Despite my whingings about the cold yesterday, I woke up excited to get back out into it. It took me a while to get to sleep last night, but once my feet and the rest of my body had come up to temperature, I was out and I stayed that way till morning. Thankfully once I was up, my urge for the bathroom wasn’t too great so I dressed and cleared the windscreen without stress then drove over to a nearby Safeway where I used their bathroom and bought a few things for breakfast. I made oats in the van out of the cold and thoroughly enjoyed the warmth they brought my body.
It was a clear day and the roads were almost black as I drove into the park. On the way I managed to get through to Barry in the wilderness office and I told him I’d chickened out, which he didn’t seem surprised at, he was happy to have helped and I thanked him profusely for his time. After driving past the turn off, I made it to Cub Lake trailhead. I had a few options at my feet, depending on the amount of snow, but I assumed I”d be hiking for at least four hours so I packed accordingly with some lunch and I managed to turn some of my ice to water in my water bottle.
The sun was actually poking through the clouds enough to cast a faint shadow as I began walking, but it didn’t share any warmth. For the first mile or so, I got that “I’m being stupid” feeling again since my hands and feet had gone walkabout (I couldn’t feel them) and I got the first blood nose of my life. It was only minor, but it seems my body was telling me to turn around and seek warmth. Bah! Another mile in and my feet were warm in my boots and my hands comfortable. There was barely any snow on the ground, but I kept my yaktraks on, not wanting to deal with taking them on and off.
The trail was beautiful and the lack of snow meant there was still some colour in the meadow at the foot of the snow-covered mountains. I reached Cub Lake after about an hour, happy that the snow had been hard-packed by hikers before me. Just after the lake I met the only other people I would see all day, two women with hiking poles taking it slow down an ice-covered slope. I caught up to them at a particularly icy section where they paused to put traction devices on their shoes and I gingerly stepped down it, managing to stay off my arse and avoid embarrassment.
At the Fern Lake junction, I turned away from the trailhead towards Fern Lake and Odessa Lake. At some point while climbing to Fern Lake, the sun disappeared, but I didn’t really notice because I was in amongst the trees. I was also severely distracted by a cute black chipmunk scurrying around fussing about a pine cone in his mouth that he kept dropping. He couldn’t decide whether to care more about me or his lunch. He settled for modelling for me on a fallen trunk to my amazement. That was the only wildlife I would see all day, I hardly saw tracks in the snow and those I did I had no idea what animal they were from, maybe a snow dinosaur?
I stripped a layer as I climbed and marvelled at another frozen waterfall. This one you could see flowing water underneath at a few spots under the thick ice. Such an amazing feature.
When I reached Fern Lake, it was pretty. I was thankful the weather was still clear enough for me to see the peaks of the mountains overhead. It was here that the human tracks ended, but I could see where the trail lead to Odessa Lake so pushed on. I don’t know how I made it all the way, I must have trudged at least a mile in more-than-ankle deep snow. In some sections it was well past my knees. At every deep section, I just thought “I’ll just see what It’s like up ahead” and it would get better so I’d carry on. I checked the map more than once to make sure I didn’t have much further to go. In the end, the effort was worth it. The views at Odessa Lake were outstanding and I felt special knowing I was the only person to have seen them in a while.
I fished lunch out of my pack and put my downie back on as it started to snow. It came down lightly, without wind and it was magical. I managed to sit and eat my cold wrap, though I can’t really say I enjoyed it, warm soup would have been better. I couldn’t stay long since my arms stopped working properly. It was like my body was functioning in slow motion, it had gone into “limp home” mode (car people will understand what I mean). I was sad to leave the view I’d worked so hard to see.
I trudged back down I the snow, trying to stay in my own tracks as much as possible to limit the amount of snow getting into my shoes. Once I’d got back to Fern Lake, it was super-easy going. All downhill on hard-pack. Was the snow-bash worth it? Considering the snow that now filled my shoes wetting my feet and socks, the effort and the stunning view, yes. Would it have been better with snow shoes? Absolutely yes.
The snow continued as I descended back to the valley, so light that I couldn’t see where it settled on the ground. If it had been any heavier it would have been a nuisance, but I enjoyed the feeling of it lightly falling on my face, clinging to my eyelashes.
Back at the Fern Lake junction, I took a different trail back along a frozen Fern creek. I was disappointed with the lack of rocks available for throwing, so I just settled for admiring it. I stopped taking photos because my hands hadn’t warmed up since lunch and dexterity was becoming a challenge. Despite that, I really enjoyed the last section of the trail, it was beautiful.
The last mile was along a road back to my trailhead, which was a nice lazy way to end the hike. According to Strava, my feet had taken me 20km, not the 13-14km I had been expecting. Apparently after more than a year in this country, I still can’t accurately convert between miles and kilometres…
Back at the car, my hands were desperately cold and I fumbled with getting my keys out. It looked a different place than when I’d left with everything covered in a thin layer of snow. Inside the van, I tried to fire up my propane cooking stove to heat my hands, but my fingers could not operate the lighter so I gave up on that idea and got my shoes off, dried my feet and put some warm boots on.
The thin layer of snow made the roads look treacherous so I took it pretty slow, aiming directly for Starbucks. I think I’d been daydreaming about my hot chocolate for the last couple of miles on the trail. I got there without issue and again, it was a completely different place to yesterday with everything now coloured white. Brrr.
My fingers still weren’t working properly as I picked up my hot chocolate from the counter but they cured eventually. After a half hour of watching some F1 nonsense, they were capable of typice, so here I am! I’ll probably stay here until closing at 9pm then venture out into the perpetual snow to have a late dinner and make camp.
Forecast is predicting a low of -24oC overnight. It will be my coldest ever night in the van if that is the case. Here’s hoping!