Laurent and I met at the Jura Creek Trailhead on a Sunday when there was an extreme wind warning. My plan was to take Laurent up Doorjam and Loder Peak. The day before I had a nice run around West Bragg and I wanted something short and steep.
I knew the likelihood of reaching Loder Peak was slim by the way my car was shaking while I sat waiting for my friend.
We decided to at least attempt Doorjam but if things got too crazy we would bail. There were a lot of people coming down the mountain that cautioned us about the wind. There was even a couple with a small child.
I don’t think we made it that far before I was trying to catch my breath while clinging to a boulder.
We sat for a few minutes while deciding to head back down. The wind was refreshing and it was quite nice to just sit and take in the quiet and listen to the wind blow. I think attempting to summit Loder Peak with a wind warning would have been silly. I nearly blew off on a day when there was no wind warning.
It was still early when we got down so we decided to explore the area. I remembered seeing some photos of a canyon so we consulted the trail map and headed out to find this Jura canyon. (The name of the trail is Jura Creek trail so I assume it’s Jura canyon.)
Reaching the canyon didn’t take long. I can see why it’s a popular area for families. The canyon was super cool. There was still quite a bit of melting snow.
We took our time chatting and exploring the trail. When I am training for a race, there’s always this focus to get in kilometres and vert. I never take the time to simply explore with no agenda so this was a nice change of pace. (Also happy that Laurent is so flexible an easy going.)
After exploring the trail, we decided to find the cave. It wasn’t really marked anywhere. We ran into a couple who were also looking for the cave. They told us we were not on the right trail. So the four of us found the cave together. It was a little underwhelming but it was cool nonetheless.
Do you always have a Plan B when you are out on the trails ? I would love to hear from you in the comments below.