Ski day to Herridge with the kids

Gatineau Park: P16 to Herridge Cabin (10 km)
P16 Pine Rd: N45 34.345 W75 53.134
Herridge Cabin: N45 34.260 W75 56.395

Another Monday off and another ski in the GAT. This time it was the family joining me... well the kids at least, mom was at home fighting off a nasty cold/flu thing.

We arrived at about 10am and started the long climb from P16. The weather was a little brisk but nothing that we couldn't dress for, besides, the uphill ski is enough to get the blood pumping on even the coldest of days.



This time we passed by our usual stop at Healey and skied the extra 200m to Herridge. There were still hot coals in the woodstove so I chopped some wood and quickly brought the fire to a roar. After toasting sandwiches and pouring hot coco (and a pint for me) we kicked back and enjoyed our lunch and the warmth of the empty cabin.



Gotta love the Monday traffic. We didn't see another soul the entire morning and it wasn't until about half way back to the parking lot that we passed our first fellow skiers.

Having just hiked up here before the snowfall I was able to remember some of the photos I snapped earlier and compare them with the winter scene.

Hike to Healey and Herridge

The day's original plan was to make our annual trek up Luskville Falls to the fire tower but in the end one of the gang couldn't make it so we decided to hold off. Our back-up plan was to hike the snowshoe trail down the road from P16 to the Healey and Herridge shelters. I met up with Kenmore around 9:30 at the parking lot and not long after we were joined by Dave.



There was a little snow and ice on the trails and even the odd flooded beaver dam but for the most part the hike was smooth going.


Around back at Healey we found a live trap (made by Havahart) meant to catch pesky critters and ship them off to new locations. The thing here was, whoever set this trap originally obviously forgot all about it as the door was sprung and the critter inside was loooong dead. In fact it appears that other hungry beasts managed to devour most of this guy through the holes in the cage. Talk about picking at your food. Yum.


After a snack and a beverage at Healey we hiked (more like wandered as it's less than 1 km away) over to Herridge Shelter. Here we enjoyed the last of the day's sunshine while we ate the rest of our lunch. The birds and squirrels were busy (and noisy) at the nearby bird feeder. I suppose they need to eat too, right?



A great start to the 2009 hiking season.