FINALLY bagged a peak!! Just in time! SLY, Sunday 23 Oct 2011, 13:50:38.

Well, we did it. We bagged a peak in the 2011 Bagger Challenge. It's the shortest peak in the list (except for those Howe Sound Island ones), and rated "eK" (easy and suitable for Kids), but we did it! On the last possible day - unless we wanted to do an after-work in-the-dark bag... given the "nod to safety" in the preamble to this year's Challenge description, probably not the greatest idea??!

We had PLANNED to bag multiple peaks this year, and started thinking about it well before the April start, planning some Howe Sound Island peaks, and getting warmed up with a Squamish-Chief-isn't-on-the-list "bag" in May; but then we moved into our first house, and both started new jobs, and then Teagirl went traveling for a month and suddenly there was only one weekend left in the Challenge and Teagirl was spending one of those days on a plane flying home from Ireland!

So, Sunday it would have to be, which thankfully dawned lovely and sunshiny and rather crisp. Perfect day for a bag.

We decided to do a peak we had attempted before - one snowy day many years ago - which had unfortunately resulted in a HUGE argument partway up, we abandoned the ascent once we hit 3 feet of snow, and the argument ("unrelated" to the hike, but probably somewhat related to the fact that Husband had been under the impression this would be a short "walk in the park"...) continued all the way down. The whole thing just generally rankled in the memory. We needed a re-do!

Packed the bag with the "10 essentials" and we were off. Seems everyone else wanted to be out on this lovely autumn Sunday afternoon, so Husband felt quite lucky to get a parking spot in the "real" Lynn Headwaters lot ('cause when you're out on a peak bag, the last thing you want to do add km's walking in from beyond Overflow Lot #2...! Just kidding. We actually should have just hiked in all the way from our house, gosh darn it! Next year...). Remembering to sign in on the new fancy forms at the trailhead, we got going.

Had a great walk up, met a few straggling trail runners completing the "Hallow's Eve" 21k, and quite a few other folks both on the Lynn trail (as expected based on the number of cars) as well as on the Lynn Peak trail. The sun shone brightly on us - even at the viewpoint (falsely labelled "Lynn Peak" - maybe because the real peaks don't have much of a view and the parks people want people to feel good about climbing a big hill!) where we enjoyed ripe pears and chocolate chip cookies before continuing on to seek out South Lynn Peak. We had to double-check on the CFA website where it was (oops. Weren't quite as prepared as we thought...) - luckily Husband's phone still had connectivity.

Found South Lynn Peak (indicated by an odd log-and-twine structure and a somewhat incorrect piece of pink flagging tape marked "Lynn Summit" - but at least we knew we were somewhere!), took the requisite photos, started back down and then went back up again to retrieve Teagirl's earwarmer-headband-turtleneck thingy. Decided not to go to the true Lynn Peak because the turnoff went straight through a giant pond, and we could hear cold beer and hot tomato-basil soup calling our names from the Black Bear Pub - so down we went.

All in all a Quite Splendid way to spend a slightly jet-lagged Sunday afternoon. And now we get to go to the party :)

Here's the official statement: Teagirl & Husband bagged SLY, Sunday 23 Oct 2011, 13:50:38. Yay!