks. 70 days is pretty spot-on. I love being right.
See you on the trail,
Joshua Ganes
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