How are things in Vancouver?

I've been working in Vancouver for about 4 weeks now as a project manager, or a system engineer, as that is my official title here. I work for OSI maritime, a company that makes navigation systems for Naval ships. I'm here to provide expertise on ergonomics and human factors during the engineering of Bridges on ships. This is a lot of fun and totally my field of knowledge, but it also has been quite the change from my summer job. From being in the woods, the mountains and camping outside, I am now in front of a computer screen 8 hours a day, in a cubicle. But then, if I return home from my work, I drive up the hill enjoying the view on the mountains on the north shore and I can not help smiling, every day again.

My new ride.

I find myself lucky that I am still staying with my friends Bena and Laurin. After the first week, it turned out we get along very well and are enjoying each others company. My contract is until Christmas approximately and I don't know what will happen after that, so we all decided I should stay with them for now.

What will happen after Christmas when my contract ends, I don't know yet. That is as much terrifying as it is a great sense of freedom. I might be able to work longer at OSI and stay in Vancouver, I might be able to work as a ski guide. Who knows!

Bena and Laurin showed me the biggest Gelato Casa I've ever seen!

I live close to the mountain, just left of the bridge

Fall is around the corner...

Finding new friends is not easy in this huge city. Vancouver is filled with people from all over the world and lots of people are coming and going. Luckily, there is a whole network online to find people with the same interests. You can find everything on meetup.com. I've tried out the hiking groups and it has been really nice so far!

The last three weeks we've been lucky with the weather, lots of sunshine and not colder then 15 degrees during the day. Perfect for hiking! Weather forecast says it will be like that until end of October, which is very unusual for Vancouver. Normally it is raining by now. For me that means I can still do some of the hikes that can't be done safely as soon as snow shows up in the mountains.

And in the near vicinity of Vancouver there are some very cool hikes. The Stawamus Chief for example, less than an hour drive from my house, was quite the fun trail with steep cliffs, narrow valleys, some scrambling over rocks and a few chains and ladders to help you get up the peak. And, an amazing view from the top! 

 

View on first peak with some strangers on top

View from the top!

Watch your step!

View on the Howe Sound

Dangle your feet if you dare!

Time for a break.
Again, such a good lunch spot.

 Our little Meet-up group for the day

A nice peek
(pun intended)

Beautiful sunset on the way back to Vancouver

Another hike I did, with my friend Felix, is the Hanes Valley hike. It starts about 15 min. drive from my house, and ends on top of Grouse Mt. from where you can take the Skyride down. Although the hike is very close to the city, you are in the backcountry very quickly and have the sense of being far away deep in the mountains. We only encountered one other person on the hike. The hike has some fun challenges like walking over a (very slippery!) tree across the Lynn creek, conquering a boulder field and climbing up some slippery, muddy rocks. It what makes this trail a great adventure. We both loved this one. 

Fun bridges

Dangerous crossing over Lynn creek

View into the Hanes valley
 after conquering the long boulder field

The first snow! 

search the trail...

View on West Vancouver from Grouse Mt. 

Now, back to the question 'How are things in Vancouver and do I want to stay here?'. Well, I don't know yet. I'm still in the process of exploring the answer to that question. In the mean time, I'm enjoying the moment and taking every opportunity to enjoy this city. Mostly by hiking, eating great food from all over the world and playing around with photography:

Lions Gate Bridge

Lions Gate Bridge