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Cooking Lake-Blackfoot and Canadian Birkie
This is a rather old trip report (Jan 4-5 2005)
This short message has got much longer than I expected, so I hope i don't bore you :-) Background #1: The first full day I was in Alberta (Dec 19 2005), there was a sudden and violent windstorm ( 120 km/hr gusts). I was walking across my sister's pastures with my nieces when it hit. When I saw 2 large poplar trees fall over in 30 seconds, I decided it was not a good idea to take a shortcut through the woods! Later there was a radio report that the ski trails at Strathcona, near Edmonton were closed due to fallen trees. The good news was that the storm brought 10 cm of snow. Background #2. I've never skied the Canadian Birkebeiner, but would like to, if I could work out the logistics of getting to Alberta. This year it is Feb 12. The deadline for registration is Feb 9 so hurry if you want to register. The full race is 55 km with 5 kg pack, the "lite" version is 55 km without pack. There are also 31 km, 13, 5 and 2.5 km races. Like all "true" Birkies, all races are classic style. The Birkie races are on the Cooking Lake-Blackfoot trail system The WEB site is: http://www.canadianbirkie.com/ With my slow dial-up connection and browser, I find the navigation menu difficult, so here are a few direct links: http://www.canadianbirkie.com/course.htm http://www.canadianbirkie.com/conditions.htm The Cooking Lake-Blackfoot Provincial Recreation Area is about 40 km east of Edmonton centre, immediately south of Elk Island National Park. There are 4 parking areas, Waskehegan (on the Edmonton side), Central and Islet Lake (closer to Tofield) and Blackfoot (off of Hwy 16). The area has "complex" topography, post-ice-age features like drumlins, eskers, small lakes and ponds. It is mostly covered with poplar forests. There are lots of tracks of wildlife- large hoofed animals (probably wapiti or moose), coyotes, lynx, beaver (many beaver lodges). It's a nice place to ski, although it sometimes doesn't get much snow. There is about 90 km of trails, mostly groomed classic. I think most of the trail maintenance is done by volunteers. There are warming huts with wood stoves at all 4 parking areas and several places along the trails. Tues Jan 4 So finally I get skiing there, after waiting out a period of -30 C After driving up from sister's farm, I got a late start from the Islet Lake parking lot. Only 1 other vehicle there (most people back at work or school). A temperature of -15 C with no wind seems tropical! There is about 20 cm of loose snow, packed to about 10 cm on the trails which is adequate (trails are grass and leaf surface with few rocks). I headed off westward on the Lost Lake trail, towards Waskehegan. The trail had been packed and trackset a while before, with about 3 cm of new snow since. But the classic tracks were skied in yesterday, so were quite fast. There weren't any fallen trees across the trail, so someone had been out clearing since Dec 19. This trail is one of the most hilly in the park - nothing long- but a lot of steep "roller-coasters" I met one skier (probably from the car I saw in the parking area). I didn't have time to get to Waskhegan, so I aimed for the Meadow shelter, about 6 km short. Happy Surprise #1- someone had made a fire in the stove, so the shelter was very warm. Surprise #2- just then a couple skied in from Waskhegan. We had a late lunch together, then I skied back the same route to Islet Lake. Then I drove to Tofield and spent the night in a motel. Wed Jan 5 It was even warmer today ( -5 C). I started again at Islet, with the goal of Blackfoot trail-head. Central parking area is along the way. I headed out on Moose Link trail - not packed- not ski tracked. I'm the first person to ski it this year! Then I find that it hasn't been cleared of fallen trees from the Dec 19 wind storm. I feel like I'm back on my "home" trails, except I'm not carrying my folding saw. There are lots of fallen poplar trees, but it is relatively easy to get over, under or around them. The bonus is that there are lots of fresh animal tracks. Large hoofed animals - wapiti (elk) or moose, coyotes etc. They probably saw, heard and smelled me before I saw them so I didn't have any direct sightings. Central parking area was plowed, no cars and no ski tracks. So I continued setting tracks and leaping fallen trees on the Round Up trail. At one point there was a partially stripped head and neck of a deer plus fur on the trail, with coyote and raven tracks. Around the junction of Blackfoot and Whitetail I met ski tracks, and soon after that machine groomed trail. But my wax (Swix green), which was OK on the fresh snow, was slipping on the glazed tracks. I got to the Blackfoot parking area. No cars but lots of tracks of recent skiers. Some of the trails here are groomed for skate style and even dog-sledding. The stove in the warm-up hut wasn't on but it was too warm for it anyway. I had lunch in the sun and put some blue wax on. There was notice up about a survey of wildlife from the Prov. Dept. of Natural Resources, asking hikers to phone in reports of sightings of rare animals. Including cougar!!! I skied back the same way. Better grip on packed tracks, but poorer glide in fresh snow. Somewhere on Round-up I met 3 skiers! They had started from Central. They thanked me for making the track. Now, after 4 skier trackings, the track is very fast (but still interrupted by the log leaping). Then I see the fur, but the deer carcass has disappeared. Those scavengers work fast! Back past Central, to Islet and drive back to Tofield motel So, after 3 trips there, I've skied most of the Birkie route. The next day I stopped briefly in Camrose to ski on the club's trails. I've called the area "Lillekollen" - it looks like a miniature Holmenkollen, complete with ski jump tower dominating the park. Unfortunately, the trails are mostly open and wind swept. I also had to get back before an impending snow storm. Visibility of the roads (very open prairies) was getting very bad when I got back to my sister's place. -- David Dermott , Wolfville Ridge, Nova Scotia, Canada email: WWW pages: http://www3.ns.sympatico.ca/dermott/ |
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