Bluebird Weekend

There was more snow than we were led to believe. Even when I stepped, unaware, through thigh deep clean snow into the black muddy water of the bottom creek, and up on the windblown slopes, the suncrust was at least a half inch thick so every other step we punched through it, into soft snow up to our knees, we still managed to convince ourselves we didn’t miss our snowshoes.

I managed to wipe most of the mud off by scraping my dirty shins, like making a snow angel but only with my legs, in the snow.

It was nice to get to Grizzly Den cabin, light a fire and dry out my socks and boots. Before it got dark we boot whacked up the suncrusted slope, behind the cabin, to look over the other side of the ridge. The wind was so fierce we didn't stay long .

The next day we continued on, up and over the mountains towards the Raven Lake cabin.

Standing on the windswept ridge behind Raven Lake, trying to radio the day hiking group and take some photos was like being ripped out of my warm house, made to strip and stand still while a stream of cold water was sprayed all over me. I almost ran down the bare slope to huddle in the lee side of a clump of spruce, clinging to the lip of the ridge.

We scrambed down the rest of the slope, walked quickly around the lake, pausing briefly for more photos and to admire the patterns the ice made on top of the water. We finally got into the cabin. I immediately put on my down jacket. Making a fire was impossible since we had to replace the gasket around the stoves door. When it was done I was all for leaving, except the day hikers had caught up with us and were coming in for lunch. One of them had a fire in his pocket.

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It turned out to be some kind of slow burning gel in a tin. We all warmed up our fingers but my toes were getting colder by the minute. I thought it would be too much hassle to take off my boots and socks and try and warm them over the little tin can of heat. So Ric and I left the others to finish their lunches and drink the rest of the wine.

It took almost an hour before I felt that horribly familiar pain which told me I didn’t have frost bite and my toes would soon be warm. I’m sure it was the heat sucking wind that did me in. Despite the cold I had a fabulous time

For more photos go here