Contents
- – - Family Christmas
- - Hike to Shilly Shally
- - Skating Season Starts
- - Biking Season Ends
- - Hike to Hope Bay and Carbide Willson's Ruins
- - Hike to Lac Fortune
- - Hike to Lusk Cabin
- - Slowpoke's Haulout
- - Vesper's Haulout
- - Hike on Trails 51 & 53
- - Hike from P16 to Meech Lake
- - Downed by COVID-19
- – - Overnight on Vesper
- - Sailing on Great White J
- - Bike to Osgoode
- – - Back Garden Renovations
- - Bike to Mile Zero of the Prescott Russell Trail Link
- - Sailing on Slowpoke
- - Matt & Katia Visit
- – - Bring On The Bay
- – - Kathryn & Heather Camping
- - Launching Slowpoke
- - Biking to Lac Leamy
- - Launching Great White J
- – - Not Sailing
- - Hike from P20 to Lusk
- - First Sail on Vesper in 2023
- - Vesper is Launched
- - Hiking from P19 on Trails 51 & 53
- - Hiking from P19 to Renaud
- - Biking Season Starts
- - Greenbelt Snowshoe
- - Skating on the Rink of Dreams
- - Skiing Trails 50 & 36 to Hope Bay Again
- - Skiing Trail 50 in March
- - Skiing Trails 50 & 36 to Hope Bay
- - Skiing to the Champlain Lookout
- - Skiing to Lusk Cabin Again
- - Skiing Trails 51 & 53
- - Hike/Snowshoe to Healey
- - Epic Ski
- - Skiing P20 to the Mud Lookout
- - Skiing P16 to Herridge Cabin
- - Snowshoeing in the Greenbelt
- - Skiing P20 to Lusk Cabin
- - Skiing the Gatineau Parkway
- - Skiing the Trail 53 & 51 Loop
- - Skiing in the New Year
- - Kathryn's Projects
Click to enlarge photos, hover for caption
Family Christmas
–
This Christmas we had Kathryn's kids and grandkids visit over a period of four days.
Hike to Shilly Shally
With a centimetre of snow on the ground, we did a hike with Alexis from P7 to Shilly Shally and back.
Skating Season Starts
With colder weather here, today was time to get out skating at the Canterbury covered rink.
Biking Season Ends
Our last bike of was today, with 144 days of biking and 3213 km covered.
Hike to Hope Bay and Carbide Willson's Ruins
This was a Gatineau Park hike from P11 to Hope Bay and Carbide Willson's Ruins and back, with Alexis.
Hike to Lac Fortune
This was a Gatineau Park hike from P7 to Lac Fortune and back.
Hike to Lusk Cabin
Today we did a hike from P20 on Trail 50 and 54 in Gatineau Park to Lusk Cabin and back.
Slowpoke's Haulout
Today we helped Alexis get his Grampian 26 sailboat, Slowpoke, from his slip over to the crane bay and out of the water for the winter.
Vesper's Haulout
Vesper came out of the water today for the winter. Due mostly to ongoing problems with our Torqeedo Travel 1003L electric motor, along with bad weather and COVID, too, we had a very disappointing sailing year and only got 16 sails on our own boat, plus ten sails on other people's boats. Our Torqeedo Travel 1003L motor had worked great for the seven summers from 2016-2022, but this year it failed five times, including four times since it was last repaired. To add insult to injury, the motor failed on the way to the crane bay for the boat's winter haulout and Kathryn and Alexis had to paddle the last 200 metres to get the boat there. The Torqeedo motor went back to the service centre in Montreal on and came back on . The technician tracked the issue to the tiller controller cable and replaced it, so hopefully we will have a trouble-free sailing year in .
Hike on Trails 51 & 53
Today we did a hike from P19 in Gatineau Park around the Trail 51 and 53 loop.
Hike from P16 to Meech Lake
Today we did our first hike of the fall season, to Meech Lake, with Alexis.
Downed by COVID-19
Kathryn went to a family wedding in Milton on . Predictably she contracted COVID and tested positive on . Two days later, despite taking all possible precautions at home, masking, separate rooms, no contact, Adam tested positive on . After several weeks of being quite sick, we both tested clear on . Kathryn was down for 18 days and Adam for 15.
Overnight on Vesper
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We finally got two days in a row with no rain this summer and so we did an overnight on Vesper. The trip included a pretty good sunset and a nice sunrise over the city of Ottawa as well.
