Saturday’s Viking North trip went well in excellent weather and generally easy-travel snow conditions, with 11 participants.

The trip was divided into five distinct sections: ancient forest, rich assemblage of beaver ponds, second growth forest, open wetland glades with superb mountain views on all sides, and a kilometre of abandoned Longworth access road down to the Fraser River, where we had lunch.

Total travel time was nearly six hours, plus half an hour for lunch; and total round trip distance was about 12 kilometres.

Route finding across the beaver ponds and streams was tricky given this year's unusual winter conditions, but didn't present any real problems. One person did get quite wet after the ice gave way on a small, but deep stream crossing, but not badly enough to abort the trip.

Early on we came across very fresh tracks - likely from that morning - of what appeared to be a large male cougar that had walked in my two-day old snowshoe tracks for nearly half a kilometre; plus there were plentiful recent tracks of snowshoe hares, and old moose and other tracks.

Seeing the cougar walking in my two-day old track and following all my twists and turns was quite unusual and a bit spooky. Its track was clearly fresh that morning, and since there was no benefit for it to walk in the track with just 5 cm of fresh powder on a firm base, it had to have been following my track. It's possible that we had disturbed it, and it was likely still around as someone thought they saw a new track on our return.

There were many White-winged Crossbills (Loxia leucoptera) and one Steller's Jay (Cyanocitta stelleri), British Columbia’s official bird, in the open wetlands.

All in all, it was a very successful day, and everyone seemed to enjoy this highly unusual aspect of Sugarbowl-Grizzly Den Provincial Park with its rich lowland ecology and views to rival those in the alpine zone.

The best time of year to visit Viking North is in mid to late winter (February-March), when there is a good snowpack and before the ice melts and the creeks open too much. This is also the best time vis-a-vis the ecological impact of a group.

Thanks for leading the trip Mike!

Photos submitted by Shelley Mitchell.