On the drive out it started to look gloomy over the foothills and while on the gravel part of the Sibbald Road it started to rain. Muddy travel continued along the Powderface Road but by arrival at the trailhead the rain had stopped. The ascent through the forest remained precipitation-free and we took a rest break at the Cox Hill trail junction where the meadows started to show a few flowers.As we progressed along the ridge there were good views of the peaks to the west, with a distant Rundle appearing to be in sunshine. The cloud above us decided to share some of its moisture and although fairly light it was enough to prompt use of some rain protection:
time for rain gear
Further along we did encounter a large snowdrift on a part of the trail through trees and took a detour over to the more open west side of the ridge to do a little offtrail bypass. With the wet conditions you had to step carefully to avoid the slimy green lichen on some of the rocks. By noon we were at the summit:
At Jumpingpound summit, Moose Mtn in distance
A cool north wind had started up so we retreated down to some trees below where it was nicely sheltered for lunch. From there we commenced back:
starting back from Jumpingpound Mtn., hints of clearing in the distance
The rain had stopped so there was time to examine the many flowers that were in bloom along the meadow. Back at the snowdrift (about 100 meteres long) we decided to walk along its length instead of detouring:
The one snowy section of the trail
It was firm enough to walk on but soft enough at the far end to use kicked-in steps to descend back to the trail. Once we started down through the forest the weather decided to tease us by warming up and becoming sunny. At the cut block alongside the trail there was a floral display of clematis and a few bunches of arnica:
Arnicas in the cutblock (Bill photo)
Further down along the trail were displays of catkins:
Green alder (Alnus viridis) catkin (Bill photo).
Back at the cars it was nice and warm and the dirt road had even dried up a bit; unfortunately the showers earlier on had done nothing about cleaning the cars from the muddy drive in:
hmmm... looks like a car wash is on the menu
Thanks everybody for an okay day in the mountains despite the light rain, participants: Sim, Ron C/S/P, Bill (photos), Dean, Douglas, Aldis, Inge, Cathy.
