Just by Spray Lake and Mount Shark

We enjoyed a very pleasant snow shoe last weekend in the vicinity of Spray Lake and the intersting profile of Mount Shark. Our final destination was Karst Lake via Watridge Lake. The sun shone, the temperatures rose and the vistas opened up as we progressed along our chosen route.

The route is multi use, namely for cross country skiers, snow shoers and winter walkers. As we stopped to take in the scenery we chatted to other folk out enjoying the great outdoors. At times we felt overdressed as we passed some quite scantily clad people; short sleeves with no hat or gloves visible but no one was in shorts! While some folk were clad in warmer gear as they had been into the back country areas.

The scenery was 'awesome'; the snow clad mountains surrounding us and that bright, bright sunshine and the blue sky. Thank goodness for sunglasses it was far too bright to be without them. We arrived at Watridge Lake which was completely frozen and covered in a layer of snow. It was frozen enough to walk/ski on and we watched as two people made their way across the lake and as two skiers made their way towards us and like us took time to take in the view and have a refreshment break. As ever Bill always comes up trumps at lunchtime, I don't know how he does it!

From the Lake we found a path which made its way towards the forest, wide at first and then quite narrow. Not a place for cross country skiers but there was evidence that snow shoers had been before us. In the forest where the sun's rays hadn't reached for a while the snow covered trees glistened in the light, it felt cooler too. The trail narrowed even more and began slowly to climb. We came to a bench and we watched and listened to the stream as it made its way down towards the Watridge Lake. The final few switchbacks took us to our journeys end, Karst Lake. Not quite a lake but a large pool of water emerging from the limestone.

Now it was easy to understand why the stream was full of mosses - all due to the minerals in the water. There was also a bench, not just to rest after the last push to each Karst Lake but to admire the view, mountains bathed in bright sunshine.

We were the only two people taking in this view and on our return journey there were many times on the trail when we were alone with this magnificent scenery.

Is this winter .....?

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.

Another opportunity to snow shoe!

Last weekend, as the weather was set fair and most Calgarians were heading for the slopes, we decided to explore another area for snow shoeing. En route we passed the turn off for Kananaskis Village and Bill muttered something about going in for a look ..... well I never. We continued on to the visitor centre for Peter Lougheed Provincial Park; the car park was packed as was the centre. We checked on conditions, looked at possible snow shoe routes and returned to the vehicle. Normally we would turn right but this time we decided to turn left and head for Canyon day use car park and Upper Kananaskis Lake. There were a couple of routes we could choose from but we opted for the lower lakeside trail. Through the trees we caught glimpses of the mountains in their winter cloaks and as the clouds lifted, well ...... awesome (using a Canadianism). The trail went up and down and several folk passed us as they returned to the car park, all wearing different types of snow shoes and Bill could tell me which make not just by looking at the snow shoe but also by the imprint they left behind, impressive or what!

The Lake was was covered in ice and snow and at the journeys end the mountains looked inviting but not really with snow shoes, more like ice climbing. A chill wind whipped up across the Lake and so we sought shelter for lunch. We found a picnic table in amongst some trees and which was not covered in snow. Zof started to put out our sandwiches, fruit and drink rather too quickly a couple of grey jays appeared. As ever Zof took pity; poor little birds, it's cold, aren't they cute ... yeah, yeah, so she threw them a couple of crumbs - big mistake next thing we know there are at least eight of them all around us in the trees and then they started to swoop down to take our tasty sandwiches out of our hands. We put the fruit away pretty quickly. These 'cute' little birds thought Bill was playing with them as he swirled his hiking stick in the air to stop them from swooping on us and into our rucksacks. Our return route took closer to the Lake itself, although we were walking on snow there was thick ice beneath it. In places the ice stood almost vertical and we could see how the water had frozen making patterns in the ice. Zof picked up a piece, it was clear and blue but not minty as in the Fox's glacier mint advert of long ago.

