What to Expect

The NCC only gives a little information on snowshoeing in Gatineau Park but there are other people out there who like to share their knowledge and enthusiasm. This blog will attempt to bring some of those stories together.

Start of the Season

Marc Charron writes

“Our hike on Wolf Trail today might have been easier if we’d been wearing snowshoes rather than hiking boots.”

Open Water on Wolf Trail

From Jonathan McPhail via Twitter

Trails #60 & #61 – Monday March 1st

There was a soft icy crust on top of the snow tonight, both on and off the beaten path.  There’s still a surprising amount of soft snow if you venture off the trail and into the woods.  Made for a very pleasant outing under the moonlit sky.

Ottawa Citizen on Trail #74

Kathryn Young asks Janice Kennedy (both of the Citizen) about her day spent in Gatineau Park

Finally Some New Snow! Update on Trail #60 & 61

Trail condition were quite nice this evening with a good 10cm of fresh new snow on the trails and more coming down every minute.

We could have done without the warmer temperatures and light rain this afternoon.  As a  result, the snow was soft and heavy but at least it wasn’t slushy.

90 minutes on trails 60 & 61

reposted from Peter Dudley’s blog

Snowshoe trails not as bad as we thought today

Given the lack of fresh snow of late, we were not sure how the trails were holding up in Gatineau Park. However, after spending 90 minutes on trails 60 & 61 in Chelsea, we were quite surprised at the conditions. There were a couple of rocks peeking through, but all in all, it was not as bad as we feared. The weather today was good too – mild but no wind to worry about.

If you have not been out snowshoeing lately because we have bare roads to drive on, fear not. The snowshoe trails are still enjoyable. Don’t break out the hiking boots just yet!

Good Conditions on Trails #60 and 61

Nice 3cm cover of fresh fluffy snow made for good conditions today on trails #60 and 61.  It was almost enough to forget about the hard-packed base underneath.

Hard to believe but the current forecast shows up to 3 cm tomorrow (Thursday), up to 3cm on Friday and maybe 1 cm on Saturday :-)

Even harder to believe but the long range forecast shows another 10+ cm on the way early next week :-) :-) :-)

Trail #70 (P15 to Healy)

Trail conditions were good last night for walk in the park  on Trail #70, with or without  snowshoes.

Conditions were hard-packed and winter boots provided  plenty of flotation on the snow.

In Case You Don’t Remember….

…this is what a fresh snowflake looks like

Let’s hope we see many of these in the Gatineau Park very soon :-)

Vegan on Raquettes

Natasha reports on some Gatineau Park snowshoeing (evidently recovering from a broken leg) but doesn’t say exactly where she went. Pictures though…