Moonlight & Chantilly Falls

March 22, 2014

For this late march trip I would return to Kananaskis Country, to a trip I attempted back in December 2013.  Starting once again from Wedge Pond I would do the Wedge Connector and continue along the Evan-Thomas Creek until I made it to both of these waterfalls.  Having previously made it to Chantilly and not be aware of it, I knew I'd be able to push however further in order to make it to the more alluring Moonlight Falls.

From starting at the Wedge Pond parking lot it would be 4 Kilometers to make it to Chantilly.  The battery in my GPS would end up dying shortly after this, which leads me to estimate that Moonlight Falls is a couple kilometers further (6Km from Wedge Pond).

I would end up bringing another friend along this time (being his first time with snowshoes) and we would finish the entire 12 Kilometer journey.  Which, this is something to be said for my friends ambition in keeping up with my endless drive.  At one point we would be faced with scaling the side of a mountain; with snowshoes on it made things a little more difficult, as balancing was not fun staring down at a freezing March stream.

 

Chantilly Falls

The biggest difference between the last few months was the amount of snow that accumulated.  To put the amount in perspective; in December the sign post at the beginning of the trail with my camera on top was staring down at me and my group (found in the opening video in Dec 2013), When I would walk up to this same post in March I would be taller than it and my camera would instead be at head level.  For having just gone through 2 weeks of on and off warm weather in the region, this means a good deal of snow found its way to this area.

On the hike this day we would also encounter some relatively warmer weather at -14 to -10 through the day.  I was glad to see that the creek still had a couple openings with water licking the tops of the rocks.  As there wasn't even the slightest of noise in the area, not even trees moving in the wind or birds chirping, the water moving was a soothing feeling to be heard.

I must mention that the splendor expected from a waterfall named Moonlight ended up living up to its expectations.  In the winter the frozen teal blue sheet drops down the rugged rocky wall and stands out as a peaceful image in the sometimes ever bitter winter.  The size of the waterfall is also daunting when you step up close.  As a known ice climbing waterfall, this tells me that I may have fun scaling this down the road in the hopefully near future.

Moonlight Falls