Go home via the Hanes Valley

Thanks everyone for coming out to the third running of Go Home via the Hanes.

23 runners showed up for various distances. The weather cooperated and we had a sunny but cool morning for the start. Pulling in  in to the parking lot at 8.10, a large group of people were already raring to go. My first reaction was that i was late for the start, but a quick check of my watch confirmed that I was 20 minutes early.

As i did a a quick scan of the people who had gathered, I was happy to see that they were really well prepared with each of them wearing a backpack. Not recognizing many of the faces, I worried that I didn't have enough sign up waivers for new members. As it turned out it was the Discovery Hiking Group, who were planning to hike the Hanes Valley.

3 new members of the Club Fat Ass thought this was our group and started out with them. After about 5 minutes they realized that this was going to be a really long day and as they started inquiring about fat asses and getting some strange looks and stares, they realized that they were with the wrong crowd and jogged back to the parking lot to hook up with the true fat asses.

Navid and Tim raced off towards Norvan Falls. On the way back Navid somehow  stirred up a wasp nest. As he escaped unharmed, it seemed that every one else were soon attacked by the hordes of angry wasps with people receiving from a couple to several stings .  Thankfully  nobody had any allergic reactions to the bites.

Reagan and Rachel avoided the wasps by going a little ways past Norvan Falls and taking a longer time getting back to the wasp nest area and by then the rangers had put a warning sign up.

The best way to avoid the wasp nest was to head in to the Hanes Valley, which 14 runners did with varying agendas. Ean, Liza, Heather, and Craig had plans for a bit of bagging at the top of valley and it seemed that all had succeeded in their plan. Bill and Kelly opted out at Grouse for 18 Km or so. Phil wasn't quite fast enough to keep up with the lead group, but too fast for the slower, so he ran most of the way by himself. Jackie and Christine hooked up with Lindy and Sarah and convinced them to run down Mountain Highway to complete the full 30 km (actually closer to 28). I convinced Tracy and Jay to come along with me on a new route planned for next year. We turned off Mountain Highway and connected with the Secret Seven Trail to Crinkum Crankum and then a right on Cedar Tree Trail, which brought us almost to the gate at the bottom of Mountain Highway and thus avoiding most of the switchbacks on Mountain Highway. The new trail was easy to follow so it will definitely be on the agenda for next year. Jay's GPS registered about 26 km on this route, which is a couple kms less than Mountain Highway and a lot more enjoyable. It was great to have the opportunity to have some new people through the Hanes who had not been there before. My favorite run in the Lower Mainland. It gives you the sense of really being out in the wild, but you are only one mountain ridge away from the big city.

It was great to see a lot of people out hiking and running. When we got to the Chalet at Grouse and left Bill and Kelly to take the gondola down, we met Kevin, Valley, and a few friends who were running just ahead of us through the valley. I think Kevin might be training to take back his WCT record that Garry Robins broke a month ago. Thanks again for coming out , thanks to Trail Runner Magazine and Mosquito Creek Grill for their continuing support of our club. I hope to see you all out there again.

 Des