Warden's Cabin Spray River Watridge Lake January 21, 2017

 three lucky charms flying high on this magically delicious day

Saturday's planned adventure took no effort to put in place, on the other hand to execute it was another story.  A few times prior we  followed the Watridge Trail to Watridge Lake then found our way from the far end of the lake back onto the trail then carried on snowshoeing along Spray River and a long stretch of Spray Lake next working our way across the Lake into the forest and back up to the Watridge Trail, completing a great big loop ending back at the parking lot.  We add a variation of that planned for today, today we would pass by Watridge Lake, opt to visit the Trail Centre Cabin then follow Spray River & Lake.  

grab your snack, settle down, join us on our adventure

We went for the favourable early start.  The lighting earlier is delightful, so is getting away from the X-C Ski tracks before the skiers start their day.  Our focus today was the Warden's Trail Center Cabin and the Spray River & Lake so we made quick time along the Watridge Trail, yet still taking time to devour the delicious views.  

the sun was beginning to peak above the mountain tops creating sweet shadows

We arrived down in the valley at the bridge that crosses over the Spray River.  There we are three lucky charms shadowing in front of Cone Mountain.  The air was frigid, not what we expected, but what we come prepared for no matter what anyway.  What we did have on our side was not even a breeze, thank you very much.

We crossed a second bridge this one over Bryant Creek then not long thereafter veered off the main trail and arrived at our first focus of the day.  The Trail Center Cabin.  The Cabin looked like it may have had a recent visit by a Warden from Banff National Park.  We took a little time to dine and a lengthy time to play.  We have our priorities correct. 

We aimed back for the bridge over the Spray River, veered sharply left after the bridge, then took turns breaking trail through very very deep unsupportive snow.  Our pace doing this was very slow and it did not help that we were presented with delicious views again, that always slows us down.

We continued on and we were able to get down to the river's edge and snowshoe along the thickly frozen edge for a bit of a distance.  Further down our safe width narrowed quite a bit and began to force us closer to the side slopes and back to deeper snow.  Then our decision to abort this plan and turn back was made when Agent-X made her next snowshoe placement with her lower leg going through the ice.  About face!  Quickly!

One door closed another door opened!  Now we had a little more time on our hands.  The best way for us to fill that was, you guessed it, play.  We had a few takes of snow throwing.  Time was passing, we had enough of this, but I said oh please just one more time.  This was the outcome of that one more time.  What are the odds that our snow chucks would all be in the air at the same time at the same height each touching a plane trail.  Oh how magically delicious!

just a pretty picture along the Spray River

equation:  silliness = stress free

Our original plan was to by pass Watridge Lake but because we aborted the full loop plan, we had time to incorporate more scenery.  We took the main trail down to the Lake and spread out for some fun and food.  I realized I had never been at this lake at this time of day.  I liked it a lot being here later.

open creek, reflection, two of my favourite things

view behind Watridge Lake
The bushes in front are much short than me.
I like the optical illusion I created.

The focus now was to cover the last four kilometers in a timely fashion.  It was getting late and we had a long drive ahead of us.  Capturing photos in a timely fashion can be rewarding.  A few seconds after securing our shadow shot, our shadows were not to be seen again on this day.  

This adventure offered up a feast for our eyes.  

Everything about today was tastefully appealing and fulfilling.  

The views were delicious and charming.

Thank you for our day!

a close up look

a look at the grand scheme of things