The run out from Island Lake was much faster – woke up at 4:45am, out of lodge by 5:05am, and at car by 5:50am for a 40 minute run. Longer stride, ran whole way instead of walk breaks required on the steep inclines, legs had “worn in” a bit from the prior effort, downhill a backpack doesn’t slow you down as much, etc. Nice weather – about -2C.
After the story of the trail closer to the lake being closed because a bear is hibernating inside it (and making funny noises, and grabbed Brenda’s glove when she put it in a hole in the tree before knowing a bear was in there), I didn’t want to be the breakfast of any animals. At that time of day there’s no expected road traffic, so I was on my own. Call it my mini taste test of Tour Divide isolation. I had the idea to leave one of my ski walkie talkies in the room with my roommate and bring one with me, but unfortunately one was dead from our last ski trip. Oh well. Had a tiny headlight; couldn’t see very much.
Drive home stunk. Road all snowy, plows not out yet, plus some morning traffic. It’s fine to go say 80km/h, but then some crummy car not equipped for winter plugs up the highway at 50km/h and 6 trucks have to drive behind at that speed. Guess a chain is only as strong as its weakest link. Past the Crowsnest valley towns it was just me, so a little easier to go a speed appropriate for the road conditions.
Glad I made it out for a day, but this additional commuting instead of sitting in a bus, not needing to keep my eyes open, and missing in an extra day of skiing now has happened twice this year on these trips. I’m tired of the shenanigans. I can remember how good the snow was on the January trip; I can’t remember what “important” thing I had that limited going out for one more day.
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