Sawmill Loop (not: Shark L (Marushka L)) Trail snowshoeing on 28-Dec-

Our intent was to snowshoe to Shark (Marushka) Lake, but when we arrived at the pullout parking area along Mt. Shark road, it had not been plowed recently, and was full of snow from the last pass of the snowplow. It took a while for our two cars to make contact (no cell coverage) and agree to go to the Sawmill area further south on the Smith Dorrien road. We decided to do the Sawmill Loop, and perhaps partway up the old road to James Walker Lake, starting on the east side of the loop going counter-clockwise. It seemed that we were the first people this season to do the loop - we broke trail through about 8-10 inches of dry snow and were challenged with finding the trail in many places. There were also a number of trees down across the trail and some holes covered by snow that one or more of us fell into, which added to the adventure, but made the trip slow-going for the first 2/3 of the loop. We did not try to go towards James Walker lake. On the south-west side of the loop we came to a junction with a new trail called Suncup - from that point on, the trail back to the parking had been trodden with only an inch or two of snow in the track, which made it much faster going. Checking maps afterwards, it looks like the Suncup trail goes a bit further north and connects with the High Rockies Trail, which gives the ability to extend the Sawmill Snowshoe Loop by about 2.5km, something to check out on another trip.

We seemed to have the entire place to ourselves, only seeing a few cars in the lot when we started, and only about 1 other when we finished around 3:30pm. We seemed to have found the coldest spot in Kananaskis, as the temperatures varied widely from Hwy 40 to various parts of the Smith Dorrien. It was about -19 when we started and -13 when we finished at Sawmill parking, very similar to the SpotWX forecast. There was very little wind and clear skies making the temperature pleasant enough to shed a layer, and the mountain views very nice.

Thanks to a great group, who all helped with trail-breaking and were happy with the change of venue (new to all except the coordinator as a winter trip).

Everyone wants to do Shark Lake sometime - hopefully the parking area will be plowed on our next attempt.

Participants: Heather, Neil, Pati (chief photographer), Bob and coordinator Barb