Colliseum Mountain

Just 15 minutes from my house, the hike up to Colliseum mountain makes an impressive escape from the city. The hike starts by cycling down the paved, silky pavement, of the car-free Lower Seymour Conservation Reserve. This fast 9km start takes you deep into the Seymour valley. Then it's a classic coastal grind straight up 800m through a fantastically steep, brooding, softly hemlock matted, old-growth forest, to a fabulous lookout over the city. A quick dip across a col takes you on to Colliseum mountain, where you can wander about on sprawling granite slabs. Baking in the mid-afternoon sun and seeking to evade some surpise September mosquito swarms, we took a walk down to Cornett lake for a very short swim. Lingering in the sunshine, we didn't get back to the biking trial till dusk, where we were rewarded with a great view of a Barred owl (easily identified by it's liquid brown eyes. All other owls in North America, aside from the distinct Barn owl, and the famously endangered Spotted owl, have yellow eyes. No I didn't buy a telephoto lens. We were that close.)