It was a
wild weather night with wind gusting to 50 km/hr, hail, rain. The wind blew so hard it forced all the smoke
back down the chimneys and filled the place with smoke. Wow!
Never-the-less,
when we pulled the curtains back on the morning, blue sky was breaking. Unfortunately, that didn't last!
We
scarfed down our brekkie and headed to the visitor center to get our park
passes and ask for advice on hiking given the weather. We definitely ascribe to the notion that
there is no bad weather, only bad clothes!
We had most of what we needed with us.
After a quick trip to the shop to acquire rain pants for John, wool
socks for both and extra gloves for Cheri, we were ready.
The
shuttle bus dropped us off at Dove Lake and the driver advised us to wait in the
shack until the snow stopped; it was snowing so hard you could barely see the
shack! So in we went.
About 10
minutes later it cleared a bit and we headed out. You still couldn't see the end of the lake,
but we were ready. We got about 20 min
in and another snow squall hit. We hunkered
down under some trees and waited for about 15 min until it eased. Quite quickly we were on a path through deep
forest at the edge of the lake. It was
magical! The trees were old and varied.
Lots of mushrooms from red to light
brown to orange brown. Moss, lichens,
and little things growing everywhere. It was still snowing
like crazy, but the trees were sheltering us and melting the snow into rain.
For a long
while we walked and kept remarking on the beauty, but not shooting it because it
was so wet. Finally, we couldn't take it
and out came the cameras! John more than
Cheri.
As we made
out way around the 6 km loop, the weather continued to change continuously. We shot where we could. Finally, John got the shot he came for. The peaks above Dove Lake look alot like Cathedral
Peak in Yosemite. He wanted to shot them
here.
Because
so much rain-snow fell while we hiked out the way back was like hiking through a
river. The water was running straight down
the path. We finally arrived back where
we started and caught the bus back to the visitor center.
Great
hike!
Thankfully
they were still serving lunch! Like two ravenous
animals we scarfed our lunch. Cheri wanted
to take a few more shots on the are Enchanted Walk and of course she had all
forms of weather! She did get a shot of the
pademelon!
Then it
was in the car for a four hour ride to Swansea.
Dinner on the way and the Milky Way again!
Enjoy!
John & Cheri
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| Enchanted Walk |
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| Enchanted Walk |
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| Dove Lake |
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| Dove Lake |
