She be small, but she be mighty
Today’s adventure took my friend Christina and I on a lovely snowshoe hike around the trails near Ripon, Quebec. North of Gatineau off Highway 50. This is the first time I’ve been there and the 2nd time for Christina who was there this past summer to head down to the water for some SUP’ing.
The purpose of today’s exploration was to snowshoe the network and found out some of the main points of interest and to check out what the area had to offer. We were both pleasantly surprised!
We parked at P1 and worked our way up towards trail 12. This took us to the main lodge at P5. P12 is a lovely single track and it’s very well marked. From there we set out towards Reguge de L’Erable and took trails #1 -> #2 > #12 back to the main lodge. It should be noted that the washrooms are open, you can get maps and the staff is bilingual. They were really excited to talk to us about some of the best trails and the services they have to offer. To top it off, there is a luge run where you can rent slides (or bring your own) and slide down a nice hill! All this happens at the main lodge, P5 and there is a nice fire waiting for you to warm up with picnic tables cleared off for your comfort.
On the way down we connected to Refuge des Pines and took trail #3 —> #5 down to the parking lot. We passed the trail to the Observatoire and the main trail that will take you a 2km walk to the peak of the mountain. We didn’t head up that way today, but next time, we will park at p5 and head up towards the highest peak in the park.
On the way home there was a cheese place in this nice little barn but they were closed. So we stopped off at La Trappe a Fromage just off of Highway 50 near Gatineau.
The trails are multi purpose. There is the classic tracks and anything next to it is for walking, skiing and fat biking.
Map: Gaia - Follow along on my journey here!
Depart: P2 parking
Disance: 7.5km
Elevation: 250meters
Gear: Dion Snowshoes, , Icebreaker base layers, gators, multiple layers for the upper body. Thin-ish layer coat. We also brought extra buffs, mittens, and socks.
Food: Strongbars energy bar
Hydration: Nuun Vitamins with an additional bottle of warm water, salt and maple syrup
Experience required: If you start at P1 you need some cardio to get to the top of P5. From there you can stick on the main groomed trail and the walk is quite easy. If you are looking for more tougher terrain, head to the single track trails.
