Hay Meadow
If you want to give your senses a treat, ski Hay Meadow. Try to do it before it gets trashed by hikers. I did a lot more than Hay Meadow today, but the pictures from HM are the best.
Hay Meadow
Before I get into today’s report, I want to mention that a trail has been snowmobile packed to skirt the big ice flow on the Bill Milne trail which I encountered yesterday. Read the Groomer’s Report from Jeff for more details.
Hay Meadow
I’m so glad the Ribbon Creek area finally received the big snowfall because these trails are very enjoyable, and it’s not so far to drive.
Stoney trailhead
When I parked at Stoney trailhead at 1:30 pm, the temperature was -13 and the sun was beating down. The snow was cold and Polar wax(-15/-30) worked well.
I should have stayed at lower elevations because when I was 580 metres higher on the Skogan Loop, it was b-r-r-r- cold. Just as Adam described it in his trip report.
Stoney trail is groomed for hikers and fatbikers
It’s a rare and special occasion when I can ski Hay Meadow on perfect conditions without any footprints. Good thing I didn’t start 20 minutes later because I met a hiker about 300 metres up the trail. Thankfully she was staying on the edge of the trail.
The Eagle Highway goes through here.
I saw where Jeff had groomed Stoney Trail in the hopes of funneling foot traffic instead of on the ski trails. At the end of the Stoney grooming where it meets Hay Meadow, hikers still have to walk on Hay meadow for about 100 metres and you can really see the difference, so the Stoney trail experiment is working fairly well(maybe ’til the weekend, anyway!).
Stoney trailhead is a popular spot to park for hikers, snowshoers, and fatbikers who are going to Troll Falls.
I’ll post some photos from Skogan Pass tomorrow. The downhill on the Screamer was incredible today.
Hay Meadow Feb 6, 2019
