Foggy First Snowshoe of 2016 with Killer Hill Doesn't Deter the GiG
The gals made it to the top of the monster hill. It was a frosty inversion day with temps in Great Falls at 11 degrees when we headed out at 8:30 a.m., but the temperature slowly rose as we climbed King's Hill to a balmy 22 at 10 a.m. when we hit the trail. By the end of the day, the thermometer would register a tropical 36 but fall to 14 when we arrived in Great Falls at just after 4 p.m.
The drive was interesting with much fog and much smog from wood stoves settling in over the Belt valley. On King's Hill, the day started sunny with absolutely no wind, but a cloud hung over the area producing slight snowfall. We all marveled over the complete silence in the absence of even a breeze.
This trail was a first for the gals. It starts on the O'Brien Creek trail, dips down to Silvercrest E-Loop and then has a killer-climb up the Powerline trail back to the parking lot. Once you hit the bottom, the area is multi use, but this being a weekday, we didn't encounter any snowmobiles until the very end of our hike, near the parking lot. However, we did observe one other person on what appeared to be snowshoes, way up the power line ahead of us.
We may not have liked the steepness of the incline on the Powerline trail, but we enjoyed using our televators, some of us for the very first time. The televators really do help on vertical slopes. Of course, having the uphill at the end of the hike was a bit of a challenge but everyone made it to the top with relative ease.
This trail probably could be dangerous on weekends as many sleds will be whizzing around the power poles.
After the 4.5-mile day, we drove to Bob's bar for sandwiches and sweet potato fries.
On a side note, this was Doris's first time out after her hand surgery and she did well! She only felt some slight pain in her wrists. And this was the GiG's first trip out for 2016! Happy new year.
Who went: Randi, Susan, Doris, Gail and Katie
The drive was interesting with much fog and much smog from wood stoves settling in over the Belt valley. On King's Hill, the day started sunny with absolutely no wind, but a cloud hung over the area producing slight snowfall. We all marveled over the complete silence in the absence of even a breeze.
This trail was a first for the gals. It starts on the O'Brien Creek trail, dips down to Silvercrest E-Loop and then has a killer-climb up the Powerline trail back to the parking lot. Once you hit the bottom, the area is multi use, but this being a weekday, we didn't encounter any snowmobiles until the very end of our hike, near the parking lot. However, we did observe one other person on what appeared to be snowshoes, way up the power line ahead of us.
We may not have liked the steepness of the incline on the Powerline trail, but we enjoyed using our televators, some of us for the very first time. The televators really do help on vertical slopes. Of course, having the uphill at the end of the hike was a bit of a challenge but everyone made it to the top with relative ease.
This trail probably could be dangerous on weekends as many sleds will be whizzing around the power poles.
After the 4.5-mile day, we drove to Bob's bar for sandwiches and sweet potato fries.
On a side note, this was Doris's first time out after her hand surgery and she did well! She only felt some slight pain in her wrists. And this was the GiG's first trip out for 2016! Happy new year.
Who went: Randi, Susan, Doris, Gail and Katie
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