2022-01-29 | Chinook Lake (Crowsnest) | 1517 max | 1447 TH | 10.1 km | 252 TA | w/ Shannon An area I had been before, but not in the winter yet. This area is maintained by the Crowsnest Nordic Ski Club with a combination of set track for skiing only, skiing with dogs, plus multiuse trails and dedicated snowshoe trails. Their geolocated PDF map in combo with the Avenza mapping app saved a lot of frustration in navigation. Signage is there in places but with all the twists and turns and overlapping trails that map was gold! Also no dogs (and I like dogs) was a plus. Ok, the problem isn’t the dogs – its their owners – but I digress to shouting at the clouds…. If you go, get the map!
http://www.allisonwonderlands.ca/trails.php We debated taking snowshoes and once at the lake we switched to them from spikes for the balance of the day. There was more snow in the trees and the lesser packed trails than I expected. There is also a lot of micro-terrain with some steep ravines and creek drainages so staying to the trails made it quite straightforward. This area is very densely treed for the most part so protected from the Crowsnest pass winds. A few places offer views of the bigger surrounding peaks – Crowsnest, Tecumseh, Sentry, Chinook etc. We had lunch in a picnic shelter by the lake and fed the whiskey jacks a little bit of my pear. Always entertaining to watch them swoop in for a handout. All went pretty well until we decided to finish the day on the snowshoe trail labelled “Allison creek bench”. It wasn’t broken and there was flagging of various sorts everywhere plus occasional blue paint marks on tree trunks. After weaving in and out and getting annoyed with the lumpy snow and slappy branches we popped out onto the road and walked back the short distance to the truck. A good day, again, considering the lack of new snow over the last month or more.
