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/