Mount Burwell is one of the more challenging hikes on the North Shore - a flat 7km followed by a continuous climb for another 7km, then turn around and do the whole thing in reverse. It's the highest peak that I can get to in a day hike (well, without driving any distance), but of course there is always a higher peak just beyond, in this case the well-named Cathedral Mountain. Drawing on a distant mountain-top is a bit like the biathalon, where you have to be calm and focused for half-an-hour after charging uphill at full speed for 5 hours. The other two groups that were in the area passed me heading down when I was drawing the well-weathered hemlock on the lower Coliseum Mountain, making me very aware that it was a long way back, that the days are getting shorter quickly - and that there are lots of branches and clumps of foliage to draw even in a quick sketch!
