We had a lovely, social hike with mild weather, good trail conditions and nice views. Due to a navigation error by the coordinator, we did the Death Valley loop rather than Macabee trail, but our distance was about the same (11+km). The bonus was that we had lunch at a higher point with a great view of the mountains. Cougar tracks were also seen as we hiked off-trail, up to the upper Death Valley loop trail.

View from Long Prairie Ridge

Group ascending to upper Death Valley loop

View from lunch spot on Death Valley Loop

The trails were mostly covered in a couple of inches of soft snow that was easy to walk on with or without icers. The temperature rose as we were hiking, to the point where snow was balling up under our icers so we all took them off after crossing the only significant ice flow on the trail, but even that was okay to cross in boots as the top inch was slush.

Group after icer-removal

Thanks to a relaxed and flexible group of participants: Bill (p),Barbara,Yolande,June,Susan,Aldis,Bill,Alicja,Janice,Marietta,Inge,Barb,Deborah,Keith (p) from ,Barb (c,p).