Young Birders on the snowshoe trip at Grouse Mtn - Photo: Melissa Hafting
Today we had a fun snowshoe trip at Grouse Mountain in North Vancouver. Grouse Mountain graciously paid for all the snowshoe rentals for the youth and for all their gondola rides in honour of Black History Month.
It was rainy and windy in the morning and then there was a high risk of avalanche so a few people cancelled from the sold out trip. When we got there the Snowshoe Grind was closed but at 12pm they opened it up and we hiked up to the top. It had snowed quite a bit overnight so the powder was nice and fresh but made it a bit hard for some of the youth in their snowshoes. Unfortunately the avalanche risk was too high and Dam Mountain Loop and Thunderbird Ridge hike were closed so we could only go to the top of Dam Mountain. It was a steep at parts hike with a 240m elevation gain and 4.3km, so it was a nice workout for us. The youth had so much fun sharing stories and recent and upcoming trips they are going to do. Many were excited to travel again with their families for the upcoming spring break since most of us haven't traveled outside of Canada in 2 years.
Starting our snowshoe hike at Grouse - Photo: Melissa Hafting
When we arrived the snow weather was very foggy but it opened up for an hour to provide beautiful views of the city and of the trees and area beneath us.
Snowshoeing in the fog - Photo: Melissa Hafting
Beautiful scenery on Grouse Mountain - Photos: Melissa Hafting
Harry, Cam, Julia and Paul having fun in the snow - Photo: Melissa Hafting
Raymond having fun on the hike - Photo: Melissa Hafting
The youth had snowball fights,
enjoyed the scenery and we all had an awesome 6 hour trip. We only had 7
species and no Canada Jays which was a major target the youth wanted, as
they brought their nuts to feed them :(. Luckily there was
Chestnut-backed and Black-capped Chickadees and a Steller's Jay to fill
that niche. The species we did have for the day included Common Raven, Steller's Jay, Golden-crowned Kinglet, Black-capped and Chestnut-backed Chickadee, Red-breasted Nuthatch and Brown Creeper.
Young Birders feeding Chickadees at Grouse Mtn - Photo: Melissa Hafting
Even though we didn't see many bird species the youth never
complained and were so happy to be up there enjoying each other's
company. For some of the youth it was the first time they had ever been
on snowshoes. I made a short video with Raymond asking him how he enjoyed his first time on snowshoes and our trip.
Evan with a large snowball! - Photo: Melissa Hafting
Harry about to throw a snowball at me with Paul laughing behind.
Julia after throwing a snowball down the mountain seeing who could throw it the farthest.
Evan checking out the ice of a frozen waterfall on the trail - Photo: Melissa H.
We all had fun sliding down the steep sections of the trail on our way down. I haven't laughed that hard in a long time. At one point Harry and Clay caught themselves on the live stream feed from Grouse which was a fun moment for us all and then they took photos of it! haha. It's been a hard month with my mom's birthday just a few days ago which also marked the 2 month anniversary of her death, so it was nice to get out, smile and laugh.
Thank you again to Grouse Mountain for providing free snowshoe rentals and gondola passes for all the youth and making a barrier free event in honour of Black History Month. I am truly grateful to have led this fun young birders trip for an organization that is celebrating diversity and that recognizes the barriers many BIPOC face when it comes to expensive outdoor winter events such as this. This trip highlights that there is under-representation of BIPOC youth in this hobby and I hope that they will hear about these types of events and want to join in the future.
Thank you to all the youth who came out for an awesome day! It was so much fun to spend the day with you all!
Some of the awesome kids on the hike (Bentley, Paul, Daniel, Clay, Anica and Cam) - Photo: Melissa
