Well it’s been a long time since we were in the mountains. Busy summer and fall mixed with uncooperative weather made hiking difficult. Today was the first day of the year out. We went Saturday January 14, 2017. Present company was Ryan, Sheldon, Dorothy, Curtis and I.

the forecast was for warm weather; around 0. With a few weeks of solid snow and cold weather, it was perfect timing to head to the mountains. The parking lot was half full so it wasn’t very busy in the hills. We started off by not following the trail, but then again, when do we.

We walked acrossed mud lake to a few islands in the snow. Then when we got bored of that, headed into the trees and through small rolling hills. It was nice to get back into things after a long time of not being out.

The trees were nice. It was calm and quiet, the only sounds were us falling over logs, sinking, or just falling into snow piles. When we came across a trail, we made sure to cross and keep moving through the trees. It was a nice trip in the morning.

We stopped for some lunch and a rest, then decided to head back to the car. It wasn’t a quick trip back; another 90 or so minutes until we reached the car. Along the way we crossed a creek and through nothing of it. We had to cross again and realized it wasn’t frozen on the top as much as we thought it was; one wrong step and one would get wet. So it was tricky getting across. Once across we came across yet another creek that wasn’t frozen. While Ryan, Sheldon, Dorothy, and Curtis went through the trees and down a bit further, I found a section where the ice was thick enough to cross; only to find out the snow on the other side was passed my knees.

We met up with a trail and followed it back to the car. All in all, it was a great first time out. We all agreed to do it again in 2 weeks!

In summary:

Great easy trip. If you stick to the trail, it’s about 4.5km. There’s lots of areas to go off and explore just keep your bearings on where you are in relation to the trail or some sort of fixed point.