Rays on Rae

If you check out my post from the previous day, I showed a photo of today's destination, Rae Lake. I had a feeling it wouldn't quite look like that photo, but I didn't expect it to look like it did when it is only mid October. Then again, we live in Alberta! Friday's are fun and fabulous days to hike! It means long weekend, it means only us on the trail, it means no traffic on the mountain roads. And so, Agent X leads us on a trek passing by lakes, winding through meadows, up hills and down, between mountain ranges and on to our destination. Oh, and up more hills and down and up again!

This was to be a hike but Park Wardens warned us to not just come with hiking boots but come prepared with snowshoes and icers too. As you can see in my shadow shot, this makes for a big and heavy pack. The creek coming out of Rae Lake was only partially icy and no doubt cold so thankfully there was a nature-made walkway over it. Yes, there is a lake behind me, I am close to the edge of it! This was as close as I could get and still stay safe. It's Rae Lake, looking nothing like the photo I posted yesterday. The scenery along the way to our destination was spectacular. The lighting on the mountains made for many amazing photo opportunities. We started with a blue sky, then slowly as the day went on clouds rolled in and for the last few kilometers the winds howled and the sky darkened. Just like the weather changed, so did our footwear. About halfway into the hike, we turned it into a snowshoe and once again a few kms before the end we turned it back into a hike. A few larch trees still held their needles and how pretty it looked to see a lone one creating such a vista. In another couple of weeks none of this vegetation will be visible. It has surrendered to mother nature and soon one will only see a clear blanket of white. The plan for today was approximately 17km but it turned out being just shy of 21 kilometers. I was O.K. with that because I never like treks like this to end. My neck muscles got a good workout, I could not stop looking around at what surrounded me. Rae Lake hike is one I will put back on my to do list because I want to see it looking like it looks in that photo from yesterday.