Unexpected and Fantastic January 27, 2013

The week previous we planned to hike Sleeping Beauty/Slatechuk today ... we are ever optimistic. Yesterday was sunny so we were even less expectant ... at 9:30 the first call to cancel came and a few more later but the 3 hardy over the hillers headed up the hill.

The night before was a beatiful full moon, the snow was virually all gone from the top of Sleeping Beauty ... who thought that when we got up that there would be snow down low on the mountain!

Off we went wondering about the roads ... no problems though so we parked mid road at the "Y" turn-off and headed up the trail ... calm, with a few inches of snow.

On we went it was amazing, as on Friday, we had talked about missing snow while we watched Conflict Tiger [the inspiration film for John Vaillant's The Tiger].

There were just us and tracks in the snow ... we neither saw nor heard anything.

An hour or so later we stoped at the benches for a delicous muffin snack while HH continued on a bit to find the geocache, by now we were in snow occassionally up to our knees ... HH broke trail for us so she deserved to find the cache, which she did.

It was magical, and so unexpected ... the best part is no snow in town.

The knees held up on the way down and we shared some amazing fire stories ... strange as it wasn't cold.

Once back to town, we instituted our Plan B as well ... lunch and movie.
Great way to spend a Sunday.

Jan. 20 Hiking to Geocache Duncan's Vision

Lots were busy today but a few enthusiasts decided to head out ... the weather was mild and dry. So we looked at Branch 10 B, C and D as well as Stanley Lake Rd ... then went back to 10C and headed in to find the geocache, Duncan's Vision, hoping to the first  [FTF - first to find is special]. So remembering the clues we were able to find it.

The "trail", a long ago abandoned logging road was pretty good, fairly dry with only a few trees down and it was quite easy to get though them. Much work has been done on these trail to make them accessible for hikers and runners but not for vehicles ... signage is coming, please be patient these trails are maintained by volunteer visionaries.

Only one squirrel was heard, the rest of the chattering was us. Never saw another person nor vehicle!We just went to the cache site ... 4+k round trip.
Totally calm, restorative day .... Sleeping Beauty Slatechuck is on for next Sunday.

Rained Out December 6, 2012

Doesn't happen very often ... we did head out on Nude Beach for a beach hike but we didn't go that far as it was kind of wet! Fortunately, there was food involved so that made everything wonderful even if more calories went in than out!

First of the Year Jan. 1, 2013

Again that forecast ... but again it was fine for a hike ... no sun, no rain, no wind. So the rumour was that Spirit Lake Trail was open ... some of us didn't know it had been closed ... so off we went it try it.

At least 100 trees have fallen, many huge, some small ... but all over the place there are trees down ... part of the trail is still closed. Frost patches and icy spots are still on some of the bridges ... care is needed. 

Most everything is open but there are at least 2 very scrambly places spots where huge trees and root wads have come down and the detours over and under as well as around are necessary.

Totally calm today ... and we only ran into a couple of other hikers.

Several times we stopped in admire the skim ice and the vivid reflections.
Great beginning to the hiking year. Special thanks to the folks working on repairing the trail ... you are appreciated.