Exploring N. Shore Starting small: taking Dog Mountain by strategy WHEN MY older brother and sister spent their teens and 20s mountain scaling, river rafting and skydiving, family friends waited for me to follow in their adventurous footsteps. I didn’t. After a few years as an en- vironmental writer, new acquain- tances invariably expected me to be the high-cardio, ‘‘Gosh-it’s- a-nice-day-let’s-scale-the-Lions’’ type of person. I disappointed them. As I have confessed before, my environmentalism is generally of a sedentary nature. I'll write about it, I'll read about it, but as much as I appre- ciate the thought of mountain wildflowers the chances are slim that you’ll entice me to climb great elevations to observe them. I’m sorry. That’s just the way I am. . I suspect, however, that there are many of you like me out there. People who prefer reading over running, handcrafts over hik- ing, and napping over Nikes. _ This past weekend, though, in- spired by the sunshine and shock- ing revelations from my bathroom . ‘scale, I endeavored to overcome my natural sloth and — gulp — take to the North Shore wilds. While 1 would have loved — I repeat, loved — to have im- mediately conquered the peaks of Seymour, I knew it would be only sensible to start small. As small as possible. Lo and behold, upon perusing Mary and David Macaree’s 109 Walks in British Columbia’s _. Lower Mainland we came up with a mountain walk whose main at- traction, in my opinion, was that it involved virtually no hill climb- ‘ ing, I was sold: « .. So my mate (who would prefer -» to be doing more rugged things, _ but has come to learn over the course of our relationship that it’s unlikely he’ll ever do them with me) and I set off for Seymour * Mountain. - : ’-* Qur plan: to walk the path to Dog Mountain, which starts at the north end of Seymour’s upper ’ parking lot. The trail, a seven-kilometre ECO INFO round trip, leads to First Lake, then travels onward to the views awaiting at the Dog Mountain lookout. While the topography of the trail was definitely made for novice hikers, current conditions still make it somewhat treacher- ous. Most of the walk is on (muddy) forest floor, but there are still several snow fields to be travers- ed. The snow added to the pleasure of the walk, but also served asa good reminder of the importance of proper footwear. It would have been incredibly - easy to slip on a wet tree root, lose your footing in the snow, or slide down a muddy bank with ankle-twisting consequences. While we had no problem, we encountered a girl being semi- carried out of the forest by two friends. She had indeed slipped on a log, and as she was wearing run- ning shoes didn’t have the ankle . support to prevent an injury. My always-prepared pal do- _ nated his tensor bandage which made her ankle more comfortable, but it still didn’t look like fun hopping over tree roots and screaming whenever her injured foot accidentally made contact with the ground. The incident, however, prompted me to call my brother- in-law’s brother (yes, | will name-drop about my distant rela- tives in high places), Allen McMordie, who is a search man- ager with the volunteer North Shore Rescue Team. He and the other 40-odd members of the team are the ones called out in the middle of the night to rescue lost hikers and skiers, many of whom find themselves in their predicament by either being ill-prepared or stray- ing out of bounds. The team was very busy, before Christmas this year, dealing with an avalanche up Cypress anda lost snow-shoer on Seymour. In fact, Allen was paged in the middle of his church’s Sunday School Christmas pageant, and had to leave the show just before his daughter made her debut as an angel and his son reincarnated as a shepherd. His kids didn’t see him until the next Tuesday afternoon, when they were brought up the moun- tain for a quick half-hour visit in the parking lot. Obviously, the searchers would prefer to have their home life left somewhat intact, and would rather see us hikers using our wood-smarts than having us wander off or slip down a slope — for our sake as well as theirs. © So here are some springtime hiking safety tips from Allen, after which I will conclude the ex- citing commentary of My Trip to Dog Mountain. & Stay away from the peaks right now. Even if you have the right boots, the slippery snow makes them dangerous and can send you headlong down a gully. , » If you are going to be hiking in snow, carry an ice axe. : This isn’t intended to help you See Sunscreen page 18 y, May 28, 1993 -~ North Shore News — met ditt tt CONSOLIDATED ROOFING SERVICES FREE ESTIMATES - PROMPT, COURTEOUS SERVICE Re-Roofing ond New Keofing @ General Roof Repair Cedar Shakes and Shingles © Asphalt Shingles 980-0677 683-0489 © audio/video input 2) variable audio output fle on-screen picture and #4 sound controls @ stereo MTS 12043 29°" serson 27AXIBC @ MIS stereo with DBX noise reduction e 600 line resolution © 6-way surround sound system Stand optional Amomber of the Conedien Home Budders* hon oy © Easy shuttle search dial © Itluminated video brain remote contro! s VHS index search © Video brain remote © Movie return switch © VHS index search ¢ There are two kinds of asphalt shingles on the market: organic felt-based and fiberglass-based. ® With the extremes of our Canadian climate, the ‘organic felt-based shingles provide superior _ performance; being more elastic, they can expand | and contract as temperature and humidity changes occur, with less risk of splitting or cracking. ® Fiberglass shingles are more rigid and have a ten- dency to become brittle; they can be more readily damaged during handling and their application is much harder when outside temperatures are very cold or very warm. * Organic felt-based shingles have superior tear resistance and can be applied practically year-round without risk of damage to the product. 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