Sat, Feb 6 2010 - Taylor Lake (Moderate Pace) (View Original Event Details)
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What a day to escape the city to go snowshoeing! After worrying about the changing forecasts, we managed to escape the clouds and experience nice blue skies with the bright sun. It was certainly warmer at Taylor Lake than it was in Calgary (approximately 0 degrees when we had lunch).
It should be noted that while the description for the trailhead says "there are no signs on the highway for this trailhead", there was indeed a sign there: the no left turn sign! Fortunately, we all made to the trailhead without issue.
Of items to note are:
- I need to master the art of figuring out when the sun will shine at a specific spot! By the time we arrived at the lake, the lake was in the shade of Mount Bell. We managed to have lunch nearby under the sun, though it was getting starting to receive shade soon after. Perhaps by being there a half hour earlier, we could have caught the lake lit bright in the sun.
- Always bring a crazy carpet in the winter. It looked to me that there were some opportunities to use it on this trail on descent. However, one would need good control of their crazy carpet if they are to stay on the trail. There was a group that we met at the lake that was prepared for this task!
- Always carry a GPS, even if you know where you are going. Lots of off-trail opportunities are present here, as long as you know where you are going!
- Carefully inspect the tree to which you want to shake the snow down! After watching Casey and Ken have fun at it, I decided to join in the fun. Except that the tree I shook wasn't exactly the same type they shook and I ended up falling into the tree. In an effort to avoid any "self-promotion", I insisted that any picture evidence not be shown. However, it seems that I was outnumbered on this idea...
Mark, have you ever thought about snowshoe racing? Considering this was your first snowshoe, you did an awesome job!
Wendy, I'm sure you'll have a great time this year exploring the Canadian Rockies! It definitely is a lot different than those Florida "hikes".
In the end, we managed to complete the snowshoe a shade over 4 hours. A job well done! Afterwards, many of us went to Rose & Crown for drinks and an avalanche...I mean Brownie Avalanche.
Thanks to Casey, Jacques and Racquel for driving out today. Thanks to all for making it a great day!
Derek