Last Day in Canada

On our last day in Canada, one of the great highlights happened. As we were walking towards the Smoke Bluffs (which is basically still in the town of Squamish), we heard some rustling in the bushes. First, we thought “Well, probably just a bird or squirrel…” and continued talking and walking. But as we got closer, the rustling grew louder and we even heard some twigs crack. So, either a strange, very huge bird or something else…? However, we didn’t think anything of it, because we were still very close to the town and not somewhere in the wilderness. Suddenly, Philipp exclaimed excitedly: “That’s a BEAR!”. And I… instantly laughed loudly, telling him what a bad joke it is. But as I turned around and saw the look on his face, I knew that it was actually NOT a joke. Then, I saw the black bear too, not even 10 metres away! It already turned around, slowly plodding away from us. Probably it didn’t like our loud talking before. Phew... We asked some Canadians if we should report somewhere that a bear is in the area, but noooo, they were really easygoing and just thanked us for the “warning”.

Well, after coming back down from that exciting encounter, we climbed Penny Lane, a beautiful crack line and a great final route. Unfortunately, it started raining after that. At least, we could take a look at some nice other routes while hiking through the Smoke Bluffs.