The trails closed on the weekend & will open once the temperature drops to allow grooming perhaps later in the week.
Tuesday March 10 - Ii was a lovely spring like day so instead of skiing I cycled 13 km today on city streets.
Tuesday March 3 - Today 9 skiers met in the chalet for a ski up Kawartha to Owl where we split into 2 groups. Peter, Gord, Dave Messervey & Bill Hardwick skied Owl, PL, Trillium, Adam Scott, Fisher & Beaver for a ski of 16 km. Dave Calvert, Blake, Dale, Garry & Pete continued up Kawartha to Trillium to Beaver & a return to the chalet for lunch after skiing 11km. As the photos show conditions were very good as Kawartha, Trillium & Beaver had been groomed. Warm temperatures & rain are forecast for the next few days so will wait to see what happens to the snow base on the trails
Tuesday Feb 24 - 11 skiers met in the chalet including John Cameron, Barry's cousin & Gord a friend of Peter's. Arndt described the conditions as the best yet. Everyone skied Peanut, High Rd, Trillium to Wolf. Peter, Arndt, Dave Messervey, Bill & Gord skied Wolf, Kawartha, Owl, PL, Trillium to Wolf where Bill & Gord continued to ski down Trillium while the others skied on Wolf to Kawartha S for a return to the chalet. Pete, Dale, Barry, John, Dave Calvert & Blake skied up Tanney for a ski down Kawartha to Wolf where Barry, Dale & John left to ski on Wolf to Trillium to Beaver while Pete, Dave C & Blake continued on Kawartha for a fun ski down to the chalet.
On a brisk overcast wintery day we met at the Millbrook Mill Pond for a hike on the linear 3.0 km Baxter Creek Trail & the 1.4 km Grand Trunk pathway. The Baxter Creek trail starts at the edge of the woods on the SE corner of the pond park. The trail had a cover of hard-packed snow as it winds it's way thru deciduous & cedar woods, wetlands & beside the creek eventually crossing the 4th Line to The Grand Trunk pathway that leads to the 1865 GTR bridge. On our return we walked around the small pond to the path on the eastern side of the fishing pond thru the parking lot & across the 4th Line to the Baxter Creek Trail & a return to Millbrook for lunch at Moody's. In the wetland areas there are many boardwalks & 2 bridges over the creek. We recommend walking thru the parking lot to access the trails south of the 4th Liner rather than the continuation of the Baxter Creek trail
Pete MacLoghlin, Barry Diceman, Dave Messervey & Blake Frazer did a 5 km hike on the Trent U South Drumlin Trail. The weather cooperated until a light snow squall struck on our return walk beside the canal. The trail begins at the bend of the Rotary trail from Nassau Rd & after a 100 metres starts to climb gradually up to a ridge overlooking the canal that takes you eventually thru an old orchard down to the Thompson Creek dam & south to a city park. At the NE corner of the park there is a rough trail that leads to a peninsula on the east shore of Thompson Bay. From there we walked to the SE corner of the park onto the 13th green of the Peterborough Golf Club. On our return we walked on the trail between the canal & the drumlin which ends after passing under the Nassau bridge at a wide gravel path that goes to Nassau Rd. If the weather had allowed we might have continued walking south on the golf course to the gravel path on the west shore of the canal that ends at Parkhill Rd
Thompson Bay from the peninsula trail
We decided to take advantage of another gorgeous fall day by exploring the trails of the 137 acre KLT Christine Bentham nature preserve just south of Burleigh Falls featuring a mature deciduous forest, 1200 feet of shoreline on Clear Lk & large limestone ridges. Starting from the parking lot on Juniper Pt Rd we walked the 0.7 km Juniper Point Trail to the 2 km circular Michael's Limestone Ridge Trail where we walked on the eastern section down to the Kawartha Park Trail for a short hike to the 1.5 km Ruth's Wetland Explorer Trail which takes you to the Clear Lake shoreline & wetlands before returning to the Kawartha Park Trail for a return to the Limestone Ridge Trail where walked on the western section to the Juniper Pt trail & a return to the cars for a walk of 5.0 km. After the hike we had lunch at the Canoe & Paddle pub in Lakefield. The trails are well marked & maintained with boardwalks & bridges over the wet sections. These trails can also be accessed from Kawartha Park Road. Roger's Trail is another path from Kawartha Park Rd that goes to Clear Lk & continues along the shoreline to Sandy Point.
We met John Ambler at the Sylvan Glen Conservation Area on Sylvan Glen Rd off of Dale Rd. The Ganaraska Trail starts over the bridge on the other side of the Ganaraska R from the conservation parking lot. This a well maintained trail with benches, boardwalks & bridges on private property but maintained by Ganaraska Trail volunteers. The trails pssses thru a forest of huge cedar trees as you wind your way down to the river & eventually passes thru a meadowlike area. After walking this section we walked on the conservation trail which is along the south side of the river & is not as well maintained with difficult gullies to cross. A few of us then drove to Richardson's Lookout which is west of Garden Hill off Cty Rd 9 that has panoramic views of the Oakridge Moraine & south towards Lake Ontario where we could see the Wesleyville stack.
