Near the end of February, with the close of winter quickly approaching, GLC gathered an adventurous bunch of explorers to head on up to the mountains for a hike on Evergreen Lake. Yes, you read that right, not a hike around or near Evergreen Lake (though that was certainly involved), a hike ON Evergreen Lake.
With the winter’s ice still sturdily underfoot our group was able to don ice spikes and crunch out onto the Lake’s frozen surface. For most of us (certainly me) this was the first time having the chance to hike across a lake. But we weren’t alone in this adventure, we were joined by some other intrepid weekend explorers as well as bands of hopeful ice-fishermen sitting by the portals they’d drilled down into the frigid water.
Fortunately we were also joined by a few cheerful guides from DPR. Together we marveled at trapped bubbles speckling the thick ice slab we were walking over and discussed the potential causes of these trapped gasses.
Our guides treated us to a few other pit stops on our surprisingly sunny hike. At the far end of the lake they took us to Evergreen’s dam where we discussed what the purpose of the dam might be and how its existence might have affected the local ecosystems. Then they brought our crew to a smoothed section of the icy lake where we could take off our ice spikes and skate around on our boots. Somehow we avoided any falls and even got to see a few students race across the slippery track.
Having had our fill we made our way up onto the trail lining the lake and wound our way back to the parking lot. Between the beautiful weather and the unique experience of a spike hike on the lake’s frozen surface we simply couldn’t have asked for a better day.
Springing into Break Camp!