Free Guided Adventure hike to Seymour Valley's Temple of Time Grove of Giants: Nov 7th 2010.

Who: This hike is organized by the UBC Ancient Forest Committee (AFC). The mandate of The AFC is to  raise awareness for the depletion of British Columbia's Ancient Forests and urge politicians and mangers to create a sustainable forestry plan. With this purpose and also with the hope of building participants understanding and relationship to nature, the hike will be exploring one of Canada's tallest stands of trees. In contrast, we will then see the enormous stumps left from logging in the Seymour Valley during the 20th century. The hike will be led by Ira Sutherland, a student of forestry at UBC who is familiar with the hidden old growth stands of Seymour Valley. The hike is open to all members of the public provided that they are in adequate physical condition for a 5 hour hike and have read this document and understand the dificulty level and what they are expected to bring.

When: Nov 7th, 2010. Leaving at 10AM, returning to the same location at 3PM. Hike is a total of 5 hours.

Where: Meeting at the "End of The Line" General Store at the end of Lynn Valley Road in North Vancouver. Parking is available nearby. This location is reached directly by public transportation; see translink.bc.ca for detailed "route planning" information. We will be leaving at 10 Am sharp so plan on arriving early, there is a coffee shop in case it is raining to take cover in.
**Participants are expected to organize their own transportation, however, if you plan to drive and have extra seats please email me at mountainira@gmail.com and let me know how many seats you have with a general pick up area. With your permission I will list your email and number of seats on seymourhike.blogspot.com and participants can email you directly for a ride. Then let me know when your seats are filled and I can remove your contact from the site. ***People looking for rides, please do not email me unless I post that I have seats!

What will we be doing? The objective of the hike is to explore the "Temple of Time Grove of Giants," which contains one of the tallest trees in Canada: the Temple Giant a Douglas-fir at almost 90 Meters (300ft) tall, aswell as several other gigantic trees!!!. Also, we will be seeing some of the largest known stumps in the Vancouver area, which stand as evidence of the monumental forests that once abounded in the area. Hopefully we will also see some Coho salmon swimming up the Seymour River to spawn or other wildlife.

Route: We will cross Lynn Creek and follow the Fisherman's Trail along the Seymour River to MidValley Viewpoint, then proceed uphill to the "Temple of Time Grove of Giants." After about one hour in the old growth we will return on the scenic Seymour Valley Park way. (The reason for meeting at the Lynn Valley side is because it is accessable by public transportation)

Difficulty Level: Moderate-dificult. The length of this hike is approximately 13 km. elevation gain of about 250m The majority of it is on relatively flat and easy walking terrain. A small section of it is walking on boardwalks that can be quite slippery. Approximatlely one hour of the hike will be "off-road bushwacking" on moderately steep slopes to explore the Temple of Time Grove of Giants. Most of the "off-road bushwacking" is in relatively open forest but all participants must be prepared for a challenging and adventurous experience!

Items Required (things to bring): Lunch, snacks, water (atleast 1 L), rain gear (with hood or a good hat), hiking boots (or your best walking shoes!), appropriate outdoor clothing! (DO NOT WEAR COTTON because cotton is useless when wet) examples of good clothing: fleece, wool socks, anything synthetic, toques (light and warm!) non-cotton long underwear / examples of bad outdoor clothing: cotton jeans, cotton socks, cotton T-shirts. The Seymour Valley recieves at least 50% more rain than downtown Vancouver so that may be a coinsideration for planning. The combination of wet and cool November weather is justification to come a little over prepared rather than under prepared.