Winterlude Schedule

Winterlude has been going on for 32 years and doesn’t seem to show any signs of disappearing soon. This year, Winterlude starts February 5th and runs until February 21, 2010. The Taste of Winterlude, where restaurants have created fixed price menus for $25 to $65, started January 28th and will continue until the end of Winterlude.

MapSherpa topographical map showing Winterlude locations

Winterlude Events around Ottawa

The Winterlude Opening on Friday night introduces the locals and tourists alike to Winterlude. There will be musical entertainment on and near the Rideau Canal from 7 to 11 pm, as well as at some nearby museums like the Canadian Museum of Civilization in Gatineau. One of the more interesting things this year is the Musical Fireworks, that will be set off at 8:50pm to an interesting soundtrack. The NCC recommends viewing the Fireworks from Major’s Hill Park, or the Canadian Museum of Civilization. If you view the topographic map above, you can see the binoculars at the two locations recommended.

Over the weekend, Confederation Park will be home to “Rogers One-Block Challenge” where participants will create ice sculptures from a single, large block of ice. These are best seen the first weekend, because if it warms up, these ice sculptures may take on shapes the artists never intended!

There are a lot of other activities going on in the Ottawa/Gatineau region, so be sure to check out some each weekend of Winterlude!

Skate along the Rideau Canal (blue line) and take in some sites along the way

Custom Maps for Winterlude with MapSherpa

With MapSherpa you can create your own custom map of the Rideau Canal for the entire skateway route or for a particular section where you can enjoy Winterlude fun! Just search for Rideau Canal, and click on the second entry which will take you to the Winterlude celebration area in Ottawa, Ontario.

You can also become a fan of Winterlude and MapSherpa on Facebook and follow MapSherpa on Twitter!

Whistler, British Columbia is located 125 kilometers north of Vancouver, joint hosts of the 2010 Winter Olympics. Whistler and Blackcomb Mountains are the two moutains framing the town of Whistler and the source of the many winter and summer activities that are the feature of this resort town. The moutains form part of the Pacific Range of the Coast Mountains.

History of Whistler

Whistler, BC and the surrounding region has a rich history extending back to the nomadic Coast Salish First Nations people, its first inhabitants as well as the Lil’wat and Squamish Nations. The first Europeans settled in the area in the 1860’s. Legend has it they were responsible for the Whistler name, choosing it after the whistling sound made by the western hoary marmot that also makes its home in the area.

Whistler and the 2010 Olympics

Vancouver, BC will host the 22nd Winter Olympics in February 2010 with its neighbor, Whistler providing host to the alpine events.  Whistler will also take centre stage as host to the 2010 Paralympic Games following the Olympics.

Outdoor Activities

Whistler’s reputation as both a winter and summer resort destination is well known.  Well over two million people visit Whistler each year.  Major attractions are alpine skiing and mountain biking at Whistler-Blackcomb.  With 8,000 acres of skiable terrain, the dual mountains of Whistler Blackcomb represent the largest ski area in North America.  The resort has regularly been voted among the top destinations in North America by major ski magazines.  In the summer, mountain biking takes over with the resort alone offering a lift-serviced descending mountain bike trails for all levels of mountain bike riders.

Beyond resort activities the Whistler area has lots more to offer from hiking to more leisure walking to golf and fishing.

Custom Maps of Whistler

If you are one of the many planning to visit Whistler – for the Olympics and Paralympics or some other time, MapSherpa is an essential tool for helping you to map out your activities.  MapSherpa’s various map options including terrain, topographic and street map layers allow you to start creating your own custom map with the best base map information.  Once you have selected your base map, get creative and customize the map to fit your area of interest and then annotate it with all the specific information important to you.

Create your own topographic maps of Whistler with MapSherpa. Search for Whistler, BC and it will bring you to the Park where you can navigate the map to get your own personalized map of the area.

