A little snow, a little sun, a little wind added up to a pretty good day. Although the weather to the west looked threatening, the mountains on the north side of the Bow were spared any major inclement weather. We started out in relatively warm and clear conditions:


Starting out for Mt Lady Macdonald

The trail was muddy in spots but generally in good shape:

Anna & Joyce, Lady Mac trail

On the way up we were treated to a view of three bighorn rams who were hanging out halfway up the trail:


Rams on Lady Mac

We subsequently saw some ewes and lambs loitering on a grassy slope just below the snowline. There was some deeper residual snow for a short section below the teahouse:


Near the teahouse on Lady Mac

With a cold, brisk wind blowing at the exposed area around the teahouse we hunkered down for lunch either in the lee of the teahouse or underneath the helipad:


Lady Mac lunch: hiding from the wind

For the brief periods when the sun was out it was quite warm.

Some other hikers who had been up the snowy scree to the summit ridge reported it was somewhat slippery and icy so we decided the teahouse was a sufficient destination for an early spring conditioning hike. On the descent we ran into a lot of people (and dogs) coming up the trail. One had to stay alert because it was thawing to greasy mud on parts of the trail:

Lady Mac: muddy descent

We did stop for a break on a slope of grass and kinnickinick, and surprisingly there were no ticks. The trip finale was a coffee stop at Beamer’s. Thanks to Joyce, Margaret, Anna, Peter, Ghulam and Barb. Scribe and coordinator was Ron.

Hike start was 9:50, teahouse arrival was 11:50, we were back at the bottom by 15:00.