Sat, Jan 2 2010 - Devon Trails (View Original Event Details)

Event Coordinator(s): PM
Participants:AngelaS, Erich, Matt NB, Saeed, Eileen H, La Souer Lamontagne, Marie, Michel, bob doupe, Colleen G, Radka J, Renee, Henry R, Cindy S, Deborah S


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Write Up:
The weather forecast was a bit nerve-wracking. High winds the day before had resulted in wind-chill warnings for the Edmonton area, with wind-chill factors to -34. Dangerously cold for a two-hour hike. Fortunately, it warmed up nicely to -17 by Saturday morning, and while there was still a wind, it could hardly be felt down in the river valley by Devon.

Fifteen members (and one unexpected out-of-town guest) came out for a little snowshoeing excursion in an area that was new to most people. Most of us met at West Ed and carpooled to the campground gates, arriving within a minute or two of the scheduled time.

After the usual fussing with bindings and boots, and some discussion of the right number of layers to wear, we set out, first trekking across the golf course then climbing along the slopes. In just a short while the trail turns up the ravine, and we hiked to the top bank then back down again to the main bridge. From there, we climbed again to the very end and paused for a few minutes for a break, then returned to the bridge. Crossing over, we followed the frozen stream back down to the campground, then returned to the cars along the river bank.

It too much less time to get our gear off and pack up than it had been to get it on, and we returned to the Mall parking lot.

Total distance on snowshoes was probably about six or seven kilometres and the time on the trails was about two hours.

All in all, a nice day and good company. Lots of photo ops and some beautiful scenery - hard to go back to the mundane city trails after a hike in such a beautiful wild area. Don't forget to send in your photos so we can all enjoy them!

Thanks to everyone for coming out. See you next time!


Have some photos from this event that you'd like to share in our photo album? Please forward them to Mark G at photos@edmontonoutdoorclub.com. If you have a LOT of photos, please submit up to thirty of your favourites (only) for a day event, or up to sixty of your favourites for a multi-day event. Thank you.