Peter Lougheed Provincial Park Snowshoe Trails March 5, 2020

It took some effort to gear up for a snowshoe outing after spending a week hiking in sunny short-sleeve shirts & shorts weather down south.  While my X-C Skis are in the basement now, my snowshoes still sit at the front door.  I gathered all my winter gear & wear and went for it.  I was thankful I did!  I truly do love to be "out & about" on wonderful winter days wandering wherever.  We have loads of winter left up here in the north and out here in the west.     

Today I joined two others for a winter wonderland snowshoe trek out in Peter Lougheed Provincial Park in Kananaskis.  We were afforded one of the one-wayers being dropped off at William Watson Lodge and finding our way to Pocaterra Hut for a pick up a few hours later.

At this point we already covered a couple of kilometres.

 The Lower Lake always has a bit of open water in this area.  

We reached the dam and stopped to check out the flowing water before heading across.  It is hard to tell from this photo but the water was racing in a grand abundance at a break neck pace.  We wondered were they releasing water preparing for the amount of melt that will come with the short warm up that is forecasted.

 view as we crossed the dam

We noticed unique fresh snowshoe tracks that were heading in the same direction we were going.  Later we caught up with the owner and as we approached we did notice there were issues with ascending the least bit of the tiny hill.   The track looked neat and the snowshoes looked bright and colorful but that's about it.

 following my friend

 There were opportunities along the way to go off trail into some deeper untouched white powder.  

 making our own track through an untouched meadow

 The snow was heavy and knee high.  

There would be no running nor jumping today in this snow.  

 looking back at where we came from

 view along the way

passing by the stack

We reached the cabins.  The road is plowed and there has been worker activity yet the cabins are closed for the winter.  I wonder if employees stay here at other times of the year.  I thought oh how fun it would be to spend a night or two here.

 I like Cabin 2!

 front entrance to the cabins

 crossing a small dam with more large amounts of fast flowing water

We reached the area near Pocaterra Hut and carried on adding more distance to our day.  It had warmed up quite a bit and the scenery was so pretty.  Time was on our side so we followed along side this snow covered swampy lake area to the far end and into the forest.

 snow was sticking to the top of my snowshoes

 it was balling up on the bottom

My friend was having a rough time with the amount of snow accumulating on the bottom of his snowshoes.  I got a great kick out of his problem.  It was not funny for him but he did add a chuckle every now and then.

 We headed to Pocaterra Hut to enjoy a little time before catching our ride home.  

My friend sat his snowshoes in the sun with hopes the heat would melt the snowballs.  There was no success with that and he had to poke and prod with his pole tips chipping away at what now turned to ice.

 This would be the cause of the snowball formations!

 our one way route

I enjoyed everything about today!  The shorter route at an enjoyable pace worked for me.  We are in for a large amount of snow this weekend.  Yes, we still have lots of winter left here.  I may need to bring my X-C Skis back up to my front door.

  

McLean Hills Snowshoe December 26, 2019

We had a plan in place for today and within a mere matter of minutes our plan went awry as we went astray!  I have been three times up on those McLean Hills but my friend had never been.  My previous track was on my device as a reference to get us to the summit.  Easy breezy!  We knew there would be a good amount of snow to get through and if no one had been that is when the track would be necessary to get us to where we wished to go.  When we saw a broken trail into the forest a short distance from the car, we agreed to go for it and abandon the planned entrance further down the road.  

We followed the trail for some distance, then returned back along a short section, then veered off on another somewhat loosely packed trail.  We already knew we were off the planned route but went for where there was open spaces and wide animal tracks.  We reached the wide open space and the views were wonderful.

The untouched meadows were calling to us.  

Well into our trek we realized we were spending our time chatting, admiring the scenery, enjoying the powder and we had missed our turn off.  Also it was a much slower go with only two of us breaking trail in the deep snow.  We could see where the top was which was our original destination.  We agreed it would be a no go for today as we wanted a long lingering lunch and powder play time.

We settled where we had a scene as we savoured our soup and sandwich.  

Powder play should have probably occurred before fueling up.  Yet, we needed fuel but then being full on all that fuel made it a challenge to get some big action happening.  We called it quits when in the big bottom left photo, the snow I flipped up then curled over onto my friend and down her neck and jacket.

So she said "let's just do a nice standing photo!"  

I tried but failed!

There was so much snow!

It drifted, it covered little hills, it sparkled, it was beautiful!

view off to Moose Mountain

The day was getting on, we paid attention to the time, but then we ignored it!  

We could not pass by the pow.  

We found gentle slopes to slide down. 

oh so sweet sugar

Once again we checked the time and knew we needed to get a move on.  

The sun was descending.

Then once again, we ignored the time of day.  

My friend could not resist getting in a tad more gain.  

Of course I then had to follow her up there.  

wide open wonderful vista

long late afternoon shadows

We came upon another untouched meadow and it was tempting but we smartly passed on by!

The wide open spaces came to an end.  We entered the forest following the track we made many hours ago as we began our day.  The lighting was so pretty and the forest took on a different more appealing look.   I slowly sauntered along.....

.....as my friend worked her way out to the road!

the trees were still holding all the snow

view back into the forest just after exiting it

We had the last short stretch to complete along the road.  We had no time to spare.

As you can see on the attached google map, our red track shows we stayed off track all day and I am quite happy we went astray.  The route we took afforded us more meadows, more open vistas which in turn gave us the opportunity to spend extended periods of time indulging.  The location of the "Planned Destination" will always be there to reach another time.  

Rawson Lake & Area Snowshoe November 28, 2019

I wondered right up until the last minute would today happen!  Roads reported red & windchill showed double digits beginning with a 2.  We waited, we questioned, we put a call in, then a positive confirmation was made that we are going to Peter Lougheed Provincial Park to play.   We hit the highway and then veered off to where life begins, down Highway 40.  It was a slow go, our driver stated it was like driving on a sheet of ice.  As we drove that road, the sky cleared and the scenery became outstanding.  We made it to Elk Pass Parking Lot! Whew!  

A brave nine of us bundled up and we quickly strapped on our snowshoes.  It's on frigid days like this I am thankful for the type of snowshoes I have, there is no fussing with straps and they are secured in place in a matter of seconds.  We found our way along the connector from Elk Pass Parking Lot over to Upper Kananaskis Lake.  This is what we were presented with!

 following my friends

 view of Upper Kananaskis Lake as we circumnavigated it

We took the trail towards Rawson Lake and just made a business out of getting to the top.  This was one of the very very few times my down jacket remained on while ascending a trail.  I needed it!  We arrived at Rawson Lake to see it looking splendid with fresh snow and lots of it.

 my destination photo

 working up an appetite

Lunch was not long and we did not linger.  We had additional distance in another direction to cover once back down at Upper Kananaskis Lake so we got going and descended at a good clip.  In between clipping I was still snapping.  The views remained incredible.

 still following my friends

 we gathered here for a few minutes to admire the view before carrying on

 view as we snowshoed along the dam

At the edge of the dam we headed down a short steep hill towards the Everest Expedition Trail.  

We meandered through meadows, along paths, crossed roads.  

Hours had passed and the shadows were getting long. 

It was time to find our way back to where we strapped on our snowshoes at the start so we could unstrap them, stow them, then hop into our warm and cozy ride for home.