There is a chain of marshes in the space between Stake Lake and the Coquihalla Highway that are fun to explore in winter.   Access is via a cattleguard entrance off Lac le Jeune Road.   A double track goes west and branches connect to the South Bush Lake area too.   On this sunny winter day, I headed out onto the ponds and marshes, breaking trail all the way.   The snow was up to my lower thigh so I kept the outing to 2 km of exploration.  My tracks were the only ones on the marshes for most of the route.

Aspen trees grow along the shoreline in a few places, making a scenic winter scene.

A ridge sticks out into the middle of the marshes, probably a glacial moraine (ridge) from the last Ice Age.   It had been harvested and replanted so progress was open, but the snow is deeper in the open areas.

Aspens grew rapidly after the area was cleared of timber so the clones stand above the juvenile trees on the ridge.

From past explorations I knew where an old homestead was on the shores of the largest pond so I visited the two buildings on this cold clear winter day.

I prefer to not reveal their locations so that they can stand for a few more years yet.   Most of the roof was now caved in and drifts were accumulating on the old roof.   The door was askew and ajar, but still there.   I am assuming this was a trapper’s homestead.

On the way back I encountered two sets of tracks.   This one was from a moose with a wide stride across the pond, connecting two browsing shorelines.

Near the end I spotted a snowshoe hare track too, but there will be more tracks around the ponds as the weather improves.

I only visit the Butterfly Marshes on a fine day where I can snowshoe out in the open with the sun on my face as I stomp in an exploration track, far from the crowds in the nearby Stake Lake Trail system.   .