Vedder Ridge

Well if 10K wasn't enough last weekend I just had to do another 11K this weekend. I simply had to as a whole new set of Geocaches were published on the top of the mountain I hiked last weekend. This route follows the very top ridge of the mountain and ends up at the very highest point (Peak) of the mountain. I was really hoping this was the route my fellow cachers were planting new caches on and to my delight it was. I rallied up the troops and we set off for the day. This hike started off similar to the other with an uphill climb for the first bit followed by a smooth hike with some minor ups and downs along the way. There were a few more things to see on this jaunt such as three ponds, some man made steps,a boardwalk, and a couple of rope climbs to get to the very end. I'll post a picture video of snaps from the two hikes for you and add a link to a video of the rope climbing we did to summit the mountain.

10k hike

Well a string of Geocaches were published just before the weekend. 13 in all spread across a 10 kilometer stretch of mountain trail in Chilliwack. This stretch was on the Eastern side of Vedder mountain. I called up a couple of friends to see if they wanted to join me at finding these geocaches and they agreed. First thing Saturday morning we decided was to be the day. We made a plan the night before and at the suggestion of the cache hiders to drive and park one vehicle at the end of the trail then drive back park the other vehicle and start our trek. It was an overcast morning with a little fog as we set out. The climb was slow going at first as the grade was pretty substantial. This seems to be a normal occurrence i'm finding the more hikes I take on. All uphill for the first stretch then evening out after a while with a nice gradual downhill to finish. I decided to lightly pack my larger backpack for this trip as it was to be a long 10k hike and I wanted to start conditioning myself as well as see how the pack preformed. If you remember I had a short 3-4k hike a month or so ago where I fully loaded this particular pack. I can say that both trips have been a success. I'm very happy with the pack and it's fit.

We managed the hike in 4 hours including the 13 stops at geocaches. I found I was stopping allot less than my previous hikes and my body seems to be getting used to the hiking. A good sign in my books that's for sure. I even used less water this time around. Sunday morning came around and I went on another short 2k hike with a few friends where I went back to my small day pack. This was more of a test at how I would feel hiking again the next day after a long hike. I felt really good and had no problems. This is a good sign that an overnighter isn't far off for me and is definitely doable. So If I keep this up I will be weekend hiking and backpacking with the kids this spring for sure :)