Sailing on Great White J
Today we got to crew on Thomas' J/22 sailboat Great White J.
Bike to Osgoode
The wet El Nino summer has made outdoor activities challenging, but today we did make it to Osgoode by bike, for dinner at La Cantina.
Back Garden Renovations
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As our last step in fixing some drainage issues caused by the original home builder, we had Impact Design & Renovations come in and fix our back window well, the window well drain, patio, steps and the back garden drainage profile.
Bike to Mile Zero of the Prescott Russell Trail Link
Kathryn wanted to go and explore the western origins of the Prescott Russell Trail Link, a former railway line that is now a bike path. It runs from a dead end in the middle of nowhere, east of Highway 417, all the way to Rigaud, Québec, 106 km away. We biked 26 km today to get there and back, plus 4 km on a section of the actual pathway.
Sailing on Slowpoke
We got to do some crewing crew on Alexis' Grampian 26 sailboat Slowpoke and by the end of the season we had done nine sails with him on his boat.
Matt & Katia Visit
With the pandemic we have not seen many people for the past three years, but Matt, Katia, Blake and Graysen came by for a visit today and we went to the park.
Bring On The Bay
–
This year at Bring On The Bay we were on ground crew, since our boat's motor was still in the shop, which kept us from participating out on the water. We got to sweep docks, move dinghies, lay out tarps and act as dock crew for the actual swim launch. The charity swim for Easter Seals this year had 600 swimmers and raised $50,000.
Kathryn & Heather Camping
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Kathryn headed to Vancouver Island for a week to go camping with her daughter, Heather, at Rathtrevor Beach Park.
Launching Slowpoke
Today we helped Alexis launch his Grampian 26 sailboat, Slowpoke.
Biking to Lac Leamy
We did a 45 km round trip bike ride over to Gatineau today to the beach at Lac Leamy. On a nice summer day like this you would think that the beach would be busy, but there were more geese than people there, the concessions and even the bathrooms were all closed. In fact lots of facilities along the way were closed. Odd. We went in search of ice cream and found La Diperie, which was open!
Launching Great White J
Today we helped Thomas launch his J/22 sailboat, Great White J.
Not Sailing
–
After lots of bad weather in early May, we attempted to get out for our third sail on on Vesper, but our Torqeedo Travel 1003L electric motor would not run. It went into the shop in Montreal on and after awaiting parts, we got it back on and finally got sailing again on . The motor continued to let us down after the repairs and failed four more times over the rest of the summer. As a result we only got 16 sails on Vesper in 2023 by the time the season ended.
Hike from P20 to Lusk
We did one last spring hike in Gatineau Park today, covering 8 km from P20 to Lusk Cabin and return.
First Sail on Vesper in 2023
After more than a week of terrible weather, as well as flooding, we finally had our first sail of 2023 on Vesper today. The river was 2.5 m over datum.
Vesper is Launched
Vesper was launched today, just one day later than last year. The cool and wet weather this April slowed us down.
Hiking from P19 on Trails 51 & 53
Today was a second spring hike in Gatineau Park. This one was 7.4 km from P19 around the Trail 51 and 53 loop, including lunch at a bench on the loop. The surface varied from gravel to sand to mud to ice.
Hiking from P19 to Renaud
We did one of our favourite spring things today, a hike in Gatineau Park. This one was 9.4 km from P19 to Renaud Cabin and back.
Biking Season Starts
We started biking season today with a trip to the library and then onto Hog's Back Falls to see the spring runoff. Kathryn shot a video of the falls:
Greenbelt Snowshoe
Kathryn got her new warranty replacement snowshoes and so we went down to the Eastern Greenbelt Pathway to try them out.
Skating on the Rink of Dreams
A dental appointment downtown gave us an excuse to get there early and do an hour's skate on the Rink of Dreams, in front of city hall. The timing was right, as the rink was almost deserted.
Skiing Trails 50 & 36 to Hope Beach Again
Today we returned to ski from P16 in the Meech Creek Valley on Trails 50 & 36 to Hope Bay again. This time Kathryn made it to the actual beach and back. It was a beautiful clear day, but the temperatures rose as we skied.
