Elbow Valley Ski Trails

Sun. 30 May: Elbow Valley Ski Trails


Back into winter – so why not do some ski trails?

After three days of snow, the forecast for today was discouraging. But I wanted to get out for a walk, so again chose the Elbow-Bragg Creek area being the nearest to home.

And today, apart from digging out my long underwear again, I also decided to try out my new Lowa hiking boots. It would certainly be wet underfoot – a good trial for the boots. My old Asolo boots bought in Keswick, England, are no longer remotely waterproof, sadly.

The drive west along 22X was quite pretty in a wet, wintery way – snow on higher ground and green grass beside the road made for an attractive contrast. The further west I drove, the more snow there was. In fact, the Elbow Valley was so pretty with the snow on the trees that I drove all the way to the very end of the road, past the footbridge over the Little Elbow river, up to the campsite. Here, the snow was over 6 inches deep, and in contrast to the long weekend a few days ago, there looked to be very few, if any, campers – for good reason.

A faint watery sun could be seen behind the cloud, and the trees had a thick covering of snow on them. This looked more like a January day, not two days short of June, but at least it did not feel particularly cold – perhaps just above freezing point. I also stopped at Forgetmenot Pond, to admire the wintery scenery around the lake.

Now my hiking options today were severely limited, not only due to all the recent snow, but also by a mad bear roaming the hillsides somewhere on the north side of the valley. As a result, all the trails below Moose Mountain were cordoned off. The notices warned of “an extremely dangerous bear in the area”, and “attempts to capture it are in progress”, with bold yellow signs warning hikers to “KEEP OUT”. Good enough for me!

So I decided to explore the intriguing trails which link the Elbow Valley with Bragg Creek. These are cross-country ski trails, and – as I discovered last week – muddy at this time of year. But today they were covered in two to six inches of new snow, covering most of the muddy areas. The trail starts at Allen Bill Pond (which I always think should be Bill Allen Pond – but it isn’t). The first part of the trail follows the fast-moving Elbow River as it flows under the large concrete road bridge.

This trail is the route to a popular family hike up Fullerton Ridge – C and I did this together in the early 1990’s. One pair of footprints in the snow showed me that someone was ahead of me, but as expected, the prints turned left onto the Fullerton loop, and from here onwards, I was on my own. I would follow the so-called Elbow Valley ski trail due north for about 6 km, then return on the more winding Iron Springs ski trail, arriving back at the starting point.

This turned out to be a fascinating stroll into Narnia. The snow cover was generally about six inches deep, with very wet, sticky snow. Later in the walk I tried on my MICROspikes for added traction, but the snow and mud would almost instantly stick to the spikes, so I had to give them up. Anyway, my new boots had great traction so I did not slip at all. As I walked along through the snow, I would hear sudden “flump-flump” sounds all around me as clumps of snow fell off the tall tree branches and landed all around me on the trail. Luckily I avoided a direct hit.

The trail runs entirely in the trees, on a wide cutting in the forest, generally arrow-straight, but with some curves and bends, and a couple of steep hills. There were some hoof prints of deer, but no sign of any paw prints of mad bears! Finally, near the northern end of my route, I saw some fresh footprints, from some hikers who had started from the Bragg Creek end but had not got very far. I turned east onto Sundog trail – which I had ski’d last year – and soon I turned south onto the wide Iron Springs trail. The snow-covered road climbed gradually through the trees, to a high point, where there is a gate. Here the trees were under a heavy coating of snow. Some of these trees looked eerily alive, as if beckoning me on into their secret world.

A very light snow-rain mix started to fall, so I put on my rain jacket and pants, but it stopped a little later on, although by now it was uniformly cloudy.

Now the wide, snowy trail dropped down a gradual hill, in a southerly direction. The two legs of my hike today run very roughly parallel to each other, first on opposite sides of a small valley, then wider apart as they climb the gentle hillsides at the northern end of the trails. After a few kilometers, the Iron Springs trail turns eastwards, above a lake – which was completely hidden under the snow - to a wide junction at the bottom of a hill. It was just before I reached this junction that I spotted the fresh prints of a smallish bear and possibly a cub, weaving back and forth across the path, down into the valley then up again. I made noise, but never saw them. I then picked up the trail of a person and their dog, which was a little mysterious, as they had not followed the route either from Allen Bill or Bragg Creek, but had come into the trail system from an unmarked trail from the east, following Iron Springs creek.

As I was standing in an open section of trail, admiring the wintery scene all round, my cellphone rang. It was C telling me that at that exact moment, she was sitting on a beach at Ocean City, New Jersey, on a hot sunny day, and had just been swimming in the Atlantic Ocean!! What a contrast.

Soon I was safely back on the main trail again, and made my way down the snowy, muddy path to the car. At the Fullerton Loop junction I picked up the trail of countless boots, but mine were the only footprints on the ski trails. By the time I reached the car, a number of families were arriving, for a short afternoon stroll with their dogs.

Now it really is time for Spring to make an appearance – and to stay around! As for my new boots, despite tramping through snow for over three hours, my feet were totally dry, and the boots fitted perfectly. I'm keen to try them out on more demanding routes, to those lookouts which have been hidden in the clouds and the snow for the past couple of weeks.



Statistics
Elbow Valley Ski Trails
Sun. 30 May

Total Dist. 12.2 km (hike)
Height Gain 695 ft.
Max. Elev. 5049 ft.
Time on trail 3 hr. 32 mins.