Wednesday means a downhill skiing lesson for Helen, at Camp Fortune, the hub of Ottawa’s ‘downhill’ fraternity. So Sue and I started our cross-country route from here, using trail 14 to reach Ridge Road.
It was an overcast day with a bitter breeze. My Sealskinz gloves are marginal in this weather (-10C plus wind chill), so tomorrow I may use thicker gloves that unfortunately need to be removed in order to use the camera. (Not that I used it much today.)
So today there were very few pictures as they would be 'dull and samey' as opposed to just samey. I've therefore headed this posting with a picture of Huron Cabin taken yesterday. I have in the past received requests for pictures of cabins in Gatineau Park, and anyone who wants one is welcome to have a full size version of this image.
The cabins are not 'en suite', but they do have toilets, in Huron's case 'his and hers', but most cabins have just one unisex thunder box.
In past years we've enjoyed watching the birds on the feeders at the cabins, but recently it has been decreed that such activity harms the birds, so feeders are now banned in the park. "We don't feed the bears, so why should we feed the birds" say the powers that be, perhaps unaware that the bears are currently fast asleep whilst the birds need all the help they can get to survive.
Perhaps bureaucrats have similar attributes the world over.
However, we have seen red squirrels, hairy woodpeckers, nuthatches, tree creepers and chickadees in the woods. The chickadees are a bit like a cross between a great tit and a blackcap.
After getting as far as the far junction of Ridge Road with trails 24/40, we returned via trail 24 to Ridge Road, then trail 3 – the Burma Road – which was a delight to descend today, though trail 32, our back country route to return to Camp Fortune, was mostly too hard for us and had to be walked.
Our outdoor activities for the day were now at an end after 20 km on the pistes, so we enjoyed lunch in the cafe with Helen, and Frank, who’d been doing some telemarking.
A nasty, swirling, light snow then accompanied us home, making us glad we’d stopped at lunch time as we peered out from the warm car.
2 comments:
Hi Martin and Sue
Don't feed the birds?! Surely someone will write to these misguided folks pointing out the stupidity of their decision.
Enjoy the trails (and the new skis Martin)
Apparently the Canadian equivalent of the RSPB is ambivalent about the feeding. So what do I know Gibson?
The new skis are good - they certainly made the Burma Road descent seem easy yesterday. It's nice to have some modest 'edges'.
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