First ski |
Last ski |
Days skied |
Total distance |
17 |
192 km |
Skiing Trail 50 in March
We got even more fresh snow yesterday and so skiing is continuing into March this winter!. Today we skied from P20 in the far north end of Gatineau Park, along Trail 50 to the intersection of Trail 52 and back, a distance of 12 km. The temperature was 0°C, but our Swix purple wax performed perfectly.
Skiing Trails 50 & 36 to Hope Beach
With even more fresh snow yesterday, today we skied from P16 in the Meech Creek Valley, on Trails 50 and 36, to Hope Bay and back for 12 km. This was Kathryn's first ski ever on Trail 36.
Skiing to the Champlain Lookout
We had another melt and then some fresh snow and a return to colder temperatures, so today we skied from P9 to the Champlain Lookout on a clear and sunny day.
Skiing to Lusk Cabin
We went skiing again today before the next melt, this time again from P20 and via Trail 50, Trail 55 & 54. This route is Kathryn's favourite one as it has everything, including some great hills.
Skiing Trails 51 & 53
With 10 cm of fresh snow, our skiing got a restart today and so we skied the Trail 51 & 53 loop from P19.
Hike/Snowshoe to Healey
As it was too warm for skiing at +5°C, we set out to do a snowshoe trek of 7 km for Valentine's Day instead, from P15 in Gatineau Park to Healey Cabin for a picnic lunch. The trail was so melted, refrozen and hard-packed that we ended up just walking most of the way there, carrying our snowshoes and only used them on the way back to take a shortcut and traverse an open field in the Meech Valley.
Epic Ski
Today’s ski was an "epic adventure" for which Kathryn gets the credit for both the general concept, distance and the route, as well as the choice of starting point. Every now and then she likes to push what we can do and see if we can do it!
I should note that we generally ski distances of 7-10 km most of the time, but Kathryn wanted to do a ski of 21 km and today was the perfect day, as it reached about -5°C, with the windchills at about -13 or so, making it easy skiing with no risk of things melting. We also had 2 cm of fresh snow, plus brilliant sunshine and not a cloud seen all day long.
The route in Gatineau Park was a huge square from parking lot P8 to P9 on the Gatineau Parkway, the past P10 and then the 1000 foot vertical climb over 4 km to the intersection of the Champlain Parkway for a very short break on a bench. From there we started down the escarpment on the Champlain Parkway to the intersection with the Gatineau Parkway, past P5 and back to P8. Total distance was 21.1 km.
Skiing P20 to the Mud Lookout
Today we last skied 12 km round trip from P20 at Lac Philippe to the Mud Lookout and back.
Skiing P16 to Herridge Cabin
With another 10 cm of fresh snow since we last skied, we did 10 km round trip from P16 in the Meech Valley to Herridge Cabin and back.
Snowshoeing in the Greenbelt
With another 7 cm of fresh snow, we went for a snowshoe in the local greenbelt.
Skiing P20 to Lusk Cabin
After a week of poor skiing, we got almost 30 cm of fresh snow. We headed to the north end of Gatineau Park and skied 8 km to Lusk Cabin from P20 and back in almost ideal conditions.
Skiing the Gatineau Parkway
We went up to Gatineau Park today and we did ski 8 km from P5 up the Gatineau and Champlain Parkways, but conditions were difficult. We had about 10 cm of new snow, which was great, plus there was still snow falling, too. The temperature was just below freezing and the temperature-dewpoint spread was only two degrees, so it was both warm and humid. We both had periods when the skiing went fine, with good kick and glide using Violet Special wax, but we had periods where our skis would ice up, with snow packing hard to the skis and actual globs of ice stuck to the skis as well. This required stopping, taking our skis off and scraping them, or else it was not possible to ski at all. At some points we had to stop every 100 m or so. I have seen this phenomena once before and it seems to be caused by wet snow falling just under freezing and skiing on it melts it enough to adhere to the ski’s wax. One of the photos shows the result.
Skiing the Trail 53 & 51 Loop
With Kathryn back from Thunder Bay, we headed to the north end of Gatineau Park and skied one of our favourite trail loops for 8 km covered. The NCC officially said, "the trail conditions are beautiful." On Trail 51 there were some icy patches and signs to match, though.
Skiing in the New Year
We got a restart on skiing season today following a major snowfall. Kathryn was out of town and so she missed it, but I skied 15 km from P9 to the Champlain Lookout and back. The trees in the park were all covered in ice from the recent storm.
Kathryn's Projects
These are Kathryn's completed sewing, painting and knitting projects for 2023.
