February 1, 2025
~ submitted by Mike Brouard
Our group of four met across from the Cameron Lake picnic area at 0900 and started the hike at 0915. There had been a dusting of snow the night before so we opted to bring our snowshoes, not knowing with certainty how much snow (or how soft of snow) we would encounter toward the top.
The first few hundred metres of the forested trail were clear, with increasing snow coverage before the McBey Creek bridge. We donned our microspikes at the bridge to reduce the potential for falls as we continued upward on the trail. At the junction we turned west and stopped for a quick snack at the helipad. We reached the top of the loop around 12:30, where the snow was at its deepest point. Although trail reports from the previous week indicated that the snow was hard enough to walk on, we found that it had softened with additional snowfall on top.
We broke new trail for approx 500 metres – our snowshoes would have been helpful, though it hardly seemed worth it to don them for such a short distance. We didn’t linger long at the top as the windgusts were cold, compelling us onward. We stopped for lunch at 1330 after reaching the shelter of the forest again. We took a quick side trip to the Lookout at 1445, but left quickly due to the cold and wind.
The descent was uneventful and we returned to the vehicles by 1640. Moving at a P2 pace through sections of snow, our trip was 7.5 hours. We encountered only 3 other hikers on the trail, but were the only ones to venture past the junction/Lookout.