With temperature of -18 at 8:30 in Calgary, we were expecting a cold day at Rummel. That was not the case!

We started out at a comfortable -12 with no wind and bright sunshine. The trail had a good base, with a few inches of fluffy dry snow on top. There were surprisingly few people out on this popular trail - we passed 2 people on the way up and were passed by a couple of skiers later on; on the way back we met about 10 more people.

The temperature rose as we ascended, reaching -5, but was a bit cooler at the lake where it was cloudy. We had lunch there, then returned to the car the same way. The Smith-Dorrien only had the north-bound lane plowed and although the Sawmill parking had been plowed, the access to Chester parking was blocked by snow from the plow so everyone had to park on the side of the road; the road to Engadine Lodge was not plowed either; no additional plowing was done during the day so I was glad my vehicle had fairly high clearance driving home in the ruts south-bound. Once we got to Hwy 40, the road was just wet.

Sunny start on snowy trail

Winter Wonderland at Viewpoint

Cloudy conditions at Rummel Lake - Lenard, Barb, Doug

Thanks for a lovely day out to Douglas and Lenard from Barb.