It’s the most wonderful time of the year! And I’m not talking about Christmas- I’m talking about winter! See, as a December baby I feel that snow runs in my veins which is why I get so energized when I’m out in it. From November- February I am a happy little snow bunny but as soon as it’s March I’m about ready for spring, which of course never comes until end of April/Early May. Ha ha!
How much love do you have for social media when it helps you actually meet awesome people with your interests? Thanks to the Alberta Adventure Girls group started by Jo, Â I met a Lethbridge area gal (Welling to be exact) named Jessica to go snow shoeing with on Sunday in Waterton.
I wanted to go to Forum Falls after my Thanksgiving hike to them because I figured they would look gorgeous frozen over. I have a bit of a distance problem in that I can NEVER recall distances of any hikes. I calculated that it was about 2km each way to the Falls but it was really 4km each way- ha ha ha!
We started off on the Cameron Lake Road and after a few minutes realized the snow was so packed down that our snowshoes were kind of unnecessary. So we strapped them to our packs and walked along in our boots.
When we got to the Akamina Parkway turn off I glanced at my RunKeeper and it said that we had gone 6 miles at a pace of 2:52/mile. Malfunction much?? I WISH I was that fast at running let alone snow shoeing! I’ve used my Runkeeper in Waterton many times so I don’t know why it miscalculated so bad.
As we headed along the Akamina Trail I couldn’t believe how steady of a climb it was. I was doing my cold weather panting/wheezing thing (see the recap of The Clause Cause) and I got pretty darn sweaty. I asked Jessica if she remembered this portion of the trail being a steady climb because I didn’t and she said she didn’t think it was a climb either.
As we got closer to the border the tracks started to ease off and the snow wasn’t as packed. We noticed that once we hit the BC border and headed down a little into BC that the temperatures dipped a few degrees. At this point we still didn’t have our shoes on because it wasn’t necessary,
When we hit the turn off for Forum Falls/Forum Lake we hit a sunny patch in front of the BC Park Headquarters. We stopped to snap a pic of us and our snowshoes before heading to the falls.
We got to the turn off to the falls and saw a completely untouched trail. Whoever had snowshoed in before us had gone on to Forum Lake (brave souls- that’s a climb with big old snow shoes on) so we finally needed our snowshoes.
We trudged through the fresh snow and I was surprised to see that a lot of the creek was still exposed. The falls looked amazing!
I tried to take a panorama but apparently I don’t know how and after several failed attempts gave it up.
I wanted to take a cute picture of Jessica and I sitting on the log and as I was clearing snow I miscalculated and fell over.
We couldn’t find a good spot to brace our cameras to get a good shot of the two of us in front of the falls and so we resolved to selfies. All of which made my face look fat so this was the best of the lot.
We took our time snapping pictures and taking in the falls. The water was running underneath the ice which was a very cool affect.
On the way back we opted to keep our snowshoes on because they were already on and it was mostly downhill on the way back.
It took us roughly under 4 hours and that was with a snack break on the way back. The weather was so warm and there wasn’t any wind so it made for ideal conditions.
After snow shoeing we headed to Weiners of Waterton for a quick bite. I had never been before (my loiyalty is to Pearl’s Cafe and those amazing triple shot almond lattes) but now that they are open on weekends in the winter I figured I would try it out.
I had to eat my wiener in a box because they didn’t have gluten free buns and I ordered sweet potato fries too. I was so hungry that I inhaled my food! I even remarked that I wanted to blend my sweet potatoes into a smoothie so that I could chug them because I just needed to fill my stomach.
That was my amazing day in a nutshell! I’m looking forward to many future adventures with Jessica and more awesome ladies!!
Looks like so much fun!! I haven’t been snowshoeing since I was a kid and am really really wanting to rent some and go!
Let me know if you ever want to venture south for some snow shoeing! 😉
Wow, great photos!! Looks like you gals had a blast!!
Winter can be so much fun if you get outside! 🙂
Thanks for the review ! We are from Lethbridge also and going to do it tomorrow and hoping for some beautiful frozen falls.
Right on! It’s such a beautiful spot in the winter. Have fun!!