As I packed my suitcase for my 2 months stay in beautiful British Columbia, little did I know just how awesome of an adventure I was about to embark on. Growing up in Montréal, I had never ventured off into the glory that is the West Coast of Canada, so when the opportunity came for me to work and live in Vancouver for 2 months over the summer, you can bet that my answer was definitely ‘sign me up’!
After a 5 hour flight, I was finally on West Coast soil and ready to indulge in whatever Vancouver had to offer. From delicious sushi, beautiful beaches, rad hikes and vibrant night life, this is a city that has it all. But there’s one adventure in particular that easily claims the title of the best day of my life.
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It happened towards the end of my summer. Myself and a few friends from Germany had decided to hit up Lynn Canyon, a municipal park in North Vancouver with endless hiking trails, suspension bridges and waterfalls galore. After constantly hearing about cliff diving at Lynn Canyon from Van City locals, I knew I’d have to try it out for myself, and thank goodness I did.
It took us all about 2 seconds to say YES when they asked us if we wanted to join them, and what happened next was pure bliss.
After jumping a fence and walking past the numerous DANGER signs located around the park warning cliff divers of the extreme consequences that come from jumping from these waterfalls, we only found it fitting to ignore them and let our excitement take over our dangerous but awesome judgement calls. We finally made it to the first fall, and as we changed into our swimsuits and jumped into the glacier water, we swam to the edge of the waterfall and climbed up the rock that stood beside it. The guys from Saskatchewan decided to tell us at this time that this was one of three waterfalls we’d have to jump from in order to reach solid ground again, so it’s either you swim back now, or jump from three falls. The decision on this one wasn’t hard, considering I was already walking to the edge of the first fall.
https://www.instagram.com/p/BIyZ6xSAs7C/?taken-by=mikechaar
I vividly remember looking back at my German friend, then looking down at the 100 foot fall, and thinking to myself that this is where the “no turning back now” phrase was really playing out.
It all happened so fast, cause one second I was on top of a cliff, and then another, I was under water swimming to the surface. I remember breaking the water and just letting out the biggest yell of accomplishment i’ve ever made. The sound echoed loudly and we made way to waterfall number two.
This one was smaller than the first, but 45 feet is still a pretty big feat. The DANGER signs were making a bit more sense this time around, as we made way to the cliff, our footing needed to be perfect, cause one slip and you’d be headed 45 feet into rocks, ouch. Luckily, our adrenaline was fully kicked in and there was no turning back. We made it to the edge safe and sound and back to jumping it was. By the end of the third waterfall, I felt like a pro. Jumping from waterfalls into pure glacier water in the most beautiful province i’ve yet to visit, no biggie *dusts off shoulder*.
https://www.instagram.com/p/BI_Pszvg1QC/?taken-by=mikechaar
As we finally reached solid ground again, it was a little bit of a hike back up to where we had originally started. As we got our stuff together and headed home, I couldn’t believe the feelings of elation I was experiencing.
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