A small but enthusiastic group enjoyed a perfect “bluebird” day on the Snowshoe trails on Mount Washington on Tuesday, February 15. Though no new snow, the conditions were excellent, slightly crusty, and the trails were more navigable than on our January trip.

We headed out clockwise on Lost Cabin to Crooked Creek trail. This lovely loop meanders over the summertime ponds and marshes, following and sometimes crossing Crooked Creek. We stopped at the return point, going off the trail to take shelter from the rising wind behind a small copse. We were beside an unmarked but well used trail which we suspected went out to Battleship Lake. We didn’t have time to explore this but noted it for future trips. We then returned to Lost Cabin trail opting to take the slightly longer Tree Beard trail back to the Lodge which took us up to the junction with Rossiter’s Ridge, a favourite lunch spot. We stopped briefly to admire the stunning view, then headed back to the Lodge. We enjoyed lingering over well-earned cups of hot chocolate on the deck in the sunshine – a beautiful day after so much fog, cloud, and drizzle of the past few weeks.  2 hours on trail;  5 km.

Valerie 

Thanks to Misha Cook for the photos

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Snow – Mt. Washington – 15 Feb 2022

Amazingly, and thankfully, the cold rain and wind held off long enough for five of us to enjoy the wonderful snowshoe trails of Mt Washington.  While this is not a free activity, like most of our outings, the well marked and tracked trails justify the cost ( $12 per person) .

(click on photos to enlarge)

Snow – Mt. Washington – 19 Jan 2022

It was an adventure; not everything went smoothly.  First we missed the 10:00 ferry, thinking mistakenly that it wouldn’t be a busy sailing. After waiting an hour for the next departure, the three of us drove up the Strathcona Parkway.  For this time of year, there is an amazing amount of snow, nearly down to the highway.  The road up to Mt. Washington was good enough, but there was so much snow, we decided to snowshoe at Rampart Hill instead.  It was snowing hard and we had lunch in the car before heading out.  Although the logging roads had snow packed down on the weekend, there was no visible trace and we were doing some serious trail breaking.  Once we left those packed roads it was even more challenging, because the snow was so unconsolidated, especially around brush.  Norris fell through twice, the first time down over a metre and he had real difficulty getting the snowshoe back to the surface.  Then Bonnie fell through and we decided we had had enough trail breaking for the day, so we headed back, rather than forward.  We never encountered anyone else on the trail.  It was beautiful in a monochromatic way and very quiet.  4 km, 2½ hours.

Debbie

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Snow – Mt. Washington – 15 Dec 2021