Connecting the cities of Ottawa and Kingston, Ontario, the Rideau Canal is the oldest continuously operating canal system in North America.  It is a UNESCO World Heritage Site and for a period every winter – a great skating rink.  In fact, it is billed the largest skating rink in the world.

Rideau Canal Skateway and Winterlude

The length of canal opened for skating extends 7.8 kilometres and is purported to have the equivalent surface area of 90 Olympic sized hockey rinks.  Canal skating starts within eyesight of the parliament buildings and continues southward to Dows Lake, eventually terminating at Hartwell Lock near Carleton University.

The Rideau Canal skateway is the focal point of Ottawa’s annual Winterlude festival when in excess of 650,000 people participate in various winter activities with the majority of them including skating on the canal as part of their itinerary.  But beyond Winterlude itself, thousands of people take advantage of every available day of skating some even using it to get to and from work.

Where are the Beaver Tails?

Beavertail Hut

Along the way, the National Capital Commission has strategically positioned facilities like huts for skate changing, washrooms and purveyors of food including hot chocolate and the world famous Beaver Tails.

This fried dough pastry was first introduced to people in Ottawa’s Byward market but are now sold around the world.  A bit of skate work and a GPS helped us to create this map showing locations of key points along the canal.

Maps of the Rideau Canal and Winterlude

Click for Larger Map

With MapSherpa you can create your own custom map of the Rideau Canal for the entire skateway route or for a particular section and then get out and skate your map!

Over the next few months, I will be writing about the different things that you can do in Waterton Lakes National Park. I’ll be covering some of the longer hikes, such as the Tamarack Ridge and the Anderson-Carthew Lakes, as well as some of the shorter, easier hikes, like Crandall Lake and Red Rock Canyon.  I will be adding information about trails that enter the United States, such as Lakeshore Trail, when MapSherpa incorporates American maps.

Topographical Map of the Waterton Townsite

Waterton Trails for All Seasons

Waterton Lakes National Park may have its busy season in July and August, but the rest of the year can also be very appealing – particularly if you don’t like crowds. Cross-country skiing is very popular, with two major tracks open and groomed each winter. Snowshoeing is, of course, an easy way to get around, but do take care to stay off the cross-country ski trails. Not all of the hotels are open during the winter season so it is definitely a good idea to reserve a room in advance.  According to one account, there are only 100 people in the townsite and about 20 mule deer in the winter. So having the place all to yourself is definitely an understatement.

View from outside the Prince of Wales Hotel in Waterton National Park

Spring and summer will bring wildflowers, wild meadows and wild animals roaming around the park in greater frequency. This is something to be aware of if you are in some of the further flung campgrounds, as bears tend to frequent Crandall campground because of the large number of saskatoon berry bushes. These bushes bear fruit in August, so if you are afraid of bears, July might be the best summer month to visit. If you want to see them, drive along the parkway in late evening as the sun is setting. Not only will you get some gorgeous views, but you will likely see some bears, goats or deer in the area. Red Rock Canyon is at the end of the drive, a short easy hike that allows you to see the hematite that is abundant in the area as well as a lovely waterfall. It is a shorter interpretative trail, with signs along the route telling you about the geology and geological history of the area.

Topographical Overview of Waterton Lakes National Park

Customize your map of Waterton Lakes National Park

Create your own maps of Waterton Lakes National Park with MapSherpa. Search for Waterton Lakes National Park and it will bring you to the Park where you can navigate the map to get your own personalized map of the area.

The Mer Bleue Conservation Area near Ottawa, Ontario provides a wonderful location for many outdoor activities including:

• hiking in the summer,
• skiing and snowshoeing in the winter,
• and geocaching all year round

The area is managed by Canada’s National Capital Commission. Free access is provided to the public.

Lots of geocaching to do around Mer Bleue Bog

GeoCaching around Mer Bleue

Geocachers can sometimes be a superstitious lot and sometimes not. There are geocaches on and near grave sites and churchyards and ones that will take you out in the middle of nowhere, testing your nerve. Some geocaches will even take you out in the middle of nowhere at night and have you sit in the cold, shivering, shining your flash light around, hoping to see something reflect light back at you, telling you where to go next. You hope.

