Emerald Lake Lodge Trip Day 1 - December 8, 2019

One Saturday back in August in the midst of summiting a summit, the suggestion of a December extended visit out to Emerald Lake Lodge in Yoho National Park was put on the table by my friend and I grabbed the offer then ran with it. She shared ideas of what the experience would look like and I bombarded her with questions.  A few hours later once we were home, the adventure was booked, paid for and the excitement of "Triple E"  Emerald Escape Extravaganza commenced.

Fast forward about four months and it's go time!  Go time occurred two hours after a snow storm ended, temperatures were in the deep minus teens and the highway report showed red the entire stretch. Go time is go time and when you gotta go you go! The closer we got to Yoho the realization set in, our stars were aligning!  We arrived at Emerald Lake to see it set  in the centre of a most beautiful winter wonderland. 

We were on the early side arriving so we safely stored our gear and dropped into Cilantro for lunch.  

The main purpose of being in Yoho was to enjoy the X-C Ski trails and that would begin on Day 2.  Today though we hiked around Emerald Lake spending our energy literally playing in the depths of the abundance of white gold.  We covered the route in a counter clockwise direction so we could have a look at our cabin along the way.  This pathway lead to our home away from home.

what a wonderful winter wonderland welcome

 our cabin for three nights

At every opening along the trail by Emerald Lake we stepped out to see the scenery.

 at the far end we aimed for the bridge and crossed over it

 excited to be here

 I'm excited too!

 On the other side we came upon this meadow and it looked inviting!

 We could not resist and the fun began!

It was her idea to do the "point of no return" fall.  

I see a wide smile in the final photo!

Why should she have all the fun!  I wanted to be a part of this!  

I set my tripod up and we gave it a go.  

I went a second too soon.  

Yes that is me on the left.

thigh deep snow

 We were all played out so continued on with our hike.

The trees were laden with snow.

view along the way

 There was so much snow.

As we neared the other side of Emerald Lake fog patches drifted by.

It was time to get back to check in, gather our gear 

then hop on the cart for a ride to our cabin which is somewhere in those trees.

Close to three hours later it was nice to be settling in our cabin, getting a fire roaring, then having our feet up while sipping and snacking. Bedtime was on the earlier side in preparation for a big ski day on Day 2.