Home»All Photographs»2021 Hikes»Mt. McNabb 02-06-21

With an arctic air mass pushing down into southern Alberta, this was destined to be a chilly hike. I strapped my snowshoes on and started off from Sandy McNabb campground. Within minutes, I crossed the frozen Sheep River. Soon, the ascent ridge steepened, and I ditched my snowshoes in favor of microspikes, as the snow wasn't really that deep and climbing in my snowshoes was beginning to feel clumsy. The snowshoes were mostly in order to spread my weight out across the river ice - turns out the river ice was thick and solid anyway.
When a day is this cold, the frost on the trees is just beautiful. I marveled at the enchanted, silent forest.
Soon thereafter, I looked down to see that I was missing one of my microspikes. The one on my left foot must have gotten snagged on a snag. I was only a short way from the summit at this point, and figured that I would keep a close eye for it on my way down, since I would be following the same route.
I topped out on Mt. McNabb and took a short break to drink some water and layer up for the descent.
A few moments later, two hikers were coming up and had found my missing microspikes. Sweet!
It turns out that the couple was Matthew Clay and his wife Sandra, who was celebrating her birthday with this brisk hike. Matthew is a prolific hiker who is well-known amongst the community of local outdoorsy types - I figured it would only be a matter of time before we bumped into each other.
After a pleasant but brief (it was COLD and we all wanted to keep moving) interaction, we parted ways. What serendipitous timing to have my missing microspikes returned to me - just as I was heading down the steeper terrain on the ridge. This is when I would need them the most - so lucky!
Once down the ridge, I put my snowshoes back on and went for a foray into some nearby meadows. The purpose was twofold: I wanted some flat, powdery travel to enjoy, and more importantly, I wanted to scope out potential sites for an upcoming winter camping trip. Once satisfied, I hiked back along the Sheep River until eventually crossing it, and arriving back at the trailhead.