Our Events 2022




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Skiing P5 to the Mackenzie King Road

We were back skiing again today, this time 14 km round trip from parking lot P6 at the Mackenzie King Estate, along the Champlain Parkway to the Lac Fortune Parkway and back.

Kathryn Signs Champlain Parkway Stream Kathryn Adam Kathryn Champlain Parkway


Skiing P5 to the Mackenzie King Road

After a fairly big four day storm over Christmas we were back skiing again today. This time we skied from parking lot P5 "Penguin", along the Gatineau Parkway to the Champlain Parkway to the Mackenzie King Road and back for 10 km.

Kathryn Kathryn Frozen waterfall Adam


Skiing P8 to the Champlain Parkway

We were back skiing again today, this time from parking lot P8, along the Gatineau Parkway to the Champlain Parkway and back for 10 km covered.

Trail 1 Sign Kathryn Adam & Kathryn Stream


First Ski of the Winter

Skiing started a bit earlier than it has done in recent years with a snowfall of 36 cm on . Today we headed to Gatineau Park and skied the Gatineau Parkway from P9 east past P8 and up the hill towards P5 and then back, for 10 km covered.

Kathryn The Gatineau Parkway The Gatineau Parkway The Gatineau Parkway The Gatineau Parkway The Gatineau Parkway Adam & Kathryn


Biking Season Ends

Our biking season got a bit of a December restart with some warmer weather, to finish the biking year with 150 days and 3837 km covered.

Kathryn Adam Kathryn


Skating at Canterbury

Ice skating season started today, at least on the outdoor, artificially-cooled rink at Canterbury. It seems that few people had heard about it, as it was lightly attended. We short a short video of our first skate:

Adam & Kathryn


Early Snowfall

Today we got an early snowfall of about 8 cm. This was not as early as we have had, in 2009 we had a snowfall on . With warm temperatures, though this snowfall was pretty much all gone by .

Snow Snow


Hiking the Wolf Trail

Today we hiked the Wolf Trail, from P13 to the Tawadina Lookout, for about 7.7 km covered. It is a fairly demanding climb, but we made it round trip before the rains from Tropical Storm Nicole hit the area.

Adam Kathryn Sign Trail 62 Swamp Contrail shadow Kathryn Tawadina Lookout sign Tawadina Lookout Tawadina Lookout Adam & Kathryn


Hike to Western Cabin

Today we hiked a new route from P12 to Western Cabin, for about 7 km covered.

Kathryn Adam & Kathryn Adam Trail 2 Creek Signs Western Cabin Western Cabin view Signs Seeds


Last Bike Ride to Osgoode

With temperatures of 23°C, we did one last bike run down to the Village of Osgoode for lunch there. The Osgoode Link Pathway was fairly busy with people out taking advantage of the late season good weather. This was our sixth ride on the 53 km round trip.

Adam Kathryn Kathryn Osgoode Link Pathway Kathryn Adam Kathryn


Hike to Meech Lake

On a day that reached 21°C, we did a hike from P16 to Meech Lake, including a side trip down trail 36 for a bit, for about 7 km covered.

Beaver dam Meech Valley Meech Creek Kathryn & Adam Meech Lake Meech Lake


Vesper's Haulout

Vesper was craned out of the water today to end the season.

Vesper Vesper Vesper Vesper Vesper


Last Sail of the Year

We finished our sailing season today, with a beautiful sail on a warm day in November. We had 47 sails and 166.2 hours on Vesper this season.

Harbour Kathryn Adam Kathryn & Adam Harbour Vesper Sunset


Hike to the Ramparts Lookout

On a warm 23°C Indian Summer day, we did the 9 km hike from P12 to the Ramparts Lookout and back in Gatineau Park.

