A Loong Post for a Loong Afternoon

It feels like winter today. Oddly enough it takes the sound of wind howling and rain pounding outside to make it feel like winter. Even more strange though is looking outside to see that, despite the sounds of rain and wind, there is snow swirling everywhere. I would think that with all the cold and snow we've had lately it would feel more than enough like winter, but apparently I'm well trained to think of rain storms as winter and snow and cold as an interesting, if somewhat annoying, interlude; like a trip up the mountain to ski or snowshoe is an interesting interlude in everyday life.

Speaking of snowshoeing...

'Twas an interesting day yesterday (Saturday). Likalia and EvilMonkey and I decided at noon to go snowshoeing as we didn't feel like running on slippery roads and it seemed like a nice day for it. We got up there at about 145 and were pleasantly surprised to be told that our rental snowshoes needed to be returned by 730, not 330 which is what we were expecting and which would have been fine because we're pretty content with an hour and a half of tromping around in snow. The temperature was perfect and the sun was intermittently coming out from behind the clouds for just long enough to tempt me to get my camera out and then it would disappear again before I could actually take the picture.

We were told at the rental counter that the trails to the northwest(?) were open and so I headed off in that direction and was promptly questioned as to why we were going that way...ok, what way would you like to go...? Instead of going toward Jutland we headed down a well trodden snowshoe path which I think was Look Out. Then we headed down, still following the well-trod path, down, down...crossed a groomed nordic trail and continued downward. At one point we did briefly consider the fact that we would have to go back up, but we kept heading down. It's so easy to just keep going down...

About 45 mins later (almost all of which was downward tromping) we stopped at a junction that was marked by a bridge, a small river with running water ("Indigo, don't get to close to the edge-it's probably not where it appears. But I want to see if there's a picture to be taken..." In my defence, I only went as far as other people had already gone, and obviously returned from, without falling in), and a hut with water monitoring equipment inside-or so a sign on the door told us. Our options at this point were to the right(ish) or to the left. After consulting our nordic trail map, arguing about properly orientating the map vs. turning it around in your head [note for Sarah - I started the discussion by turning the map around to the "proper" way before handing it back to the other two ;) ] , and deciding we were probably down by the junction of Rossiter's and Lake Approach we opted for left as it looked nice and flat.

Left was flat, what we probably should have considered though was that all the XC trails in that direction were closed and not groomed... After 10-15 mins or so of plodding through scraggly bushes (more like branches, really) that I'm guessing are usually under the snow at this time of year we came to another clear trail to our left heading back up while our current trail continued on straight ahead. A very well-worn sign informed us that if we continued on straight ahead we were entering Strathcona Park. Someone had written "Dead End" in the snow at this junction...

This time we decided to go "up" and up was good for awhile...the sun was still going in and out of the clouds, the temperature was still lovely and the only thing dampening our spirits (only slightly) was that we knew we would have to, continue climbing up all that we had gone down.

Oh, I forgot to mention that I had not brought water with me because before we left I looked at my metal water bottle, thought "hmmm, metal + cold = Ow!" and since I'm house-sitting at the moment I had no other water bottle options. Besides...we were only going out for an hour or so; lesson #1...

The problem with "up" turned out to be that it was the aforementioned dead-end. Since EvilMonkey is the "play in the outdoors" sort of individual that he is, he just kept on going up after the trail stopped. And we just kept following him. And falling through the snow into the tree holes. I think if there had been any more snow up there the tree holes would have been enough to discourage us from going any further. As it was Likalia was finding the majority of the holes and I'm impressed that she didn't just put her foot down and say enough of this - time to go back to hole-free paths. It was about this time I began to be rather disappointed in myself for not getting a bottle of water at the lodge before heading out.

Are you keeping track of time? Add another 40 mins or so at this point...

We eventually reached a fairly open area that looked like it was likely an un-groomed nordic trail and so we stopped heading up and followed it to the left. More scraggly bushes now and no more tree holes (or did you find some even here Likalia?). We figured (hoped) we were well on our way to meeting up with the trail we initially followed down.

Remember that we didn't start out 'til 2PM? Yeah...It's now nearly 4...and the sun is dipping lower and lower at a surprisingly face pace...I started to wonder if maybe it would be better to just turn around and head back. I didn't actually voice this thought though. This would be lesson #2 of the day.

Our nice wide open "trail" came to an end. We were not happy to see this. We (Likalia & I) were getting tired and it was threatening to get dark. We knew where we were in relation to the lodge...that wasn't a problem...we just had to keep going "up". The problem was that up required crossing ravines at this point. The first one we encountered was not too much of an issue. The next one was enough to make me stop and say that I was not going down that slope-visions of tree holes and falling down the rather steep slope and getting skewered by big branches were floating through my head and it really did not seem like a reasonable idea. EvilMonkey was perfectly content to keep going. We hmmmed and hmmmed and went back and forth long the length of it only to find that it intersected with another ravine or things got very forest-y and no less steep. At this point we could see the lighted runs up the hill; and EM said whether we aim to go straight up breaking our own trail or go back the way we came was up to Likalia and I. I'm still envisioning any number of mishaps that could befall us on the straight towards the lodge route which included, but was not limited to falling in water, or twisting or breaking parts of ourselves in the dark.

I decided back was the only way I intended to go. Sure it might be a much longer route, but at least we knew it was a guaranteed route. Lesson #3...

It felt like a very loooong trek back. It would have been beautiful with the moon, the glow of the lights in the sky, the trees, etc if I hadn't been hungry and thirsty, annoyed with myself, and knew that Likalia's hip was bothering her as well as her ankle bothering her from twisting it on one of the tree holes. I must say I was rather happy to see the lights and lodge come into clear view at 630pm that evening. So much for an hour and half of snowshoeing.



I wouldn't normally be inclined to post my own stupidity for the world to read, but writing is reflection and therefore-hopefully-learning.

Lessons of the day:
1.a) Don't make assumptions.
1.b) Bring water.
2. Be aware of constraints eg. be aware of the time, abilities of group members, etc and...
3. Don't be a sheep and rely on someone else to think for you.

[The one thing I did manage to get right was dressing appropriately :) Mmm, toasty warm the whole afternoon; finally got to really try out my snow-pants and fancy waterproof mittens, as well as enjoy my Mizuno 'breath thermo' tights which I LOVE for running in in colder weather...they go nicely under snow-pants as well! I'm a girl, what can I say - I like clothes. That, and I've only recently started to acquire outdoor clothes that are really functional; for years everything I had was cotton &/or unbreathable...]


Whew. I haven't written a post this long in quite awhile. I wonder if anyone will get this far... ;)