A quick evening dash up to the north summit of Black Mountain to catch a beautiful mountain sunset, and get a vivid demonstration of thermal airflow in the mountains. It was damn cold at the parking lot and along the creek from Yew Lake, but higher up I hit pockets of super warm air, mixed with colder air in the hollows. The summit was also quite warm. I even made it before the sun actually set this time!
Evenings are the time to hike these peaks if you want them all to yourself – that is, if you can be bothered to trudge through the slushy snow. I didn’t bother with snowshoes or Yak Trax – snowshoes might have helped a little. On the other hand, the descent was fast – 50 min up, 20 down :-) Winter poles have been removed but the summer trail markers are easy to follow.
One downside is that the winter’s deposits of dog poop are surfacing, like fossils from a bygone era – I can’t believe how much of it is so close to the trail. FFS dog owners – clean it up or at the very least move it away from the trail!
Cabin Lake is starting to melt out at the edges. Snow depth on the summit is probably less than a metre, but more like 2-3 lower down.
And of course I saw no one else: I had the place to myself. That was really quite luxurious.
Distance: 5 km
Elevation gain: 300 m
Being. Outdoors. 