Trail 40 & Trail 2 Sign Trail 28 Ramparts Lookout Downy Woodpecker Kathryn & Adam Mossy log Kathryn Adam


Seven Sails on Slowpoke

As part of our sailing season, we did seven sails this year as crew on Alexis' Grampian 26 sailboat, Slowpoke. Aside from many photos, we also shot three videos:

Slowpoke Alexis Adam Kathryn Alexis Slowpoke


Hike to Lac Fortune

With the weather a bit cooler at 14°C, we did an 8 km from P7 to Lac Fortune and back in Gatineau Park. We shot a video of this hike, too:

Adam & Kathryn Trail 30


Hike to Lusk Cabin

On a warm and calm 21°C fall day we did the 8 km round trip hike from P20 to Lusk Cabin in Gatineau Park.

Wild turkey Trail 54 Trail 54 Adam & Kathryn Lac Lusk Lac Lusk Lusk Cabin Trail 54 Smooth green snake


Biking to Osgoode

Today we made our fifth bike trip to Osgoode this year, a 53 km bike ride. We hit the last day of operation for the Mexican take-out restaurant, La Cantina, as they are closing for the fall.

Adam & Kathryn La Cantina La Cantina


Hike to Shilly Shally

On another calm, but warm, day we did the 10 km hike to Shilly Shally and back, in Gatineau Park. Despite multiple bear warning signs we didn't see any bears.

Bear sign Wattsford Lookout Fall colours Eastern garter snake Shilly Shally Adam & Kathryn Fall colours


Hike to Carbide Willson's Mill

On a calm, but warm, day we did the 3.25 km round trip hike to Carbide Willson's Mill in Gatineau Park.

Meech Lake Meech Lake Carbide Willson's Mill Carbide Willson's Mill Carbide Willson's Mill Carbide Willson's Mill Carbide Willson's Mill Carbide Willson's Mill Carbide Willson's Mill Kathryn Adam & Kathryn Adam


Overnight Number Four

We had a fourth overnight getaway on Vesper this weekend. Once again we got the weather right and had a quiet night at anchor.

Adam Kathryn Adam & Kathryn Sailing sunset Adam Sunset Dusk Vesper


Biking to Osgoode

During a wet August, at last we had a day without rain and so did our third bike ride to Osgoode of the summer, this time for lunch at la Cantina, followed by ice cream at Fat Les's, before biking home. The trip was 55 km in total.

Kathryn Adam Fat Les's butterfly Flower Ladybug and flower Kathryn Sign


Another Overnight on Vesper

We had another overnight on Vesper this weekend, with great weather for sailing, followed by a starry night that included seeing some meteorites from the Southern Delta Aquariid shower.

Kathryn Adam Sunset Nightfall


Bring On The Bay

This was the first year that Bring On The Bay has been held since COVID-19 began, and, as in 2018 and 2019, we took Vesper out, anchoring overnight to be in position early to act as a safety boat for the swimmers. The event saw 385 swimmers complete the 3.0 km route and 110 swimmers finish the 1.5 km route, raising about $60,000 for Easter Seals Ontario.

We also shot a video of the action from our perspective near the start line:

Adam Kathryn Sunset Sunset Vesper Bring On The Bay Bring On The Bay Bring On The Bay Bring On The Bay Bring On The Bay Bring On The Bay Bring On The Bay Bring On The Bay Bring On The Bay Bring On The Bay


Overnight on Vesper

This weekend we had an overnight on Vesper with lovely weather for a sail beforehand and a quiet night out on the water.

Vesper's solar panels Adam Kathryn Adam & Kathryn Sailing sunset Dragonfly


Leo in Ottawa

In June we had Kathryn's grandson, Leo, come and stay for two periods of time along with his parents, Carolyn and Mike. We even had him for three days on his own, while his parents were at an out-of-town wedding.

Kathryn and Leo Kathryn and Leo Leo in the bike trailer Leo in the bike trailer Leo Leo Leo


Biking to Osgoode

With the Osgoode Link Pathway now cleared of fallen trees from the storm, we decided to make our first bike trip along the 53 km route to Osgoode and back today, for a take-out dinner from La Cantina.

Kathryn & Adam Kathryn and La Cantina Kathryn Dinner


Storm Hits Ottawa

A huge storm with winds of 190 km/h (118 mph) hit Ottawa on Saturday at about 1600 hrs EDT, and took out our power, as well as shutting down much of the city, due to power lines down on the roads, no traffic lights and other hazards. We had no power for 104 hours, and got it back at midnight, 0000 hrs .

