What better way is there to ring in our national holiday than standing atop a North Shore mountain singing O Canada as the sun slowly rises on a stunning summer day?
Turns out, more than 350 people couldn’t agree more.
That’s what took place early Wednesday morning as approximately 350 people scaled Mount Seymour to celebrate Canada’s 148th birthday with an impromptu singing of the country’s national anthem from an altitude of 1,400 metres.
“It was humbling, that’s kind of the word that would come. Exhilarating. It was just really cool to see that many people get up and go do something that most would think is outside of the box and a little bit crazy,” said Julian DeSchutter of Chasing Sunrise, the organization that organized the hike.
DeSchutter, from Vancouver, is one of four local people who started the informal Chasing Sunrise group in February, with the goal of literally getting up and seizing the day.
Although the group has done about a dozen sunrise hikes now, it’s never been done on Canada Day and there have never been anything like the numbers of people who showed up in the wee hours of Wednesday morning.
According to DeSchutter, the idea to put on a Canada Day sunrise hike only came about nine days before July 1, and was spread by word of mouth and through social media. In the period of just over a week, DeSchutter said more than 350 people had signed up to take part.
“In the span of nine days it just kind of took a life of its own and went phenomenally,” he said. “People started showing up around 2:30 in the morning, which is awesome because we said show up at three and there’s very few things in life people show up early to.”
When the mass of hikers set out for the top, it was still full dark, according to DeSchutter, who said Wednesday’s full moon helped to provide just enough light to navigate the trail, with help from headlamps.
Although nobody planned it, when the sun began to rise shortly after 5 a.m. the crowd began to break into the national anthem.
He said the singing of O Canada started with one person, then spread to 10 people, then to 100 “until 350 people all started diving in and singing the (national) anthem.”
DeSchutter said the unexpected chorus showed just how capable people are of rising to the situation on their own accord.
“If you just let go a lot of the control of stuff like this, you realize how capable people are in their own rights and everything just kind of takes care of itself if you just let people do their own thing.”
Chasing Sunrise x Canada Day from Shuttermouth Media on Vimeo.
