Five of us assembled to give this new route for all of us, a go. Four were to ski out and back while the fifth would ski it one way. Temperature was a coolish -17C at the start. The plan for the fifth participant was for her husband to drive to the Johnston Canyon Campsite and ski towards our group from this location. Once in contact with us he would return with our group back to Johnston Canyon.

The first section was the trackset section from Castle Mountain to Castle Junction.Snow conditions were reasonably good with there being one downhill along this route which required some control for descent. Shortly after, we arrived at Castle Junction. It wasn't immediately apparent where the trail started across the road. We opted to take the trackset trail which parallels the railroad. This eventually brought us to a communications? building where the track seemed to wander in the meadow. Eventually, we found the proper snowmobile packed trail closer to the road. As we skied along the snow was quite pleasant in the meadowy sections and rather hard and icy in the treed sections. Unlike the first section, this section had seen little skier traffic which probably accounted for the iciness in the treed areas.

Eventually, the trail ends up beside Hwy 1A and follows it for a distance, crossing to the other side when the trees pinch in and then back when the edge of the Moose Meadows are reached. We met Jacek along this section by the highway actually skiing on the opposite side. He had missed the crossover point which was poorly marked, as had others before him. Once in the meadows the trail was rather bumpy and a rather poorly skier set track. It appears the skidoo packer had problems with a wallowing skidoo in the low bushes.

As the meadows end, an access road is reached and followed to near the railroad, It then parallels the railroad until Johnston Creek is reached. The route then takes to the creek for a ways and then goes up into campground. Interestingly, there were flags on debris above the snow in the creek section.These were the only marker flags we saw on this section. The campground access road takes one out to the 1A hwy at the traffic circle, the end to last years loppet.

After saying good-bye to Jacek and Aga, we opted to have lunch in one of the campground picnic shelters at about 12:30. It was a bit of a slog over heavily faceted snow and, with warming temperatures, the waxes were not working as well as earlier in the morning.

A leisurely lunch with good conversation was had in cool comfort - under the shelter seemed cooler than the surrounding outside area. After rewaxing with special blue we were on the trail again. The return ski seemed to go faster even though we were starting to notice the distance.

The Group at Moose Meadows

Heading Home

We encountered a husband and wife skiing through the meadows on skinny track gear. The wife was not impressed with the lack of grooming.


Last Meadow before Castle Junction

Hamming it Before Hitting the Tracks

Near Castle Junction we joined the groomed trackset trail and skied the other section of this loop which follows more closely the main road (1A). A brief stop at the hostel (which was not open) and we were once again crossing the road at Castle Junction. Lots of skiers at the end of the race (Castle Jctn. this year), some in costume skiing the virtual loppet. The last trackset section featured a rather fast hill with a turn at the bottom. Three of us skied it but one opted to walk it. The rest of the route was without incident, all of us finishing reasonably together at 4:00pm with a temperature about -4C. Not a bad day out and most seemed to enjoy the route even the section by the road. Variety of terrain was what was appreciated.

Thanks to participantsInge,Clifton,Toshiko,Agnieszka for a nice day of skiing and great company. Thanks also to Toshiko for treats and for the photos. Of note, this was Clifton's third ski tour over four days. He seemed pretty chipper at the end. Not bad for a "young fella"!

Bob C/S