Mt Strachan hike, 18/7/2009

Ok, getting back up to date finally… in truth you haven’t missed much, because I either haven’t had a camera with me or just haven’t been doing much that was photogenic.  The last hike I did was a few weeks ago in Mt Strachan, which is in the skiing area of the north shore (and for all the mountain-bikers out there, yes, there were a lot of bikers). The hike itself wasn’t actually that picturesque for the most part, because we basically just walked up the mountain under the ski tow, and picked up the trail right near the top. The view from the top however.. was another story. Absolutely stunning 360 vistas over the city, bay, and mountains behind. I took a few panoramas which I’ve included. There were actually two “peaks”; after we hit the first one and had lunch (gratuitous “finger shot” included for fans of the genre), getting eaten alive by mosquitos because we didn’t realise there was a fetid pond right behind us, there’s a 10 minute saddle until you hit a slightly higher peak with even better views.  We took a different (and occasionally off-track) route down which was a bit more scenic, and also included the remains of a Cessna crash. We had a brief stop at a lookout on the way home, which is the final panorama.  That evening was a party on a private island (in Deep Cove; if you remember the boating trip up Indian Arm, it’s along there), which is every bit as much fun as it sounds. Unfortunately (I swear I’m not hiding anything) the only photo I took there was as we were boating over, which is the last photo in the set. Good times though.