| Friday, 22-Jun-2007 02:52 |
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Raven Lake Trip
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Here's a story I originally wrote up for our local paper, but it turned out, it wasn't the type of story they requested, so I am going to post it here as I worked my butt off to write it.
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A snowy hike up to Raven Lake
by Carolyn Ibis
One thing I like about living in Prince George is the easy access to good places to hike in and around the area. Raven Lake is one such popular hiking trail that is located approximately 95 kms Southeast of Prince George, and it is not too hard to spot the sign at the turnoff to the trails on Hungary Creek Road.
I am a member of the Prince George Caledonia Ramblers Hiking Club. We go on organized hiking trips every Sunday from the end of April until the middle of October. This is a story of a recent hike that we did in 2007, to Raven Lake.
It was a very warm sunny day in June. There were 28 of us who showed up behind City hall to go hiking that day! We all left the City Hall early to get to the trail head at a decent time.
I find that there are always adventures in just getting to the trail head, and on this particular day, that was no exception. Driving in on Hungary Creek Road, we spotted 2 Black Bear cubs alongside the road. Even though we were safe inside our vehicles, we kept on driving as we didn't see where the mother was. It is not unusual to spot some wildlife during the day, either on the road, or on the trail.
At the trail head we noticed that BC Parks has been fixing up the trail. Instead of a very worn out path that goes straight up, and has lots of exposed tree roots to trip on, we found this new trail nice and easy to hike on with it's many switchbacks.
It didn't take us long to find snow. Thankfully, the snow was still firm, so we did not sink into it much. We did decide though, to bring along our snowshoes, just in case we needed to use them. As we got higher, there was more snow, and at one point, I sank into a hole and it went up my whole leg! I recommend that you bring along some alpine snowshoes if you hike up into the alpine before July and in the late Autumn as it can be hard to predict how much snow there is up in the higher elevations and what the condition of the snow will be like.
After a couple of hours, we reached the meadows. At a certain point, you have there is a splitting of the trail and you can either turn left and go to the Raven Lake cabin down by the lake, or you can keep on going straight up the mountain up onto the ridges. We decided to keep on going up to the ridges above us. As we continued, there was still plenty of snow , but suddenly, just up on the ridges, there was dry ground below our feet., and there was even some flowers blooming!
The views were fantastic from up top. Looking all around us, we could see a wonderful panaroma. To the Northeast of us, we could see the snowy peaks of the McGregors and the Rockies. To the East, we could see the valley leading to Grizzly Cabin, which is hidden behind Leprechaun Mountain. To the south we cold see the Cariboo Mountains and the Bowron Valley. What a beautiful place to eat your lunch on such a nice day.
You can do the trip as a day hike or you can stay overnight at the Raven Lake cabin, which is available on a first come, first serve basis. You can also do a loop going out either on the Leprechaun or Grizzly Den trails and walking back to vehicles along the road. With it's fairly easy hike up, well developed trails, and wonderful views up top, this is definitely an excellent destination for avid hikers. There is more information about the Sugarbowl/Grizzly Den Provincial Park and Protected area at the BC Parks website at http://www.env.gov.bc.ca/bcparks/ .
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