Today was a beautiful day, shaping up to be the only clear, sunny day we would have. With that in mind, we picked the M. Gurr hike as our activity of the day, which made Host Jeff happy because he could bring his trusty companion Bindi (side note: the alternate hike would have been the first one Host Jeff had to do solo … yikes!). The start of this adventure was just over an hour away, in Bella Coola proper. Once in town, in order to reach the trailhead, we had to drive along an old, pot-hole-riddled, unpaved, logging road for a mere 17 km. Yeah, that’s right. 17 km. At the breakneck speed of 10-15 km/hour it took another hour and a half to reach our starting point, where, I’m sorry to say, there was an unfortunate lack of an outhouse.
The next phase of our hike was a 2.7 km grouse-grind-like hike to the summit. Host Jeff is a very fast hiker, and he was motivated to go even faster when we came across a noisy Swedish family. Swede father was all decked out with a bear bell, which jingled irritatingly for the rest of the hike uphill and Host Jeff likes to appreciate nature quietly. In search of the sound of silence, he picked up his already fast pace, but I didn’t have the energy left to do much more than follow along and dream of ripping that damn bell off Swede Dad’s belt and chucking it over a cliff. I thought about suggesting that maybe there were no bears here on the top of the mountain where there was no food, but in a fit of sensibility decided to keep quiet. Host Jeff made an attempt to give them a subtle message by telling a joke: “How do you tell black bear scat from grizzly bear scat? Black bear scat is about this big, and grizzly scat is THIS big, and has bells in it.” It didn’t work.
The mountain top was breathtaking, and totally worth the 4+ hours it took to get there. We hung out for a bit and took a million photos, of which I’ve shared a select few (you’re welcome).
M Gurr lake, about half way up 
Top of the mountain to you! 
Beautiful mountain view. 
Just another mountain view.
The hike down was much easier, even though we were pretty tired. BUT … the drive down was WAY worse. It was like being on the Disneyland Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom for two and a half hours straight. The first hour is fun and all, but after that you start thinking maybe It’s a Small World might be a nice change of pace.
No bear sightingins today, but we did encounter a grouse both going up and coming down the hiking trail.
OMG. You and Husband Jeff are now dressing alike!