In past years there were times we were able to start hiking in the park by the end of March. This year, with the lack of melting temperatures that wasn’t possible. Yesterday, April 7, we decided we would check out conditions in the hope it won’t be too long before we can hike into the backcountry.

We entered the park at the Basin Lake access point #19. While there is little to no snow in Pembroke, as soon as you near the park line (approx. 60 km away) it is a very different scene with considerable snow in the bush.



Basin Depot --- a site familiar to many.

The following picture shows an area above Basin Depot. The depth of the snow cover increases sharply as you leave the Basin and climb to higher terrain. The elevation of the Basin is 187 m.

There had been some winter logging in this area so the road was passable -- 3 to 4  inches of snow on the road here.



Start of the cart trail to Foys Lake. Much more snow. The road climbs to a high point of 352 m a few kilometres past this point and that is where the snow was the deepest. That's a climb of 165 m (541 ft) from the Basin.




The campsite at km 31 on Buck Lake.


No sign of water along the shoreline yet.


Arriving at the hydro line -- 10 km from here to McKaskill Lake.



This is as far as you can drive. A few hundred yards down the road there is a sign indicating only authorized vehicles can go beyond this point. Here, in the open areas along the hydro line, the sun has reduced the snowpack.

While it is still very wintry looking in the park with warmer days in the forecast hopefully it won't be too long before spring takes hold.



Red dots indicate the locations of some of the pictures. Map courtesy of Maps by Jeff.