The South Lawson Peak trail was in much better winter conditions than expected.
I met Katie at the side of the road after a gloomy drive along Hwy 40 and onto Smith-Dorrien. Surprisingly several vehicles were parked at the trailhead. We didn’t expect to see anyone that morning because the early-morning conditions did not look promising.
And it was very cold.
We bundled up, grabbed our poles and headed down an old logging road for just over a kilometre. The road had seen some traffic that morning so thankfully we were not breaking trail.
In no time, we passed a sign for a snowshoe trail and an old dam.
We didn’t see the trail straight away but once we spotted it, we knew it was just straight up to the peak. The trail was in really good shape. We didn’t know what to expect because we had read reviews that the trail is one of those underrated trails.
We experienced all types of temperatures that morning — mostly ‘you can’t take your gloves off for more than 10 seconds‘ weather. Blue skies in the distant gave us a glimmer of hope.
In the mountains, you never know what you are going to get so you have to be prepared for everything. We were just thankful to be out in the mountains and in good health.
While we stopped to take photos, we watched as three guys ‘skied’ down a sketchy slope. Snow was pretty deep in some sections but pretty good to the ridge, they said. It’s a fairly short hike (8K out and back – roughly 760-metre gain) and we were about another kilometre to the summit.
I brought along one of my compact cameras for photos but it too froze before long. I stuffed my iPhone down my shirt to warm it up. It always takes a few weeks of really cold weather to remember all the tricks for winter running and hiking more bearable.
The wind picked up whenever we were out of the trees. Thankfully I had worn my bandana around my neck so I could easily cover my face. We saw two women on the ridge before the summit with a couple dogs. One of the guys had given me a little bootie for the dog so I returned to one of the hikers.
Without saying a word, Katie and I quickly made it to the summit, took a couple pictures and quickly got of the top.
Down in the trees, we put on our Kahtoolas. Some sections looked a little dicy. We didn’t really need them on the way up but we thought it might help descending.
As luck would have it .. the blue skies finally caught up with us .. on the way down. We had a good laugh about our timing and ran down happily. It’s always fun to catch up with friends on a shared (we don’t know what’s going to happen) adventure.
Running down was so much fun. Isn’t it always?
I would like to go back on a less moody day so I can see what’s beyond the peak for more than 10 seconds. I had thought about stopping and doing King Creek or Mount Baldy since this hike was so short but then I got in my warm car and I didn’t want to get out again.
I am still getting used to winter. Got lots of it left so I am going to ease into the winter running and hiking. In fact we talked about putting together a winter hiking/running list. I love lists and I know I could become easily obsessed (in a good way) with crossing each peak off the list.