Wet Feet Wandering
After a prolonged cold spell it was nice to see the mercury rise to zero in February 2014, so nice in fact that I packed my gear in a hurry and drove out to the Elbow Valley intending to make a long hike/snowshoe combination. When I reached the winter gate on highway 66 I was gutted to find I'd left my winter boots at home! On my feet were my slip on trail shoes made of mesh which I often wear to/from winter hikes as they are so comfortable.
For a moment I considered making the hike anyway but in reality there was no chance of that. I decided to put on my thick wool socks and go and explore elbow falls in my trail shoes. I got back in the truck and moved to the falls car park, really hacked off, it was a beautiful day and I'd blown it.
Upstream of the falls the water poured over frozen rocks and through corridors of ice, in deeper pools that blue/green ice cold mountain water added colour to the wintery scene.
For a moment I considered making the hike anyway but in reality there was no chance of that. I decided to put on my thick wool socks and go and explore elbow falls in my trail shoes. I got back in the truck and moved to the falls car park, really hacked off, it was a beautiful day and I'd blown it.
Upstream of the falls the water poured over frozen rocks and through corridors of ice, in deeper pools that blue/green ice cold mountain water added colour to the wintery scene.
The sun made every effort to clear the thick ice from the waters edge, even as I stood on it to make photos it creaked and groaned underfoot, never threatening to break, just reminding me of where I was standing.
On the downstream side of the falls the snow was coated with spray which froze to make a concrete like wall of white ice overlooking the 'well' where icicles hung from every surface.
The frozen snow peak makes a great photo point and the trampled snow means I'm not the first to think so though there are no people at all around today (which is unusual for Elbow Falls)
Further downstream at the end of the paved 'tourist trail' a small trail continues on along the canyon, the south facing wall has virtually no snow and I decided to go explore the route for a while.
It's a nice gentle ascent up to the top of the canyon and though there is a short section of fresh avalanche where the trail has been badly degraded it is passable with care and I'm soon looking back toward the falls from high on the ridge.
The narrow trail rises and falls beside the river offering good views of the eastern foothills and endless forests that blanket the ground toward, over and beyond them.
Deep in the canyon below, an ice bridge offers a temporary crossing place for those who are so minded and with the trail falling toward the canyon floor I may just take a look.
After dropping down to a level much closer to the ice bridge I find my feet permanently covered in snow and the mesh of my trail shoes doing nothing at all to protect them, I decide that crossing the ice bridge and hiking up through knee deep snow in shaded forest was probably not the best of ideas even though my wool socks are keeping my feet warm if not dry.
I continue on downstream, now ploughing through knee deep snow all the way until I reach a ice covered corner where trees from the June floods sit on top of a small rocky island
on the opposite bank the melted snow refreezes into long green ice flows that spill down into the river
Rounding the corner now I try to follow what I presume to be the trail as it drops down to the river level but the snow is deep and filling my shoes and socks as I go
I decide to move down onto the ice and shake off the worst of the snow, even though it's cooler here in the shade it is easy going and temperatures aren't much below freezing, the steep canyon wall opposite is a great feature and I'm surprised there are no ice flows along it.
It's great to be on flat ground, my microspikes ensure good grip as I stride along the ice, looking back along the wall I'm struck by the towering trees that sit right on the edge of it like sentinels watching over the landscape.
I'm soon approaching another bend in the river and the urge to continue remains, there is always just another corner to look around or another hill to see over when hiking....even on the days when you're hiking in wet socks!!
Around the corner the river becomes a set of rapids with islands of ice some of which are accessible on ice bridges, there are some really deep pools on the outer edge and I peer in looking for fish, unsuccessfully. On the left of shot a small ice flow hangs in the shade of a rock protrusion
The river is beautiful here, a tight 'horseshoe turn' against a bulwark of rock, covered in ice with a ribbon of green bouncing and rushing past rocky outcrops long since isolated from their origins. What a spectacular little area tucked away in the foothills. This starts me thinking about a summer hike following the river from the falls discovering more of these wonders and then perhaps enjoying the feeling of wet feet.
I'm tempted over an ice bridge to a large rocky outcrop in the middle of the area then across another heading downstream where another deep pool sits below a small cascade
Where the water splashes through the cascade it refreezes against the ice forming long bunches of identical icicles hovering just inches above the water
I wander around the ice bridges for a little while exploring as far as possible without breaking through but the bridges run out preventing any more exploration further downstream, I reluctantly head off back upstream toward the falls.
I took a slightly different route back hoping to avoid the deeper snow I had encountered on the way downstream which I did, unfortunately I found some more that was just the same but covered a greater distance, which I confess was a bit bloody miserable, but once back on the high trail on the south facing ridgetop I warmed up again as I returned to the truck.
This little exploration session may not have been what I had in mind when I started out today, but it really did make up for the disappointment of the forgotten boots.