No Bubblers

After our stop at the Siffluer trailhead, we made a second stop down along the shore of Abraham Lake.  This was immediately below Mt. Abraham, at the elbow of the lake, across from Mt. Michener.  This is usually a good spot to easily get onto the ice and view all the bubbles.  Of course this year, the lake is not yet frozen, so there is no ice, no bubbles, and no bubblers.

Bubblers is the term that the locals use for all the tourists that visit the area in winter to see the ice bubbles.  There are a number of tour companies that take people out.  Apparently there are a couple of spots where a small amount of ice has formed, and these are being kept secret.  Only the paying tourists are taken there.  If we ever get any cold weather, the lake will quickly freeze and there may be some opportunities later in the year.

For now we just enjoyed walking along the shore with Hank and exploring the crust of ice that had accumulated along the water line.  I dug out my view camera and took a couple of photographs.  At one point I lost my footing on the ice and as I was falling I thought that for certain I would kick over my tripod and smash my camera.  But I managed to avoid that and only suffered the embarrassment of falling on my ass.

It was quite warm. but the breeze was pretty brisk.  The strongest current of wind seemed to be across the lake near the far shore, as there were whitecaps on the water below Mt. Michener.  It was actually quite pleasant up near the trees, but as we got more in the open, the wind picked up.  But it was still no issue to set up the big view camera and take a couple of photographs.  The temperature peaked at about +6C in the afternoon, and even after dark was still a little above freezing.

Later in the evening I dug out the BBQ and we had some chicken wings, baked potatoes, and a couple of nice steaks.  It was mild enough that running the grill was not an issue.  If the weather stays like this, we may be able to do it again.  Once winter finally sets in, if it ever does, the grill will likely stay in storage until spring.