We weren't too badly off as our house was not damaged, although our fence was knocked down. We cooked and ate what we could salvage from the fridge and freezer before the food went bad. We dug into our stock of canned food, which we cooked on our camping stove. Otherwise it was reading books in the daytime, many evenings of candlelight and teaming up with neighbours to clean up and start repairing fences. Hydro and tree cutting crews were everywhere, as well as neighbourhood clean-up crews.

With most of the traffic lights in the city out, the car traffic was snarled for miles in every direction, as people did not heed the city's warnings to stay home until it was cleared. Travel by bike was easier, except where trees blocked the bike paths or roads.

Perhaps the most surprising part of the storm was how many power poles were just snapped in half. The main high voltage line that supplies our neighbourhood had six poles snapped in half or knocked down, which is why it took so long to replace them and restore power. At the airport we saw steel lamp stands that had been snapped in half, too.

Bus stop shelter Snapped power pole Snapped power pole Snapped power pole Bike path Sign fence down Power pole Cooking Road closure Power line repairs Tree down on a house Fence repaired Pine Grove Pine Grove


First Sail of the Year

Today we did our first sail this year on Vesper and in April, too!

Kathryn Vesper Adam & Kathryn Vesper


Vesper is Launched

After a wet and cold month we got Vesper into the water today, under foreboding clouds, but no rain.

Vesper Clouds


Hike to Lusk

The ski season officially ended in Gatineau Park on , so today we did a 8.5 km hike to Lusk Cabin with a picnic lunch on the porch there. The trails were still covered in ice, making for an easy walk.

Sign Trail 55 Stream Adam & Kathryn Lusk Cabin Kathryn Trail 50


Biking Season Starts

Just eights days after our last ski we had enough of a melt to reduce the ice and snow and enough rain to wash away the salt, that we got out for our first bike ride.

Adam & Kathryn


Skiing Trail 50 and 54 to Lusk Cabin

With a big melt on the way we did one more more ski to end the season, our 21st. We skied Kathryn's favourite route, from P20 on Trails 50 and 54 to Lusk Cabin and back.

Sign Trail 50 Creek Lac Lusk Adam & Kathryn Kathryn


Winter 2021-22 Skiing Summary

First ski

Last ski

Days skied

Total distance

21

189 km




Skiing the Trail 53 and 51 Loop from P19

We had thought skiing was done for the season with the recent melt, and then we got a good snowfall and skiing was back on again! So we skied the Trail 53 and 51 loop from P19 in Gatineau Park.

Kathryn Trail 51 Adam


Snowshoeing Trail 70 to Healy Cabin

We did a snowshoe trek in Gatineau Park from P15 on Trail 70 to Healey Cabin and back.

Start of Trail signs Trail 70 Healey Cabin Kathryn Adam Kathryn


Fresh Snow for Snowshoeing

After a big melt that ended our skiing season for a while, we got a little bit of wet snow that made for a lovely snowshoe trek in the Ottawa Greenbelt.

Kathryn Trail Adam Adam & Kathryn Kathryn


Skiing P20 to the Trail 56B Lookout

Today was ski number 19, our first time skiing the route from P20 on Trails 50, 55, 56 and 56B to the lookout, 12 km round trip. Trails 56 and 56B used to be back-country trails, but have been developed into regular trails and are now groomed for classic and skate skiing. The temperature was -4°C with a windchill of -10.

Kathryn Lac Taylor Sign Kathryn Kathryn & Adam


Skiing the Trail 55 Loop from P20

Ski number 18 was our second run on the Trail 55 loop from P20, 9 km round trip. Kathryn handled the big hill really well. The temperature was -11°C with a windchill of -21.

Sign Hill Kathryn Sign Tree


Skiing P20 to Lusk Via Trail 54

Ski number 17 was our third run on Trail 54, 8.4 km round trip from P20 to Lusk Cabin again. This is probably Kathryn's favourite trip as it has some lovely hills. The temperature was -5°C with a windchill of -8.

