Before going skiing, a waxing session is needed. Woodroffe Mansion has a basement under the whole footprint of the house – so plenty of room for this sort of thing:
The trails around Lac Meech were very pleasant.
Herridge Cabin is an excellent spot….
...and attracts a wide variety of birds – today a flock of Pine Grosbeak arrived to join the Nuthatches, Chickadees, Blue Jays, Downy Woodpeckers and Hairy Woodpeckers around the table.Here, Mr and Mrs P Grosbeak peck away as Mme Chickadee comes in to land.
This place has the reputation for being the best in Gatineau Park for wildlife. For those who receive actual real Christmas cards from us, it’s the site of the photo of the Barred Owl, taken on 1 February 2006.
It was a shame to leave this lovely route – here I am on the trail near a boathouse….
and we were sad to be back at the car after just 20 km (but with my blistered feet intact), taking from 10.00 to 13.35, including a 45 minute ‘lunch’ stop at Herridge (from 11.20!).Our snowy journey home was punctuated by coffee at Tim Horton’s, fuel for lots of shovelling of snow once we got back.
Sue tried to photograph some snow landing on her camera case today:
Here’s a detail from the above image:
[The light was very flat today – it was snowing – so the images reflect that fact – especially that of the Pine Grosbeak, which sadly fails to highlight the splendid rosy colouring of the male.]
Looking back from the start of the Khyber Pass, a couple of folk were coming up fast in our mirrors.
A welcome tea break at Huron Cabin gave Sue a chance to photograph lots of squirrels and this Blue Jay on the feeder.
Continuing along #1 we took the #24 loop. It had just been groomed and included a fabulous downhill section in perfect conditions. Rejoining Ridge Road from #24 we discovered this was the limit of the groomed trails, so the ski along Ridge Road to McKinstry and the Fire Tower would have a ‘back country’ feel today.
Turning back along #1, we headed to Western Cabin for lunch. The fire was roaring and toasted our sandwiches almost instantly. (Note the foil on top of the stove – it contains a sandwich with bread buttered on the outside to facilitate ‘toasting’.)
Heading steeply out of Western on back country trail 9 we found it hard work, climbing sideways up the steep, narrow track. Sue arrived unimpressed at trail 1B.
Luckily the Burma Road (#3) had been groomed and was in fine condition. But whilst Sue and I both had the same wax on our skis, hers had lost traction. Re-waxing with the dark blue wax made little difference. It had warmed to only around -5°C. We will take some stickier (violet) wax tomorrow.
We were soon down the hill and back on Gatineau Parkway for the final (boring) run back to Chelsea. Here Sue flies past me in the fast lane.
Today’s was our longest ski yet on this trip, the 29km outing took us from 9.50 to 14.45, including 55 minutes of tea and lunch breaks.
We crossed above the deserted Parkway, having to wait ages for any cars to appear on this normally busy road.
Sue eschewed a rest on this bench – despite the balmy -10°C temperature; the snow was coming down like rain, in very small flakes, with quite a breeze, so it was a bit like a mild dose of spindrift on a Scottish hill in winter.
This pair of mallards was trying valiantly to eat snow. Their beaks were caked with it, and Sue thought they were doing a mating dance.
We felt lucky to be able to escape from the cold into Carlingwood Mall. The coffee was good. A kitchen shop sale yielded some unexpected purchases – a mandoline and some electric scales.
There are some short, steep sections on this 4km loop. I managed to lose control on one of the corners. My fall was controlled, however, compared to Sue’s two wipe-outs. Helen and I kept catching up with her snow covered form, dashing along as if there was no tomorrow. The adrenaline rush caused by last night’s films had clearly not worn off. Tortoise and hare stuff. All good fun though, and no damage was done, so we returned happy and warm to Ridge Road and the pleasant track to Keogan Cabin for lunch. 
Huge icicles hung outside the cabin, and birds and squirrels were enjoying the feeder as usual.
Deserting the warmth of the cabin, we enjoyed the descent to Kingsmere and were actually back at home by 2pm, ready for our customary leisurely afternoon.
Luckily they were distracted by this impressive wall of ice.
The Taylor Lake Loop – trail 55 – incorporates the ‘Taylor Lake Luge’ that has claimed quite a few tumbles between us, especially from me. Today it looked relatively benign as we herringboned up it in these still excellent snow conditions. This often tricky descent had encouraged today’s anti-clockwise approach, thereby avoiding that obstacle, and luckily we didn’t have to dodge any out-of-control-skiers flying at us from the opposite direction.
Then we passed the old site of the Yurt – it gets moved occasionally to reduce stress on the environment – where a neat sign requests one to treat the breeding turtles with care.
From here to Renaud the final 3km of trail 55 got busier as we approached the cabin. It was much quieter than Healey was last Sunday, but inevitably there were familiar faces, and we said hello to Dan and Thomas, who had arrived here via a back country trail.
One of the thrush sized dinky red squirrels was busy noshing below the bird feeder.
When it saw me it dashed into a hole in the snow. It then peered out from a selection of many entrances, checking my movements.
There was a good selection of birds at this feeder – Chickadees (below), Downy Woodpeckers and Blue Jays, with a thrush sized female Pine Grosbeak (far below) biding its time in a nearby tree.
After the usual excellent toasted sandwiches, washed down with tea and accompanied by various other goodies, we enjoyed a gentle ski along the wide but busy track back to Philippe.
Wild camping is not permitted, so even for this winter bivouac Ken and his friends had to make a booking, and the site does have ‘thunder box’ toilets to avoid pollution.
Luckily she didn’t notice that behind her I’d lost my balance in the deep snow and was writhing around in a completely helpless state. It’s quite hard to do anything at all from a prone position in deep snow with skis pointing in all directions!
A flock of Bohemian Waxwings was harvesting berries from the nearby trees, oblivious of human presence.
Today’s 13km ski took us from 11.30 to 14.00, including our 35 minute break at Renaud Cabin.
We joined Ken, Lester and Dan for lunch in the cabin. They had left early from the easternmost point in the park, P3 – a 61km round trip for Ken, who was continuing to the Fire Tower, and only 5km less for the others. They are of course in training for the 160km Canadian Ski Marathon that takes place in a couple of weeks’ time.
Soon we were back in the trees. A swarm of animated Snow Buntings – there must have been 100 or more – briefly filled the air as we continued along the pleasant route, only recently reopened after having been reclaimed from snowmobiles. It’s marked on our old map, but has been unavailable for skiing for the past few years; snowmobiles and skiers on the same trails are not really compatible! I understand most snowmobile trails pass through private land, by agreement between the landowner and individual snowmobile clubs.
Today’s 21km trip took us from 9.50 to 13.35, including 45 minutes of breaks – an excellent little excursion.
