Last Sunday was the planned optional trail run up to Grass Lake for the STARR run crew. A 9:00 start on what was clearly going to be a day of fabulous hot weather led to a motion, carried unanimously, to hike the route and forget the run. What a great call. So Kari, Shawn, Sarah, Georgia and Ian headed up Grass Lake Trail through the forest on one of the regions more agreeable footpaths. Those of us that ran the Sooke Hills 25km reflected on race organisers Elliot & Jason’s very questionable choice(!) of selecting Harrison Trail for the descent from Grass Lake, and not the easier and more runnable Grass Lake Trail.
After about 6km of mostly gentle ascent we emerged from the woodland to a little clearing on the banks of Grass Lake to be blown away by the number of beautiful pink and white Nymphaeales, yes ok water lilies. Claude Monet ain’t seen anything like this spread of lilies! It really is stunning. Sarah made it quite clear that swimming was not an option yet we did have two choices, get in ourselves or be chucked in. So we all elected to dive, jump, glide and in my case wallow into the water. Shawn, now this is genius, decided to do his weekly laundry by jumping in fully clothed and with a camera strapped to his chest. Evidence from the camera suggests that the water’s brown hue may make Shawn’s labour saving idea ineffective. (The official video of the trip is already available https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-vq8UwJM52Y)
After a picnic on the rocks and drying in the sun, we headed back down the hill enjoying the first of the summer’s wild berries. We stopped on the way back for a short break at the Rusty Wagon (I do feel misled on this, as I had assumed it was a pub). Once back at the cars, the others left for home whilst I waited for Georgia to read every single one of the Life of the Salmon notice boards, slowly and at least twice… Fully informed on all aspects of the salmon hatchery, we too departed and reflected on a really wonderful hike and swim, with this top crew on the best of summer days.
Don’t miss the next one!