The weather forecast for this day was rain. Fortunately, the rain was quite light in the morning but we still went to the picnic shelter for breakfast. It seemed that the weather conditions got worse as we headed east - likely an up-slope condition off the prairies. More snow was appearing on the mountain tops as we started up the Miette Hot Springs Road. By the time we arrived at Miette Hot Springs it was fairly heavy rain off and on. Alda and Hannah arrived shortly afterwards. With the weather being lousy and a fairly exhausting day on Roche Miette, they thought this would be a better trip for the conditions.
None of the participants except the coordinator had done this route but under somewhat similar weather conditions. It was 10:00 am so we checked out the hot springs to see if they were open to get a coffee and check their wi-fi for a recent weather forecast. They didn't open until 11:00am and there was no wi-fi at least at this particular time.
There was nothing to do but start up the trail in the rain. Fortunately, this trail is somewhat gravelled especially lower down and even paved for the first 200 meters (service road to a cistern?). Wet tree routes were less of a problem here. In this weather, it was amazing the number of people coming down as we were going up - as the views were probably limited. After plodding past the Mystery Lake trail junction it climbed more steeply. Eventually you break through the trees onto a flat open spot.. A small band of trees again and you emerge onto an open slope. We couldn't see the summit as it was snowing heavily and the snow was starting to accumulate on the ground. It was a short plod to the top with essentially no views. We didn't hang around long at the summit as all of us were wet both from the outside and the inside. Some of us were thinking of the hot springs pool as we headed down while others were still debating. While going down the number of people coming up the trail was surprisingly large, considering the conditions. When we reached the hot springs everyone was so wet and chilly that all had decided to hit the hot pools. Subsequently, Carolyn and Dave (Carolyn's husband) joined us in the hot pools and this allowed us to arrange a later start time for the Folding Mountain trip the next day.
All in all, a rather wet and cool trip with a warm finish.
Thanks to participants: James, Alda, Hannah for joining me once again. Thanks to Alda and Hannah for joining the evening before and making it a club trip. Once again a new trip for all except the coordinator.
Bob C/S