Adam & Kathryn Adam & Kathryn Lusk Cabin Sign Bridge


Skiing Trail 50 from P20 to Trail 52 Again

Ski number 16 today was from P20 on Trail 50 to the intersection of Trail 52 for 12 km once again. At one point we skied through a heavy snow squall that dropped 2 cm of snow in a few minutes. The temperature was -3°C with a windchill of -12.

Creek Kathryn Lac Phillipe Skate skiers Adam & Kathryn


Skiing Trails 53 and 51 from P19

Ski number 15 today was from P19 around the Trail 53 and 51 loop on some freshly-fallen snow. The temperature was -5°C with a windchill of -12.

Trail 51 Adam Kathryn Trail 51


Skiing Trail 50 from P20 to Trail 52

Ski number 14 in Gatineau Park today was from P20 on Trail 50 to the intersection of Trail 52 for 12 km. The temperature was -7°C with a windchill of -12.

Kathryn Lac Phillipe Kathryn Adam & Kathryn


Skiing Trail 54 to Lusk Again

With have lots of new snow here in Ottawa, so today was ski number 13 in Gatineau Park. The route was 8 km from P20 in the far north end to Lusk Cabin on Trail 54 and return. This is one of Kathryn's favourite trails as it is very hilly and challenging, as well as scenic. The temperature was -8°C with a windchill of -19.

Lusk Cabin Lac Lusk Adam & Kathryn Kathryn Stream


Skating the Rideau Canal Again

With a thaw and rain forecast for later this week, we skated the Rideau Canal end-to-end again today, for the second time this winter. It was -10°C with a -18 windchill, but we were dressed for it, so were good and warm. The ice surface was rated "very good", had very few cracks in it and was good and hard.

Sign Kathryn Kathryn Adam & Kathryn Rideau Canal BeaverTails Kathryn


Skiing From P19 Around the Trail 51 and 53 Loop

Ski number 12 was 7 km from P19 in the far north end, around the Trail 51 and 53 loop. It worked out well on blue special wax on the hard, fast and icy conditions following the recent melt, rain and flash freeze, plus 2 cm of snow. The temperature was -15°C with a windchill of -22.

Adam & Kathryn Kathryn Sign


Skiing P10 to the Champlain Lookout

Ski number 11 was 13 km from P10 to Champlain Lookout on the Fortune and Champlain Parkways and back on Trail 1. It worked out well on blue special wax, our first time this year not skiing on just blue wax. The temperature was -4°C with a windchill of -8, so quite a bit warmer than our recent skis.

Kathryn Champlain Lookout Adam & Kathryn Kathryn Kathryn


Skiing P7 to the Fortune Parkway

The route for ski number ten was Kathryn's choice, as she wanted to tackle the big hill at the Wattsford Lookout, on Blue Trail 30 from P7. There was fresh snow on the ground and she did really well. This route was 10 km from P7 to the Fortune Parkway and back on Trails 30 and 1. The temperature was -11°C with a windchill of -19.

Trail 30 at P7 Kathryn Kathryn Kathryn Kathryn


Skiing the Fortune and Champlain Parkways to Huron

This was ski number nine, 12 km from P10, up the Fortune and Champlain Parkways to Huron Cabin and back on Trail 1 to the Fortune Parkway. The temperature was -8°C with a windchill of -16.

Kathryn Huron Cabin Kathryn & Adam Sign Kathryn


Skiing the Trail 51 and 53 Loop

Our "break even ski", number eight of the season, was 7 km from P19, around the Trail 53 and 55 loop. The temperature was -7°C with a windchill of -10.

We also did a video of this ski trip.

Signs Kathryn Kathryn & Adam Adam


Skiing Trails 50, 51 and 55 to Renaud

Our ski number seven of the season was 8 km from P19 to Renaud Cabin on Trails 50, 51 and 55, a route we had not done before. The temperature was -10°C with a windchill of -15.

