Snow Shoe Hike

Mount Washington. The Alpine Resort, Vancouver Island, BC, Canada.
Just had to clarify location, as there seems to be another Mount Washington.

I and a few friends went for a day hike in the snow on Sat. 17 Jan. We had a blast.
The 3 hour drive from home and lack of sleep sucked. We arrived at Raven Lodge (the Nordic Ski, Snowshoeing center) around 8 am. The area was covered in about 3 ft of snow. With snow shoes on we were on the trail, so to speak by 9am. As we did not have to rent or pay for trail passes we avoided the groomed trails and went cross country to the right of the lodge aiming for an area with two lakes. Last year we had thought of passing through this area on a 4 day winter camp. We did not pass through as we were not sure about the creeks being frozen over. This year we did find the creeks and no they were not frozen over. Saying that we did cross over these creeks as we did find sections that were frozen over.

After hiking down hill through forested areas, crossing unknown old logging roads we reached Rossiter Lake where we had our lunch in the beautiful sunshine. Sitting on the edge of the lake looking up the valley toward Divers Lake and the mountains at the end of the valley made the drive and hike all worth it. Billion Dollar Views. This is an area that we could use as an overnight or weekend winter or summer camp with fishing possible.

Our return to the lodge and car park was mostly uneventful although up hill. We had learned a lot about the small area. Our route was physically testing on occasion. Not enough though to stop the 70 year old that was with us. Enjoyment of the great outdoors, camaraderie built upon. A day of sunshine, and snow. Time well spent. We returned at about 3:30pm.

The drive home was definitely interesting. Leaving the resort area, at about 1080m/3543 ft elevation we could see the Georga Strait covered in fog leaving only the Coast Mountains and a few high points visible. Later as it got dark we became immersed in the fog, making driving challenging, not only to see the road, but to see identifying buildings, locations along the way. I did not know for sure where we were about half the time. We arrived home safe and sound about 8 pm.