Cross Country Ski Cameron Lake

On April 12, 2009 I drove up the Cameron Lake road in Waterton National park. I was hoping to find a cross country ski trail that I had visited last December 21. As I recall the trail then was well used and perhaps even groomed. The Cameron Lake road is kept plowed during the winter months up to a point about 1.4 Km before the Akamia Pass trail head. There is an area to park cars there and it is the staging area for skiers and snowshoers. On April 12, 2009 the trail was still in use but had not been maintained. It was apparent that there is already quite a bit of foot traffic into Cameron Lake. There was one cross country skier that had gone ahead of me so I followed his track most of the way. In my opinion the cross country ski was decent in spite of people walking on the ski trail. There were a number of places where it appeared that people had sunk into the snow for a couple of feet. But all in all it was a good ski and I was able to get a good stride going in a few places. Most of the way any view of the surrounding mountains is blocked by the trees. But when the mountain slopes around Cameron Lake come into view it is a awesome sight. The view took my breath away. This is a good place to pause and just take in the grandeur of the mountains. As I approached the place where the Marina is on the lake I could hear voices. It turned out that the skier ahead of me had met a snowshoer and they were sharing experiences. It is apparent that the snowshoer spends a lot of time at Cameron Lake in summer and winter. He told about paddleing his kayak on the lake with in the summer time. As he was telling about his hikes and paddles that he does a Whiskey Jack or Gray Jay flew down and landed on his hand. The snowshoer then took a little bit of a bar that he was eating and held it in his hand and the Gray Jays would alight on his hand and take the food. There was also a Steller's Jay there but it was not so bold. As we were visiting the three of us noticed some movement under the tall spruce trees. It was apparently someone who had slept there the night before. There were several ski tracks down Cameron Lake where as on my December ski there had been no tracks at all. So seeing tracks I was confident enough to follow them out onto the lake. I skied down the lake for about 1.42 Km to its west side but I stopped at the last trees. I dare not venture further as the area appeared to be prone to avalanches and I am not experienced in avalanches. On my way back I met the other cross country skier and the snowshoer coming down the lake together. I stopped and chatted for a minute. The skier pointed out that there was slush below the snow and I checked that out by thrusting my ski pole into the snow. Sure enough at about a foot down there was slush. The reassuring thing was that below the slush there seemed to be a solid layer of ice. When I reached the shore line I took a break and visited the person who had slept under the trees. I could not determine the gender of the person and I was not able to establish where he/she was from. Only that he/she had come by greyhound bus to Lethbridge and then hitch hiked out to Waterton Townsite. He/she had then hike up the Cameron Lake road to Cameron Lake. He/she had overnighted one night on the way up but I do not know how many nights had been spent at Cameron Lake. Nevertheless and interesting person. On departing he/she introduced his/herself as Kim and said that the next trip to Cameron Lake would likely be in the summer.

I then started my return to my vehicle. I met a few hikers and snowshoers coming in as I was going out. At the Akamia Pass trail head there is an alternate cross country ski trail through the trees that is adjacent to the Cameron Lake road. I took this trail back. It was not groomed either but was a good ski nonetheless.

The total distance was about 8 Km.
My time actually skiing was about 1hr. 45 minutes. Actually it might have been closer to 2 hours as my GPS shut down for some the way back.

Being in the mountains reminds me of just how beautiful our world is and how it is worth saving. And what a marvelous creature we humans are that we can enjoy and appreciate such grandeur.