Wendy and I set out to tackle Vancouver's section 4 and 5 of the Trans Canada Trail yesterday afternoon.
I was slightly worried about my ability to 1. keep up with fast Wendy and 2. to complete the distance (around 13km) without doing further damage to my fickle heel. Wendy was ever so gracious, having completed her fast training run in the morning and fully prepared to accept my turtle pace ;-)
Logistics for this run are a bit daunting. We discussed public transport, calling Jackson for a ride after the run, but eventually decided that it would be most efficient to shuttle cars to the start and finish points. We dropped the Tinsel Jackson Happy Bus off in Kits Point and continued eastward to the start of our run near the Second Narrows Bridge in New Brighton Park.
Photo left: At the underpass in New Brighton Park
A fresh breeze greeted us as we followed the waterfront trail among dog walkers, cyclists and other runners west ward. The temperature was warmer than expected, though and I soon peeled off my arm warmers. So nice to run in shorts and a t-shirt. The pedestrian route soon turns left up a staircase, but not wanting to cheat and unsure about the actual route we contoured the park taking the longer route up to the overpass and on to Wall Street. A word of caution, the TCT in this section is not marked very well and without an idea of the route, you might find yourself quickly off trail. I had brought along a map, but am considering purchasing the official trail map for future runs. Part of the challenge is that the exact route is still in flux and changes as more trails are completed and allow to connect sections off road.
Photo right : Approaching Chinatown in Vancouver
Wall Street undulates gently up and down towards downtown in the west. We missed our turnoff at Lakewood and had to backtrack one block when we realized the mistake. Not sure is the intersection isn't marked or if we were just so occupied with our chit chat. While this section is a fairly boring road run through a residential neighborhood, we enjoyed the signs and fragrance of spring. The trees and flowers were in full bloom and delighted our senses.
Photo left: Beautiful flowers along the seawall in False Creek.
Lakewood heads south and connects to the Adanac-Union bike route through Strathcona. It was nice to see this formerly sketchy neighborhood alive with residents strolling the streets, children playing on the sidewalk and bike riders commuting to and from downtown. In fact, when we stopped at unmarked intersections to decide where to continue, we often had several people asking if we needed help. None of them knew the route for the TCT, though. Marking was poor and intermittent. We lost and found the course a few times, but surely must have veered to far west after passing through Chinatown and making our way to Science World. Looking at the Google Earth Map on the TrailsBC website, it turns out, we did follow the trail precisely, approaching Science World from the west, which seems counter intuitive.
Photo right: At the TCT Pavilion on Granville Island.
Eventually, we encountered markings again on the seawall in False Creek. We ran through the Olympic Village, admiring the artwork and shoreline views along the way. It was nice to see so many people out and about using the bike and walking path. At Granville Island, we stopped at the TCT Pavilion and then continued on the seawalk towards Burrard Street and the bridge. Again, marking was less then stellar. We followed the trail outlined on my map (and eventually found markers again), but checking it against the Google Earth tracks afterwards, we could have stayed longer on the seawall and approached the west side of the Bridge. No harm done, though, as we need to head back to complete the downtown section and can add the alternate route from Granville Island to Kits Point then.
Take away from this section is that part of the TCT trail is still not "fixed" and old markings might confuse. Also, some the the descriptions mention alternate routes to view different sights.... Gotta stay flexible I guess.
