On the summit with our adopted dog – he photobombed us!
We started off just after 9 a.m. under clear skies, with just a couple other vehicles in the parking lot. After crossing Witchcraft Lake, we headed up the far right trail to the waterfall, or what would be a waterfall in warmer temps. We crossed McGarrigle Creek and as there’d been more snow since I’d been up this way the previous Wednesday, we broke trail for the next 2 hours. With the fresh snow blanketing the ground and the trees, it was truly a winter wonderland! After we reached the old road, we made new tracks as far as Gordie’s Trail, and even then, no one had recently been that way. It wasn’t until we came to the junction with the other trails, Fossil and Rafe’s Way, that the snow was tracked. I had thought, that with the new snow, the way to the top wouldn’t be as slippery as it could be, but I was wrong! It was treacherous, and once we reached the summit we put on our traction devices, and for the descent we were glad we did! Three other people (and their dog) were on the summit when we arrived, and others soon joined us, and we saw several more as we went down. It took us just over 3 hours to ascend; 2 hours down. A wonderful outing with a great group!
Crossing Witchcraft Lake
A slippery trail on the bottom half
But after crossing the creek, we were soon wallowing in the snow
But some beautiful views and natural art
And wonderful snow!
A squirrel tried to break trail for us, but needs some work on that!
And we still broke trail on the old road
And even up the first part of Gordie’s Trail
It was slippery near the top
Approaching the summit
After basking in the sun, we slipped/slided our way down