The car park was emptying gradually as we returned, the sun had attracted many people to snow shoe around the Lake and many more joined us on the journey towards Highway 1 and onto it. Another grand day and those views .......

A glorious day snow shoeing

We spent a day snow shoeing in Peter Lougheed Provincial Park with our final destination being Chester Lake. The snow shoe trail was clearly way marked all the way and snow shoers outnumbered cross country skiers. The day was relatively warm at minus 3C in the car park and there was an abundance of snow. We quickly donned our snow shoes, hats and gloves, not forgetting lunch, water and a flask of hot chocolate. Without Bill seeing Zofia had also packed a few treats for the journey.

The route took us through forestry, a winding route with a couple of step ascents. Our snow shoes have heel raising bars at the back for steep ascents and these support the heel when going up. Bill made a wise choice when we purchased our snow shoes, after much research he decided on Mountain Trail produced by a Canadian company. The snow was deep in places; in this photograph Zofia's left hand pole has gone in quite deeply but we don't think it quite reached ground level.

Once out of the forestry we saw the hills in the distance and would have missed Chester Lake completely as the trail skirted to the left, there was a sign which said no fishing, so we knew we had reached our final destination. Chester Lake was frozen and covered in white snow around it we had views of Windy Peak

and Mount Galatea. A glorious day for snow shoeing, some sun, a few flakes of snow and wonderful views.

Winter brings such lovely scenes

Last weekend we had a hoar frost here in Calgary so out came the camera

Once the sun came out and the temepratures rose the frost dropped off of the trees and bushes. More snow is predicted on Monday and Tuesday before Christmas so we shall see what scenes it will bring.

Minus 35C (with a windchill)

Temperatures have certainly dropped following the first major blizzard of the winter and with the windchill it certainly feels and is cold.

Calgary Zoo puts its animals indoors during the winter months and in their place a colourful light display is put on courtesy of the sponsors Enmax. We ventured to the Zoo not only to see the lights but also to Bill's works Christmas bash; apologies for some of the photos but it was cold and Bills hands were shaking a little. We will return at a later date when perhaps it is not minus 35C!

Ice and Snow!

What a few days we have had: Friday saw the forecasters predicting snow flurries early afternoon but they didn't predict rain, followed by a temperature drop followed by the snow flurries. It all led to slippery roads - not just slippery but ice and black ice covered. A 'baptism of fire' or should that be 'ice'. I left after 8 pm to pick up Bill from work, 17th Avenue was backed up way past 69th Street SW. I had been told to use a route behind Westhills Recreation Centre, only problem - I wasn't told just how steep the road was and that there would be ice, not just ice but sheer black ice. I couldn't hear the road so I put the vehicle into low four wheel drive, I must have looked good as someone took a photo of me coming down! At the time I thought get out of the road I've got enough to contend with.

Never been so worried about crashing the vehicle, hitting another vehicle and hurting myself. !7th Avenue was backed up due to an accident involving five vehicles. We returned home by 11 pm!

Sunday: Grey Cup day and a Chinook to raise temperatures. We ventured to Peter Lougheed Provincial Park to Hogarth Lakes. Lots of snow and an opportunity to try out our new snowshoes. There was a chill wind but once we started moving we were warm and toastie. The Lakes were frozen but the mountains provided splendid backdrops, some more snow covered than others and others were hidden from view by cloud and snow flurries. The area is open to skiers and snow shoers and a lot of fun was had by us all. The five kilometre trail had its ups and downs and provided ample opportunity for us to see how our snow shoes would cope. Snow shoeing here in western Canada is an emerging pastime and the parks have ensured that there are routes at various levels. It is fun but you do expend lots of energy! Once out of the chill wind we were too warm at times but didn't remove any layers until we were back in the car park.

We decided to continue our journey towards Canmore rather than returning via Kananaskis, we were met with stunning views. Canmore had much less snow and the temperatures were noticeably higher.

What views! mother nature always rewards us after a day out!