It's Sunday February 7th. 2010 and this morning as we headed out of a foggy and chilly Calgary (minus 13C) we wondered what the day would hold for us in Peter Lougheed Provincial Park. We had elected to go snow shoeing along the closed section of Highway 40. Not far along Highway 1 the fog lifted and we were greeted with sunshine and bright white snow along the Highway - the fog produced hoar frost features but left the greying snow gleaming and glistening white.
A few of us turned off onto Highway 40, some turned off towards Kananaskis Village and Nakiska; offering more than 60 runs with 50 or so open for downhill skiing. The rest of us drove further towards the end of the road in winter and the delights of snow shoeing and cross country skiing deeper in the Provincial Park itself.
We parked our car with the two others at the road closure sign; it was bright, the sky was blue and temperatures were rising. We changed our shoes for winter boots, gaiters and snow shoes, locked the car and set off along the closed road covered in snow.
We only passed four skiers near the midpoint of our walk, the mountains opened up as we progressed on our route. The only sounds we heard were that of the light breeze, the odd bird call, running water under ice and planes flying overhead! there were numerous footprints of deer, coyotes, mountain sheep and Wapiti (elk) in the snow. Despite the fact that Bill had the camera ready to snap any living creature none appeared to want to have their picture taken!!
It was so warm that we discarded our hats and gloves for the return journey.
We saved our flask of hot chocolate for the end and as ever it tasted good. The return journey toward Highway 1 afforded us views of the snow capped mountains and Barrier Lake which was frozen, although at the edges the ice was thawing. As we approached Calgary we could see the bank of fog, temperatures dropped and the headlights and fog lights went on. Another grand day in the mountains.
No comments:
Post a Comment