It has been a lovely weekend in Gatineau Park. I’ve written more than enough about our recent trips to this area – here – so this year it’ll just be a few pictures and some brief notes.
After our 18 hour journey on Friday, including a two hour delay at Newark and subsequent immaculate views of New York after dusk, Sue and I were pleased to don skis for enjoyable trips with Helen into the Park. Conditions were gentle – minus 7C on Saturday, minus 5C (but cloudier) on Sunday. Care with feet meant that last year’s severe blisters weren’t repeated; ‘kill or cure’ cured my knee injury; and Sue’s neck problem didn’t prevent her from enjoying being back on her planks.
Bohemian Waxwings were out in force in view of the header picture, taken on the escarpment above Ottawa, at Champlain Lookout, but the only deer we saw was a carcass.
Ski conditions are excellent, but may not stay that way, so there were lots of folk out this weekend. On Saturday we parked at P9 and enjoyed a 17 km trip around the Burma Road to the Lookout, and on to Huron Cabin, which was quite busy, as you can surmise from the ski rack shown below. Conditions for our return to P9 down Fortune Parkway were fast, reaching a steady 30kph in the groomed tracks. Which is quite exciting!
Sunday saw us squeezing into P16 and taking a 15 km there and back (with 19 km knobs on for me) route down trail 50 to the junction with trail 52, before returning via Herridge Cabin, where Sue and Helen are pictured below, on a somewhat greyer day than Sunny Saturday. Ken and Michael joined us there for lunch, having set off earlier on a final short (30 km) training outing for next week’s Canadian Ski Marathon, which the rest of us are giving a miss this year.
5 comments:
Looks great - enjoy your holiday!
Good conditions here in the Alps too - although very very cold - snow is perfect! Keep posting - I like reading them....
Absolutely idyllic. Have a great time both of you.
Hi M and S,
Doesn’t time fly. It only seems like a few months since that i was reading about your last visit here.
18hrs! Thats nothing, try 34. We are now back home out of the fire and into the freezer. Brrrr.
Have a good trip.
Thanks everyone. We are delighted to hear that you are enjoying Alpine delights, Laura, and we are sure there is something interesting and Scottish for Gibson, whilst we agree with Alan that our hop across a pond is nothing compared with his marathon trip. Snowdonia looked great as we passed over, Alan!
I hope your knee continues to hold up! Enjoy the rest of the trip.
JJ
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