Smells like Spring.....

After last weekends deep snow adventure, I was very pleased at the recent arrival of.....could it be? Warmer weather? A thaw? Possibly, maybe, hopefully.....it smells like spring!!!

I awoke at 5:30 in the morning - because there was a couple of robins having an orgy outside of my bedroom window and they were screamers!! Also, surprise-surprise.....it was getting light out. I drifted back to sleep only to be awoken by the alarm dog, barking at a large bull elk grazing on the teeny tiny sprigs of greeen grass that magically appeared when the snow receeded. Hey - the snow receeded!! A week ago - shin deep, but the last two days it disappeared. I decided to get up and have a hot tub, only to be assaulted by the smells of spring in the backyard. The smell of wet, rotten, grass mixed with a winters worth of Norman doggie-doo.......ah! The smells of spring!!

Keith and I have two Adirondack chairs in the middle of our kitchen - on most mornings, one of our favorite rituals is to sit in them, visit, drink coffee and wait for the hot cereal to cook. It's a great ritual. Our friend, the sunbeam is finding its' way into the kitchen much earlier these days for us to enjoy. I lazed the morning away, waiting for it to get a few degrees warmer before I ventured out for my last long run pre-Miwok (yay!!). I'm sure glad I waited, because by the time I got out there - the sun had heated up the day, melted everything in its' sight and things were warming up and the smell of spring was everywhere.

I decided to drive up to Lake Minnewanka for my run and was hopefull that there might be some semi-dry trail and signs of spring. I wanted to run in the sun and feel the heat on my skin. The shoreline trail was fantastic - warm, drying up quickly, sunny and glorious.....

Oh my Gawwwwwwdd.....Leslie's in a short sleeved jersey!!

Officially, Saturday April 26th was the first day that I put on shorts and a T-shirt!!! Woooohooo! Alright, I had to start in arm-warmers and a vest, but the moment I hit the Lake Minnewanka shoreline, it was hot and sweaty. Yessssss! Hot and sweaty! Surely, a sign and smell of spring - a sweaty Leslie. The lake is still frozen, but the south-facing trail was dry.

The smells of spring were everywhere. The smell of cold snow and rock in the shade, the smell of sheep shit on Sheep Point (Norman isn't the only one leaving a winter's worth of souvenirs)....the smell of the sun warming the pine forest, the smell of warm dirt on the trail, the smell of moist rotting leaves and still lingering, the smell of ice and snow.

Deep in Sheep Shit - Sheep Point

The Shoreline Trail

The view from the campground

This campground on Lake Minnewanka shoreline is another one of my favorite summer places. We once spent a long weekend here on one of the busiest weekends of the summer in the National Park - and saw a couple other people.

Another sure sign of spring, my bear spray is now easily accessed on the side of my hydration pack where it will remain for spring, summer and fall! Though I didn't see any signs, no diggings, no footie prints, it is now bear season. The G-bears and B-bears have woken up and they love the Minnewanka shoreline for the same reasons I do - it is the first place to melt and they love the smells and tastes of spring.....don't we all??