In the misty , morning hours just after sunrise the decision was made to head to Wilkie Lake. It was iffy with the clouds, fog and coolish temperatures.
In any case, 6 hikers drove 25 minutes to park our vehicles on Boland River Rd. The trailhead for the Wilkie Lake Trail is across the highway from that point.
Almost immediately we were greeted by 4 ruffed grouse standing directly in the middle of the trail.
They stared at us and we stared back at them!! After a moment or so, (an hour in grouse time) they did a slow walk into the bush.
The trail had many moose tracks in the mud.
We saw a Spruce tree that had been used by bears to mark their territory.
A sharp chirping sound was heard by our group on several occasions
along the trail as we continued west. Guesses ranged from tree frog? a squirrel? a pileated woodpecker? The last guess seemed to be most popular.
We were a quiet group because we concentrated on the terrain with its mud , rocks and branches. We found a 4 foot deep sinkhole on the hill . It was marked with a red flag.
The hill to the Lunch spot was well marked. We settled in for our noon gnosh at a huge Boulder that had fallen off an 80 foot cliff.
On our return we voted on whether it was easier walking up or down that hill. 2 hikers found uphill easier 1 found downhill easier and the rest did not consider there to have been much difference! One hiker stated that the trail was no more difficult than the Woodpecker Trails near Slipper Lake to Pim's Camp.
We returned to the cars by the same trail .
The grouse were still in the same area but mama chirped a bit and all the teenagers listened and ran off into
It will be a great snowshoe trail.
5.5 km in total and we all made it back!!
