The day dawned with a chilly breeze and light grey sky, but the temperature was warm for late March. Hiking is an activity you can do in almost any weather and today was a great day to start the season!
A friend and I decided to hike in Cooking Lake-Blackfoot Provincial Recreation Area, a spot I had visited previously in the height of summer and snowshoed in during the winter.
Covering an area of 97 square kilometres, Cooking Lake-Blackfoot is located adjacent to Elk Island National Park, approximately 40 minutes east of Edmonton.
The area supports a variety of activities including agriculture, wildlife management, natural gas extraction and outdoor recreation.
During the summer, there are numerous activities available including hiking, mountain biking and horseback riding. Cross country skiing is the main activity during the winter and the area is host to the annual Canadian Birkebeiner Ski Festival.
With over 85kms of hiking trails originating from 4 staging areas, there is plenty of choice for hikers of most abilities and there are even some shelters and privies en route!
This day, boots with grip were needed as some of the trails were still icy. Those that escaped the ice were fairly sloppy, but not deep enough to lose your footwear!
There are also 85kms of equestrian trails in the area, so it can become a busy spot during the summer. We started our hike early at 10am, and were leaving when most of the horse trailers arrived nearly 3 hours later.
Cooking Lake-Blackfoot is known for its active wildlife, with management programs in effect that have created a wide range of habitats supporting numerous wildlife species. This time round we saw plenty of squirrels, a few birds and one fairly amicable young moose!
This was spring hiking at its best!
No comments:
Post a Comment