Hikes

How odd to be swishing through the snow just one day after the first day of fall.
The second day of autumn and we are already hiking in the white stuff. The seven of us got to try out the effectiveness of our gaiters, the quality of the waterproofing or our gear, and our strategies for eating lunch outside.

Trappers Lake is famous for its curious cows. But an important rule of trail etiquette is that you do not interact with the farmer’s animals, and so we rushed along as quickly as we could while snapping photos.

As we approached Elk Island Park, a noisy flock of snow geese passed overhead. We crossed over the fence, saw a bison in the distance, and then continued to the beaver pond where we sat on the logs for our lunch.

We returned to our cars and drove to the Ross Creek orphaned section, a romantic leafy trail that lies between the creek and a cultivated field. The first part of the trail runs through an old maple grove.

The day started out cold, but it got warmer by the hour—typical weather for an autumn hike. For more photos, visit our Flickr album.

In the morning twilight I walked out onto the deck toward the dining room when I heard the clear cry of a wolf in the distance. A fitting farewell for our last day in David Thompson Country.

After breakfast and lunch-packing, we thanked our hosts, loaded the cars, and headed to Fish Lake for our last hike.

Fish Lake has been popular for fishing, camping and day use for more than half a century. Today, nobody was around.

The trail that circles the lake runs is on the edge of a mossy forest where most of the tree branches are draped in grey-green threads of lichen and you see mushrooms everywhere you look. Along the way, we spotted a loon nonchalantly preening its feathers, a woodpecker engrossed in its business on a tree, and small yellow birds, probably warblers.

We ate our lunch either in the shelter or on the floating dock on the still and silent lake.

Over the four days, the twelve of us had become fast and dear friends. We look forward to doing this again. Until then, we have our memories, assisted by photos and journal entries, to look back on.

Many thanks and much appreciation go to Anita for her superb work in organizing the trip and scouting and leading all the hikes.

See Flickr for more photos.