When I did my last hike in this area I hoped to walk to the mouth of the Martineau River so I began this hike, once again, with a notion to attempt to complete that walk. However, I started my walk a later than and the distance was further than I expected; but as walks go, this turned out to be one of my better ones of the year.
All the same, I got started well before noon. My plan was to walk 2 hours 30 minutes, then take a break and return. This hike involved a variety of terrain as I started out on a well traveled vehicle trail but also did some of the walk in bush with no trail.
The relief in the terrain, particularly at the drainage crossings, and several inches of snow in the bush and on the trail made this a moderately difficult hike.
Judging from the game trails and tracks in the snow on the park trails this area is frequented by deer, moose and coyote as well as the common small mammals and ruff grouse.
It was a calm day and the temperature was just below zero, which made it a pleasant walk. About two hours into the hike it started to snow lightly and a breeze came up from off the lake. About that time the trail took me within view of the lake, so I left the trail and walked for a while on the beach.
Although my view was partially shrouded by falling snow, I could tell that less than 100 meters out from shore, the lake was not yet frozen. The breeze on the open water was producing swells that gently rose and fell until they were absorbed into the margin of broken ice and slush. The whole process was remarkably silent. This place was a silent world sketched in hues of gray. Dark water rising and falling, white snow, mist, even the willow and polar trees were but dark and light vertical lines in shades of gray. These are impressions that can only be experienced in the soft light of a low winter sun shrouded by mist and snow. Not an eerie experience by any means, I found it peaceful and calm.
I walked until 2pm. The snow fall had become heavier, so I stopped under a few snow-laden spruce trees for shelter and, on my stove, warmed some lunch to eat. After eating, I immediately packed up and started back. For the walk back I used my trekking poles. The poles seemed to help reduce the effect of the extra effort needed to walk in the snow on the trail.
Presently the snow stopped. Now, with a fresh cover of snow, every animal track was new. I soon saw fresh coyote tracks that came halfway across the trail and then turned back. If I have read the tracks right, that coyote had been there only minutes before me. Aware of my presence, it interrupted it's planned route and returned the way it came.
The sky cleared and the sun got low. The low sun cast its pinkish hues onto a few broken clouds. The trees and the sky were now cloaked in the soft pink hues that only winter sunsets can produce.
More fresh tracks of squirrels and a weasel.
By the time the sun got below the horizon, I still had about an hour of ground to cover before I would reach my truck. I was thankful for the long winter twilight, but it was disappearing too quickly. To top it off, my GPS batteries were dying. I dug a flashlight out of my pack and used it to illuminate my GPS, rather than use any precious GPS battery power to back-light the screen. I made it back through the brush in winter twilight, using landmarks and the GPS to help me find my way. By the time I found the last trail leading back to my vehicle, a thin crescent moon was casting faint shadows of spindly trees trunks, blended with a faded shadow of me, onto the shimmering cover of fresh snow.
I arrived at the truck with wet feet and a sweaty back from so much continuous activity, yet I was filled with warm contentment from such success in the day's excursion.
Distance was about 17 km.
Moving time 5 hours 6 min.
Stopped time 49 min stopped
Max elev 1971.
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