Elfin Winter Wonderland

We timed our annual trek to the Elfin Lakes perfectly.  The forecast called for clear skies and crisp temperatures.  Despite the favorable weather nobody had taken us up on the call for other adventurers to join our clan for this CFA Flash family adventure.  Maybe no surprise given that we picked a Sunday departure and Monday return to avoid the weekend crowds at Elfin Cabin.

Considering that we lost an hour of sleep in the "spring forward" time change we were making good time, hitting the road at 9:30 and ready to rock at the trail head by 11:00.

My pack was immensely heavy.  Everybody carried their own emergency gear, food, clothes, sleeping bags and mats.  Ean had the honor of lugging lunch for all, breakfast and dinner, plus a chocolate bar or two.  My pack held the "kitchen", but I swear, next time the little Action Jackson will get a bigger load. 

Weighed down by my pack, I was the slowest on the long trek up the access trail to Red Heather.  The boys had charged ahead, but luckily JoJo kept me company.  For the first time ever, there was no whining what so ever.  At Red Heather, we should have eaten our lunch in the bright sunshine outside, but ran into a gaggle of friends and attempted to get the stove in the cabin going.  By the time the fire starter had kicked in and the freezing cabin started to warm-up, we said bye to our friends and continued toward Paul's Ridge.  It's about a 2km climb from the warming hut to the highest point of the hike on Paul's Ridge.  At 1660m JoJo was wondering if the thin air would affect her performance ;-)  I doubt we felt any effects of the altitude, but foolishly promised a good nights sleep...

Menacing clouds started to move in, but fortunately, the views of Diamond Head, Mount Atwell, the Gargoyles and the Tantalus Range remained unobstructed.  The trail meanders along the ridge for about 5km, every once in a while revealing the end point of our hike, Elfin Cabin, in the distance. 

Nobody was at the cabin when we arrived around 4:00pm, but by the time dinner was served there were about 10 people vying for snow melt water and cooking spots.  Speaking about melt water...ever noticed how a huge amount of snow results in a minute amount of water??? I had the production line going, the kids kept the melt pots full of snow and new arrivals were able to get a hot bevvy in no time flat.   Chicken Noodle soup hit the spot in the appetizer departments and  Macaroni and Cheese never tasted that good.

While the boys played a rather rowdy round of Monopoly and I unsuccessfully tried to finish my book club novel, more and more hikers and skiers arrived, filling the cabin with excited chatter.  Word was that a school group of about 20 teenagers was also in approach.  Bets were made if they would make it before midnight - apparently their pace was extremely slow.  I didn't envy the teachers..imagine being on the mountain with a group of grumpy, cold and hungry teens.  Mercifully, they pitched tents at Red Heather for the night.

Before heading upstairs to the bunk beds, we secured our food on hooks from the ceiling.  A few years back, a little wood rat was busy all night trying to reach our food supply (unsuccessfully) and we rather not have any unpleasant surprises in the morning.  On that note, the cabin was very clean this year (we'd like to think it was our friends around Rebecca who we met descending earlier in the day, that cleaned up and left everything spic and span.  Unlike in past years, where food was left on the counters attracting mice, there was no food and no garbage sitting around.  I had brought up an extra rag and garbage bag to be prepared for a clean-up...but we just had to deal with our stuff. Nice!

Action Jackson was tasked with telling "funny stories" as we huddled in our sleeping bags.  I started drifting away very quickly...but a loud snorer interrupted our bliss.  JoJo thought he was sawing through the supporting beams of the cabin .

Morning dawned very cold and foggy.  Through the fog one could sense crystal blue skies...and by the time we had breakfast wrapped and the packs zipped up (I managed to get rid of the kitchen and lighten my load), the fog had lifted, revealing amazing 360 degree views of the mountain ranges around us.   There was a new layer of about 5cm of powdery, light snow...when did that happen (unbeknowst to us, Vancouver also had been hit with more snow, resulting in morning traffic chaos)?

The plan was to hike back, have lunch at Red Heather and then tobaggon down to the parking lot to make it back to town before night fall. I was slightly stressed about keeping to the schedule as I had left a trip plan with two friends and didn't want to end up the subject of an unnecessary search and rescue mission.  The sun was beckoning, though and the big and little Action Jacksons took the opportunity to slide down gentle virgin slopes.  We found the perfect lunch spot in a protected little meadow.  Oma's Frikadellen, boiled eggs, cinnamon buns and chocolate - we could have fed an army.



Where the ridge ends and the trail descends to Red Heather, the kids took their snowshoes off, strapped them to their packs and unrolled their sleds.  Record time to the parking lot....I think the tobaggoning on the return trip is the major reason the little Jacksons like this trip so much.

Back at the car, the last remaining obstacle was the perilous drive down the access road.  We've almost gone over the cliff a few times.  I was laughed down suggesting we should put on the snow chains.  Luckily, the new contractor in charge of clearing the road has been doing an amazing job. We inched our way down, past the steep and slippery pitches, but our little car and Action Jackson at the wheel had no problem.  

Here are some more photos of our Winter Trip to Elfin Cabin.