Flash - Mutha's Nature Trail Run

14 Oct 2007 08:00
This is the preliminary running of an event I will host annually, and I am running it to finalise the course, and sorry to say, perfect the directions. It is approximately a 32km venture, anyone with a GPS would be more than welcome. If you have one you wouldn't mind lending for the day but can't make it that would be extremely useful too. Depending how many people are into checking it out with me we could run in one or break into several pace groups. I will be running at an easy pace. We will meet by the trail head in the parking lot near the washrooms/concession in Lynn Canyon Park. Detailed Instructions: The route will take the Baden-Powell (turn left and down right away, before the suspension bridge) and follow it up to Lynn Valley Road, where we will turn right onto Rice Lake Road and shortly after the turn off down to the Varley trail. We will the follow the Varley trail until it takes us out onto Lynn Valley road again. Take a left and you should soon see the entrance to the Baden-Powell trail on your right. We will follow the Baden-Powell from there until it comes out to Mountain Highway. At this intersection we will go right and up the wide rocky dirt road. We will take Mountain Highway all the way up to the Grouse Mountain Skyride. Above there we will take the switchbacks up to Dam Mountain off to the left. Then we will follow the Crown Mountain trail to the Hanes Valley turnoff. We will head down the scree slope and follow the Hanes Valley trail back, ignoring the Lynn Lake turn off to the left, to Norvan Creek and the turnoff to Norvan Falls. From there we will take the Headwaters trail, sticking to the left and away from Lynn Creek past the Cedars Mill Trail turnoff and the Lynn Loop trail turnoffs. We will continue along straight past the turnoff to the left towards 2 lookouts and also past the turnoff to Lynn Peak also on the left. The trail will make a hard right and then shortly after come to an intersection where we will go left towards Rice Lake. We will continue straight past the Rice Lake turnoff and at Rice Lake Road we will not cross the bridge and take the trail south (which if my memory serves me correctly means we go left and then right very quickly) we will then take the trail to our right towards the 30 ft pool and follow the trail on the right and towards Lynn Canyon until we reach the suspension bridge. Simplified Instructions: C/ towards Suspension Bridge L/ Baden-Powell (before suspension bridge) R/ Lynn Valley Road R/ Rice Lake Road L/ Varley trail L/ Lynn Valley Road R/ Baden-Powell trail R/ Mountain Highway L/ Dam Mountain trail L/ Crown Mountain trail R/ Hanes Valley trail C/ Lynn Headwaters trail L/ to Rice Lake road L/ Rice Lake road R/ 30 Foot Pool trail R/ fork in trail R/ across Suspension Bridge

There is no fee and you don't need to be a member of Club Fat Ass to participate in a Flash event, however whining is not allowed. No registration is required but please indicate your participation via the comment form below. You are responsible for your own well being and safety and should be self sufficient. This is a wilderness adventure run and you need to be prepared with the appropriate gear for weather and emergencies.

Please read the Release of All Claims. By participating in this event you agree to the terms of the Release of All Claims.


Mutha's Nature Trail Run - Report

Sunday morning I arrived at Lynn Canyon to find nobody waiting by the Baden-Powell trailhead. I thought I had gotten off easy, having gone down to injury in the Royal Victoria 1/2 marathon the weekend before and having been barely able to walk since then. I went and parked figuring I would just go for a hike along the route with my dog Shazam when Mel, a new Club Fat Ass member from Kelowna pulled up beside me.

We discussed the route and decided not to do the full 32 km as she only had 3 hours and with my hip injury we weren't going to be moving very quickly. She did mention how she could always 'cut back' if she was running out of time but that would be somewhat difficult from the top of the Hanes Valley. It was too bad our situations did not allow us to do the whole course because the weather was perfect, clear skies but not too cold for a fall day.

We decided to just the back part of the course Baden-Powell and Varley Trail to Lynn Headwaters and take the trail to Norvan Falls and back on the Cedar's Mill trail.

Mel hadn't done a lot of running in North Vancouver so was happy to see any of the North Shore trails and we headed off on our run at about 8:05.

Shazam pounded through all of the creek crossings on the way out to Norvan Falls, and through all of the muddiest spots he could find of course.

We stopped briefly at the falls, and then headed back. By this point my hips were really tightening up and Mel even noticed how short my stride was getting. She was very gracious to resist the urge to leave me sucking dust as I limped along. By the last few kilometers it was very apparent I was very lucky not to have run the whole thing as it would have taken me all day to get back and I had to work in the afternoon.

We arrived back at the Lynn Canyon parking lot after 2:55. Mel was a great new member to meet and plans to come out in December to Pure Satisfaction so hopefully we'll see more of her around.