Dog Mountain

Shauna found out about a new trail recently called Dog Mountain. It's actually been around for quite a few years but I'd been unaware of it. The trail starts from the northwest corner of the Mount Seymour parking lot. It begins innocently enough with gravel surfacing, but deteriorates rapidly from there into a morass of rocks and roots. Orange surveyor's tags nailed to the odd tree actually were of assistance at some points along the trail.

However it's quite popular, and while the viewpoint at the end is indeed spectacular, the 2.5 km journey in between is definitely challenging.

I think the term "trail" is used rather loosely here.

Here's First Lake. We weren't too concerned that we'd neglected to bring swim suits.

About midway along the trail, past First Lake, a persistent repetitive noise registered with me. At first I thought it was from a child ahead of us on the trail hitting a bongo drum of some kind. But the more often I heard it, the more it seemed to be too uniform. Five or six muffled thumps in a row. Then silence. Then five or six more thumps. The sound continued for the mid portion of the trail until after awhile I noticed I hadn't heard it for awhile. On the way back the same pattern emerged. I'm wondering if it wasn't an owl. I don't really know what would make me think that. The sound most certainly wasn't a traditional "Hoo hoo" that we're taught owls make.

The summit is worth the scramble. All of Vancouver and Burnaby are visible. We could even see Point Roberts in Washington State.

The summit is a popular foodie hang-out for the Ravens. They're as bad as Crows for scavenging errant crumbs. Not shy at all, those birds

The view to the west is equally as impressive as the south. It just seems like the edge of the world.