Kathryn Renaud Kathryn


Skiing Trail 50 to Healey

Ski number six of the season was 10 km from P16 to Healey Cabin on Trail 50, in temperatures of -17°C with a windchill of -25.

Meech Valley Kathryn Trail 50 Healey Cabin Kathryn Kathryn & Adam Pente raide sign Kathryn Kathryn


Skating the Rideau Canal

We took a break from skiing today to skate the Rideau Canal from the north end at downtown Ottawa, to Hartwell's Locks at the south end (including Dow's Lake) and back again, with a BeaverTail stop.

Adam Kathryn Rideau Canal Adam & Kathryn Kathryn Beavertails Rideau Canal Rideau Canal


Kathryn's Sewing Projects

These are Kathryn's completed sewing and knitting projects for 2022.

Canopy Quilt Dinosaur cushion Cuddle quilt Cuddle quilt Small quilt Huge roll of batting Thunder Bay quilt Knitted bear Table runner Quilt Out Of This World quilt Trip Squared quilt Kathryn & Cyndy Ribbon Rings quilt Cherry Quilt Layer Chops Quilt Fresh & Trendy Quilt Mug Mug Christmas decorations Fabric baskets Blocks Cord caddies Quilt Quilt Quilt label Newborn hat Monster plush toy


Skiing Trail 54 to Lusk

Our fifth ski of the season was 8 km from P20 to Lusk Cabin via Trails 50, 55 & 54, in temperatures of -11°C with a windchill of -19.

Kathryn Lusk Cabin Lac Lusk Adam & Kathryn Signs Shadows


Skiing the Trail 51 & 53 Loop

Our fourth ski of the season was 7 km around the Trail 51 and 53 loop from P19, in temperatures of -16°C with a windchill of -22.

The start of Trail 51 Trail 51 Kathryn Adam Signs Coyote tracks Trail 53


Skiing the Trail 55 Loop

This was our third ski of the season today, 9 km around the Trail 50 and 55 loop from P20 in temperatures of -18°C and a windchill of -28.

Adam & Kathryn Kathryn Adam Trail 55


The COVID-19 Pandemic – Year Three

With 2022, the COVID-19 pandemic has entered its third year and so I thought I would continue photographing the signs of the pandemic that we see.

Sign at Shilly Shally Sign Sign


Wildlife

These are some of the wildlife we saw this year.

Wild Turkeys Female Downey Woodpecker Blue Jays Northern Cardinal Black-Capped Chickadee American red squirrel American crow Dark-eyed Junco Great Blue Heron Mallard Double-crested cormorant Canada Goose Eastern Cottontail American red squirrel American goldfinch Eastern chipmunk Groundhog Purple martin American robin Canada Goose goslings Red-winged blackbird Common tern Dragonfly Great egret Ring-billed gull Melanistic eastern gray squirrel Rock doves, rock pigeons, or common pigeons female mallard Melanistic eastern gray squirrel Butterfly Mantis White-tailed deer Ruby Tiger Caterpillar Banded woolly bear Eastern garter snake Smooth green snake Wild turkey Downy Woodpecker


Skiing to Shilly Shally

We did our second ski of the season today, 8 km from P10 to Shilly Shally and back up the Fortune Parkway.

Fortune Parkway Adam & Kathryn Kathryn Signs Shilly Shally


Snowshoeing in the Greenbelt

With all our new snow and another 5 cm last night, we did a 3 km snowshoe trek in the NCC greenbelt today, plus a snowshoeing video on .

Kathryn Adam Snow-covered woods Kathryn


First Ski of the Winter

We finally had a substantial amount of snow yesterday. The official total at the airport was 47.8 cm and that was enough to get us skiing for the first time this winter. We skied 7.2 km from P19 on trails 53 and 51.

Adam & Kathryn Signs Kathryn Kathryn Trail 51


Hike on Petrie Island

With still not enough snow for skiing, we did a hike on Petrie Island today.

Kathryn Adam & Kathryn


Ice Skating

We have had very little snow since this winter began, so we have just got back to outdoor ice skating on the artificially-cooled rink at Canterbury.

skating