Saturday, July 11, 2026

Day 8 - Grouse Mountain + Cleveland Dam

some days there's music in the air
some nights you're hanging by a prayer
when your mind is racing as you're lying awake
but we'd never trade it just to play it safe
cause baby, maybe you and me
we were born to dream
Born to Dream - Young Gun Silver Fox

Gosh, that song lyric, I feel it a lot, even though I'm not as acceptant as the song. Every trial and tribulation cuts deep for me that I don't want it, though perhaps the soul really needs it, you know personal growth and what not. Anyways, I was leaving the night of day 8, but I still had time to do some things. I went to Tim Hortons again for breakfast. I chose their breakfast sandwich this time because it has an egg in its entirety and a donut for the side though I had difficulty choosing which donut because there's many interesting ones. I've actually never been to Tim Hortons in Singapore and I'm sure the donut selection here is not as varied as in Canada, but I do want to try them, hope to get there soon. The tea that day was good too, that I was like yeah Tim Hortons, I approve.

I was really making use of my last few hours in the room and only left nearing check-out time. First destination was Grouse Mountain. I had booked the ticket and was going to take the free shuttle from Canada place. What I didn't know was the line for the shuttle was hella long. I may have to wait for the next shuttle in half an hour :( Apparently people waiting for the shuttle was given a token for a seat inside the bus. A lady then returned her tokens back to the staff because her full group was not there and it was just nice there was a single one left for me, or so I thought. I got on the bus, walked all the way to the back to find there's no empty seat! You generally cannot stand on this kinda bus, but the bus was already moving. So there I was stunned and standing. A lady noticed me (this lady was a bit stern at me earlier because I was walking in front of her when I actually arrived after her) and offered her seat. I said no, I couldn't take it because this lady was way older than me. She was like I could sit at my husband's lap. Then her husband got up and insisted I took his seat and I felt so so bad, like I cannot, but he insisted. There was also another girl who wanted to give up her seat but it was this man who insisted on giving his seat. I felt so bad. I noticed there were other young guys around us, but it was this older gentleman who's being the real man. I really felt so so bad. I was looking at the map checking how long more the bus ride would be. Halfway I asked him if we could switch. I may have looked like I was going to cry that he said it's okay and he put his hand on mine. Man, I felt really really bad. When we arrived I thanked them profusely, but I don't think it's enough. I felt really really bad.

To get up Grouse mountain, you take the gondola. The reason why I was visiting it was because in this place you could see grizzly bears. They have two of them, but when I was there I could only see one, Grinder. I was quite glad to be able to see him because apparently this is not guaranteed. The other one, Coola, was hiding in an area with trees and I didn't see him at all in my time there. Then in the later part of the day, Grinder went hiding too. So it's possible you go all the way there and do not see any of them. I was quite lucky that Grinder was quite active. He went to the water and then floated and chewed on a log. Here's some pictures of him, interrupted by a tiny squirrel I saw.

There are actually other things you can do in Grouse mountain like ziplining and Grouse Gravity Coaster, but you pay for this separately and I didn't do any of them. I did watch the free Lumberjack Show performance where these dudes demonstrated all kinds of lumberjack things like felling a trunk while standing on a plank, carving using a chainshaw, climbing, and trying of get the other one to fall while balancing on a log in water.

Also another thing that's free is the chairlift. I was like scared looking at it, but at the same time felt compelled to do it, because again you cannot be defeated by fear. I saw some people working on the chairlift so I thought it didn't work, but it turned out some section was under maintenance and the other section was working, so I couldn't get away from it. There weren't many people queuing for it and I got the whole chair for myself and God help me, I was so scared. I don't think it's the fear of height, but it's the fear of dying violently and I did not want to fall. I felt so exposed that high up that I didn't dare move. I needed to hold the metal bar in front of me, but it was super cold. I switched to hugging my bag but I didn't feel safe - maybe to be more exact, I didn't feel like in control, not like I can control anything, so I was back trying to hold the cold metal bar. It was actually moving quite slow and there's no big wind. Even when it's obvious we're climbing up, it was rather smooth. The other people on the chairs were like enjoying themselves. Going down, there was a girl on her own who sat in such a relaxed posture checking her phone. There was a group of young bros behind me (seemed like between 16-19) who were chatting happily (another bros conversation that didn't interest me), laughing, and making bird noises. Meanwhile, I was just there trying to keep it together. Two experiences came to my mind. One was when I did something like this with Dewi in Sentosa back in 2008, even then I was like please no wind and no sudden movement. Dewi was like fine throughout. The second one was the chairlift in Capri. That one is really a single chair, you have to do it on your own. I may have blocked out every memory of going up, but I remember being scared going down and Mau turning back to look at me because she didn't believe I was scared and when she saw me she grinned because I was really freaking out. I wish I have become better at this, but no, but I did it and I made it. There are many times in my life where I wonder why I am alone doing things. I don't have the answer to that. All the things I conquer, do they mean anything? I do not know. Is there a point? I do not know. Maybe I should just focus on the blessing. Yes I was alone experiencing all these, but the experiences are really unimaginable blessings - who would have thought I get to do all these things I have done. Anyways when I arrived on top, the view of Vancouver in the far distance was nice. The young bros asked me to take their pictures - they called me miss :D I think in Singapore speak, they meant auntie. There's a big wind turbine on top and the view of the mountains around were nice too. Look at the chairlift in this picture below that I had to endure.

