Nicknamed "Mother Nature's Stairmaster", the Grouse Grind is a very famous hiking trail located at Grouse Moutain, where it gains close to 800m in elevation in about 2.5km distance. In other words, it is a very steep trail that just keeps on going up and does not really have any flat or downhill sections for hikers to rest while moving; a challenging trail. Hikers often get humbled by this trail if they are out of shape, or think that they are in shape and try to push to fast in the beginning. Due to it being very popular, the narrow trail is often very crowded during peak hours and downhill travel is not recommended / prohibited. Instead of hiking down, hikers hike up one way and take the gondola down from the Ground Mountain Chalet. Due to the trail being too steep and that it crosses a few areas with avalanche risk, it closes down during the winter months and is usually only open in late April or May, until October. I used to hike this trail about once a week from 2013 to 2015 (so 3 years in a row) during the months that the trail is open. Due to not wanting to run into crowds and wanting to speed run the trail, I usually start at 6:30am and would finish the hike in time to catch the first gondola down at 7:30am. Eventually, I stopped going because I started going on morning walks/hikes with my friends and it interfered with my Grouse Grind time slot. Also, my friends were not very in shape, so we never attempted to challenge the grind, but I had always said that one day, we should really give it a try. That day still haven't arrive yet.
When searching for photos of the hike, I realize that I had done this hike more than 70 times but had not taken the time to take photos of the hike. I had only pushed for a better time and had been treating it like an exercise routine, but had never really stopped to take photos of the trail. I'm only able to find some photos of this hike taken by my wife when we hiked it back in September 2021. I went on the hike with my wife, as she wanted to see what time she would achieve after being in better physical shape from doing more exercise. We went on this hike when we first started dating way back when we were both still in college, and it took her about 2.5 hours to complete. She had always dreaded this hike ever since; and had never gone back until 15 years later, during which she completed the hike in 1hr12mins. We also saw a deer in the bushes when walking around the trails near the chalet. Then we took the gondola down to complete my wife's Grouse Grind revisit.
Check out my previous hikes:
- The Panoramic Views of Panorama Ridge
- The Golden Larches of Frosty Mountain
- The Winter Snow of Pump Peak at Mount Seymour
- Sapphire Waters and Azure Skies of Battle Bluff
- It Isn't Always Sunshine and Blue Skies
- The Frozen River and Waterfalls of Maligne Canyon
- The Amazing Arches of Arches National Park
- The Bizarre Hoodoos of Bryce Canyon National Park
- The Magnificent Stones of Zion National Park
- The Flowing Walls of Lower Antelope Canyon
- A Glimpse of Hope at the Hope Lookout Trail
- Turquoise Waters viewed from Sea to Summit Trail
- The Three Peaks of Mount Seymour
- The Serene Winter Scene at Dog Mountain
- Murrin Loop and Jurassic Ridge
- Yosemite National Park
- The Bear's Hump at Waterton National Park
- Views of Okanagan from Pincushion Mountain Trail
- The Half Frozen Waterfalls at Franklin Falls
- Hole in the Wall of Vancouver Island
- Sometimes You Just Get Lucky
- Winter Wonderland at Alexander Falls
- Eagle Bluffs
- Smuggler Cove Marine Provincial Park
- Admiralty Point
- Myra Canyon Trail
- Garabaldi Lake
- Botanical Beach Loop
- Wild Pacific Trail Lighthouse Loop
- Whistler Train Wreck Trail