Waking up late, we decided to head for the Museum of Anthropology situated on the campus of UBC. Renowned for its displays of world arts and cultures as well as in depth history on works by First Nations within the Pacific Northwest. It certainly offered a detailed view on how the First Nations lived amongst the ever emerging world around them, a world that would come to force them from their homes, causing them to, in some cases, adapt to the modern era.
One of the many Totem Poles on Display
The Museum offered many old Totems on display and the history behind them as well as modern contemporary art that offered a modern view on how the First Nations people have come to continue with their lives along side the modern society. It certainly makes you think about how us as a race often want to push the normality upon those who are happily living in their own directional world. We can’t just accept how others live, we have to push into their lives and almost poke about until we understand how they are and until we can make the most of there resources. It’s not easy enough for us to leave them alone, but at the end of the day curiosity always gets the better of us, our problem is that 9 out of 10 times we don’t understand when we have come too far. Why can’t we just let these people live how they have been living for the past 1000 odd years, as it is us that are ultimately invading their world.
From the Museum we grabbed a quick bite to eat and took a bus for an hour to the base of Grouse Mountain. Exceeding 1,200m in altitude at its peak the mountain is largely used as an alpine skiing area on the North Shore of Vancouver. In the summer, Grouse Mountain Resort features lumberjack shows, wildlife demonstrations, and a 2.9 km hiking trail known as the Grouse Grind. It was the Grind that we had arrived to take on. A steep trail that climbs 853m with the total number of stairs being around 2,830. The trail, nicknamed “Mother Nature’s Stairmaster”, is notoriously gruelling due to its steepness and mountainous terrain. On average it takes around 70minutes to reach the top, this was something we were determined to beat. The best time recorded is around 28minutes, people run up this, I’m not sure how but all I know is that they must be really fit to be able to pull in a time like that. With sweat dripping off our faces, wobbly legs and desperate for a healthy breathing rhythm we managed an impressive time of 58minutes.
Once at the top of the mountain we stuck around to watch the ever impressive sunset before descending safely on one of Grouse Mountains Gondolas. We then headed back towards the city for some well earned dinner before stopping off in one of Vancouver’s many bars for an equally well earned ice cold beer.