Snowshoeing Death Valley Trail
January in Alberta can be beautiful when playing in the deep fluffy snow and after a fresh snow fall, for us Albertan’s its just a fun adventure and an excuse to get out! Don’t let the name “Death Valley” sound intimidating, it’s actually a family friendly trail most of the year.
Don’t get this confused with the other Death Valley. This is Snowshoeing in Death Valley in Alberta, Canada.
Within a short drive we enter in to the Rocky Mountains just outside of Turner Valley, AB with an abundance of winter trails. Since the recent snowfall we took the GPS just in case, details of the path and started down the trail. We notice in the cold temperature of -25’C we aren’t the only die hards out enjoying the Canadian winter. After a short trail we came up to the trail heading which takes you up the hill or down into the trees, depending if you want to start with the hard up hill climb or try it later after you have warm up from hike down the hill.
After looking at the trails ahead and talking to another snowshoeing couple, we made the descion to climb early and take the decent on the way out. What a very peaceful walk thought the woods! Following the single path that leads into the trees we ventured off, quickly discovering deep snow, and the winter wonderland from the snowfall the night before. Walking into “No Mans Land” and off the beaten trail, we worried the snowshoes might be to small for this much snow, but once removing the snowshoes we discover that the snow is much deeper then we anticipated, and the snow shoes are going back on immediately.
The 10 km long trail really had its easy and challenging points, the deepest snow was a least 4 to 6 feet deep and other parts of 2 to 3 feet. Its truly an experience when walking through the mountains with the dark evergreen trees covered in heavy snow from the winter all around, knowing that we aren’t always the only things out there, a mountain lion could be around any corner. FUN FACT- in Canada we call mountain lions “cougars” these big cats can weight between 150lbs to 450lbs. Cougars are responsible for attacking a handful of Canadians every year. Be prepared and aware.
As any Canadian we brought a couple beers in are backpack with lunch for the hike, but when trying to drink the beer in the cold you really have to drink them fast, due to the fact that it was -25’C and the beer would freeze in minutes. “Cheers”
After completing our snowshoeing hike around the Death Valley Trail we returned back to the closed road to complete the short walk back to the truck.
