Sunday 1 February 2015 – A Trip to Huron Cabin

We tried to get a leisurely start. Ken left to enjoy a 30 km skate along the Rideau Canal, and Sue and Helen and I went to ‘Parking Lot’ P7 from where Trail 30 rises to join Trail 1 (Ridge Road), along which you can ski as far as the Fire Tower, some 20 km away. Ken did that yesterday.

Fresh from their journey in a warm car, my hands were warm enough to take the following picture.

It was a beautifully sunny day, but perishing cold, so the camera didn’t come out again until we reached Huron Cabin after 6.5 km, as my heavy gloves are too bulky for operating it.

There weren’t many people about, and the wood burning stove had only just been lit, so the cabin was disappointingly cool, and our carefully prepared sandwiches struggled to toast on the cast iron surface.

Here’s the view from a cabin window, and Sue and Helen are pictured above before after we had left its improving warmth.

It was a pleasure to see a variety of birds – finches, woodpeckers, tits, etc, as well as red squirrels, enjoying the reinstated bird feeders in Gatineau Park. We mentioned last year that the feeders had been taken away as they were regarded as inappropriate to the natural environment in which it was felt the wildlife should fight to survive without human assistance. The backlash resulted in the feeders being surreptitiously returned to their previous positions outside the cabins.

Having arrived via Ridge Road’s Khyber Pass, we left via Champlain and Fortune Parkways, at the junction of which I’m pictured below. It really was very cold. Or am I going soft in my old age?

Then it was down to re-join Ridge Road at Gossip’s Corner, where nobody was pausing to gossip today. There were a few more folk about as we returned to the car park along the narrower Ridge Road track.

Here’s the sign at the car park. No wonder my hands and feet felt cold.

My Garmin gadget indicated 13 km with about 200 metres ascent, taking us about two hours plus the time spent in the cabin. Here’s the downloaded data, from which you can get a perspective on where we are, etc.

It was lovely to get warm again.

I forgot to mention – the man from Air Canada who told us our bags were with their delivery agent lied to us. We eventually picked them up from the airport ourselves late last night.