Westner Lake and Route 66, Thursday Dec 21, 2017

First day of winter.  Great powder snow conditions.  -15 deg C and light winds. Lets do route 66 !   Where is route 66 anyway?  Why is it called that?  Well a group of 7 hikers set off on snowshoes from the ski hill parking lot to find out.   We made our way up the bunny hill (freshly groomed for downhill skiing) sticking to the side lines.  Then we followed Paul Echle trail to Westner Lake.   From there we did a bit of a hop skip and jump and ultimately all our questions were answered when we arrived at the route 66 rock ( see photo).   We continued to make our way around to the north side of  Westner Lake.  Along the way we saw many animal tracks…foxes and hefty squirrels.  When we encountered a gate blockade, one member showed us a very entertaining way to get over the  rock boulders with snowshoes on.  Then we lunched sitting on some logs in the snow covered forest and then we took Westner Trail back to the ski hill parking lot.  What a great day!  -  PHOTOS Laura C