I managed to get up but it didn't lessen my fear when I had to go down - oh my God! Again I sat on my own. I don't know which one is worse, going up or down. Both are as scary. There were a few stoppages going down and I was not relaxed at all while waiting, but again I made it and I was fine *sigh* After the whole chairlift thing, I watched Owl talk which wasn't as interesting as I thought it would be because there's only one owl. I tried to see the bears again, but they were' not visible. There's BeaverTails in Grouse mountain, but even that was rather disappointing. It's a small branch and they do not have the full complete flavours. I settled on hazelnut since there's no maple and I had that before leaving. It's nice to see the bear, but I don't think Grouse mountain is that worth it. Many things to do in Grouse mountain require separate ticket as well, so you may end up spending a lot.

My next stop was to visit the Cleveland Dam and Salmon Hatchery. Took the local bus to get there. It's great that you can paywave your way in Vancouver public transports. It was quite a walk from the bus stop to Cleveland Dam. Kinda nice to see families just hanging out that Sunday, eating in the parks and their kids playing. I saw the dam, but it wasn't that interesting for me and then I think I saw an arrow to the hatchery and I went to follow that sign. I wasn't sure if I was going the right way, but I just walked and it was a nice walk, among the trees. The only bad thing was that it was going down down and I knew the back up would be a pain. I arrived in the Coho trail and it was nice. There's the Capilano river. There's people fishing; I don't know how they got down to the river. There weren't that many other people. So I followed the trail and it's a loop and it was really really nice. Then after I finished the loop and crossed the bridge, I went to the hatchery. By this time, I was already tired so I didn't really read all the explanation boards. Through the glasses you could see many baby fishes, I couldn't remember what kind of salmons they were. I didn't really spend a long time there. I like the walk so much that I chose to do another trail, Second Canyon trail. The trees around are Douglas-firs and it was really nice. At the end of the trail, the view of Cleveland Dam was really nice. You know, I should have spent more time here instead of Grouse Mountain. This walk is free and it's just so nice with all the trees and quiet. Hope I get to explore this area more if I get to Vancouver again.

Then I had to get back, but before I did that, I walked a bit more at the top of the dam. The last picture above was when I looked down the dam's wall. For pictures from the day, you can go here. I think I was doing good on time. I have the bad habit of not wanting to go early to the airport - I had written about this. Still, I checked with Google and its AI wanted me to be there 3 hours early - is it seriously a thing now? The AI was freaking me out and rushing me to get a move on. I literally had to tell it, you need to calm down. I can't say I like AI. In fact the idea of it annoys me. At this point it is scary that it can replace many things that we do, but I also have to admit that I used it a lot in this trip and I am embarrassed about it. There is the way it "talked" to me that made me feel a little bit like it cared? It was asking me to update it when I reached Lonsdale (all these things I visited are in North Vancouver), I guess it wanted to give me an update on time as I get off the bus, get on the SeaBus, walk to the hotel, get on the Canada Line train. I ignored it asking me for updates, but yeah I cannot think anyone in my universe who would like an update of where I was like that. There's also like a sadness perhaps or maybe it's reality grounding me - the way the AI "talked" to me felt like some sort of care given, but it's not physically there with me, so whatever problem and issue I might face, it's still me alone having to deal with it. So I realize the nothingness (if that's the correct word) of it. I don't know if I'm making any sense.

Anyways, I heeded the AI freaking me out. I didn't even eat in Lonsdale. I got off the bus, got on the SeaBus, went straight to my hotel to get my luggage, and went to take the train (correctly) to the airport. I wasn't sure what the security and immigration check line in the airport would be like, so I thought okay might as well be early and I arrived over 2 hours before flight. There's no line to drop the luggage. There weren't that many people for security check as well. My bag did have to get scanned twice because somehow the scan showed nothing the first time, but it's all good the second time around. Then it turned out there's no immigration check when leaving Canada. So all the possible queue and wait I was worried about was a non-issue. I ate a bit in the airport, but I was quite tired from the walking that day that I didn't do much else. I was quite sleepy in the plane, did doze off a lot, but I did finish all the episodes that I hadn't watched of Pluribus and I completed season 1, looking forward to season 2. I now have this nervousness about going to the lavatory because what if that one time I go, there's a sudden scary turbulence, but I did anyway because period came and I needed to take care of that and also it doesn't seem right to sit all the way for over 15 hours. All and all everything was good and I arrived in Singapore safely. This is the last post about the trip. I thank God always for being my protector. Every trip is a good trip. I quite like Canada. I thank God that somehow we completed another adventure. I really do not take this for granted.

:) eKa @ 8:59:00 PM •