The long weekend is nice because I spent Friday doing the chores and errands and had a free day Saturday to hit the mountains with Ryan and the dogs! It wasn’t quite as warm as last year when Samara and I went on the long weekend and it was +15C. But it was still super warm at +2C!
When we first pulled in, there was a group of 20 people (4 cars) who were just about to start their hike. Because we had the dogs and I wanted to have peace and quiet we decided to kill some time and drive toward the Chief Mountain Border crossing to kill time.
There was a gorgeous scenic viewpoint where we let the dogs stretch their legs and enjoyed the view before heading back down to the trail.
The funniest thing happened! See the snow covered brick wall in front of my car in the photo above? When we let the dogs out, they both sprinted for the wall and jumped over it without bothering to see what was below. Ryan legit freaked out. He was like “They jumped off a cliff! They didn’t even look.” I laughed and followed him as he very quickly ran over and looked over the edge. The ground was less than a foot from the wall on the other side. Ha ha ha! I had such a good laugh.
We started off on Wishbone Trail and enjoyed the peace and quiet. It was a windy day but this trail is sheltered by all the trees so you only feel the wind in the open areas.
Our lazy dogs got tired really quick! They were pulling on their leashes and just givin’ ‘er at first but halfway through they noticeably slowed down.
Also, let’s talk about Ryan’s outfit. He doesn’t have snow pants. Normally, he borrows some from his brother but his bro was out hunting and so he had no choice but to wear my pink ones! As if that wasn’t funny enough, he didn’t bring sunglasses and could barely open his eyes with the glare off the snow. My toque had a little brim so I gave him my favourite winter sunglasses, white cat eyes. Yeah, he looked awesome. Ha ha ha!
We passed a group of teens and I noticed something interesting about Rocky. He used to be awful to take hiking because he would bark and growl and be very aggressive with strangers we met on the trail. But this time, he stopped, timidly approached, and when one of the teen boys tried to pet him, he hid behind my legs! I guess neutering them this summer was a great idea. If don’t have to worry about him being aggressive, I’ll feel better bringing him with me more.
The snow was really packed down from heavy use. With this being the only trail in Waterton that’s currently open, I bet it sees a lot of people each day.
We finally made it to Middle Waterton Lake and I spotted four swans on the water.
The view was beautiful and I had Ryan get another “bump progress” shot. 🙂
Something about the beach revived our dogs and they trotted/pulled along for the first little bit on the way back.
We covered the 4 miles in the snow in under 2 hours. I just love how amazing I feel after a day outside, even more so in the winter. Something about bundling up and getting out in the snow makes me feel so at peace and alive. I can’t describe it, I just wish I could get out like that every day. I told Ryan that from now on, when we move somewhere, we make sure we’re near public trails so I can get outside as much as possible.
