On November 27, 2008 I walked some of the same trails that I skied today but today is the first time that I have cross country skied in Cold Lake Provincial Park this season. Last Monday I drove out to the Park Beach parking lot and looked at the ski trail but decided that it was too late in the day to ski it. The sun was just setting. I had a notion to come back the next day but I was coming down with a cold so by Tuesday I was feeling quite miserable.
What a difference in the trail from last Monday to this Monday. Last Monday the snow was considerably deeper and there was no sign of any foot traffic on the trail. There were only ski tracks. But today the trail was well packed from foot traffic and there was no real cross country ski trail. I started my ski from the Park Beach parking lot and followed the north east trail along the beach. I took the trail along the west side of the small marshy lake then up the slope to a park wood shed and outhouse. This part of the trail was well walked and also had been traveled by a snowmobile. But then I took a right fork in the trails and followed a cross country ski track. Because the snow had softened since the ski track was made my skis tended to slip off of the trail a lot. This track eventually linked back up with the ski trail/snowmobile track. And I continued on to the boat launch parking lot which is now the Snowmobile staging area. I then followed the trail that looped around back to the west and along the High Bank of Cold Lake. Further down this trail a tree had fallen across the trail and inhibited any further progress buy the Snowmobile. From this point on the trail was more a path where a few people had walked and not a ski trail. It is next to impossible to maintain a ski trail along this High Bank because the snow is constantly drifting in from off the lake. But I was able to make good progress on this trail. I continued until I linked up with the trail that I came in on. I then returned back to the parking lot on that trail. I am beginning to consider myself a intermediate cross country skier and I found this part of the trail quite challenging and I fell a few times. In spite of the fact that the trail is not well groomed I still considered it a enjoyable ski.
Total Distance was about 6 km
Total time was about 1 hr 30 min
Once back at my car I decided that I had enough time to try some of the trail to the south east. The trail crosses the Park Beach access road and the Campsite/Boat launch access road and then descends onto an arm of Long Bay. It then crosses that arm of the bay to the shore line and passes just south of the Park Maintainance Yard. Up to this point the trail has been traveled by a Snowmobile but then the Snowmobile track continues on to the east, and from there on there is only the ski trail. As I was skiing the arm of Long Bay I had a wind at my back which seemed to push me along. I continued on this trail until I was due south of the Group Camp Area. That put me in sight of Long Bay. I then returned to the parking lot on the same trail. This section of the trail is much more gental and a much better ski trail.
Total distance was about 5 km
Total time was about 1 hour 5 min.
Even though there has been some snow melt in the past few days it might still be possilbe to ski these trails for the next week or so. All in all i had an enjoyable couple of hours.