It's got to be here somewhere.

This is essentially how Friday the 13th went for some of us this past November. We met for all-you-can-eat sushi and then set out to find 13 geocaches by midnight on Friday the 13th. This would mark two geocachers’ 1300th finds, assuming that we could find all 13. One of the two was the one that coordinated all of this, he was the one that had decided on 13 on the 13th for 1300 was appropriate, so naturally he was the one that decided on where we were going.

Naturally he was the one we were blaming when it was 10pm, we were traipsing through an old garbage dump and we hit water. Two of us weren’t prepared for water since it hadn’t rained for two weeks.  We then had to turn around and find others in the area. So after quickly finding some “drive-bys”, we went back to the Mer Bleue Bog to find the 13th cache of the evening, one appropriately called “Friday the 13th”. This cache was put out as part of an event that took place on an earlier Friday the 13th.

The Final GeoCache – #13

So, with a larger crowd of geocachers, we parked on the side of a road and started walking in. The terrain wasn’t too bad until we detoured away from the path, into the bush. After a bit of dodging pointy tree branches and leafless bushes, someone called out that we were at Ground Zero – in other words, the cache should be near.

We started searching. Well, some of us started searching while the others, many of whom had already found the cache, stood back in anticipation. The obvious tree was searched. No cache! We had little more than twenty minutes to find this cache, had it gone missing? Were we out of luck? There wasn’t anything else in the area and the last person found the cache over a month prior. Could it be gone?

13 caches were found succesfully and the obligatory bad pictures were taken.

“FOUND IT!” came the exhuberant cry from the next tree where the cache was safely tucked away. The bystanders cheered, pictures were taken, banana bread came out of somewhere and was shared. Despite some bad luck trying to find too many multi-caches in the dark in a short time frame, the two geocachers got their 13 caches for 1300 total. The rest of us just got some very tasty banana bread.

Make your own Topographic Maps of Mer Bleue

Create your own maps of the Mer Bleue Bog with MapSherpa. Search for Mer Bleue and it will bring you to the region where you can navigate the map to get your own personalized map of the area.

The Cabot Trail is a 300km driving tour that takes you through stunning scenery, centuries of Canadian history and ample opportunities for outdoor recreation.  The trail circles a large part of Cape Breton Island which was rated among the top 10 islands to visit according to Travel and Leisure Magazine World’s Best ratings for 2008.  The Cabot Trail was completed in 1932, linking fishing villages and other communities throughout Cape Breton Island.  Today, the trail provides access to a wide variety of possible activities, suitable for all ages.

Topography of the Cabot Trail

The Cape Breton Highlands region is an ancient plateau that crosses Cape Breton Island. This extension to the Appalachian mountain chain provide the geologic basis for the stunning scenery found along the Cabot Trail. Topographic maps showcase the Cabot Trail traveling along the periphery of the plateau where it meets with the various water bodies surrounding the island.

Exploring the Cabot Trail

The Cabot Trail Working Association website includes an excellent interactive map that illustrates the diversity of recreational and cultural activities along the trail.  MapSherpa compliments this map, allowing you to create custom maps of specific areas along the trail.  For instance, this map of a section of the Margaree River shows several famous pools along this Canadian Heritage River offering world class fishing opportunities for Atlantic salmon.

Exploring Fort Louisbourg

Once you have travelled the Cabot Trail tour the country-side along the east coast of Cape Breton Island including a visit to historic Fort Louisbourg and the Louisbourg Lighthouse –Canada’s first lighthouse originally constructed in 1730.

Create your own maps of the Cabot Trail and Fort Louisbourg with MapSherpa. Search for Cape Breton, NS or Louisbourg, NS and it will bring you to the region where you can navigate the map to get your own personalized map of the area.

Wilderness Viewing in the Laurentians

Fairmont Kenauk is a 265km², (65,000 acre) protected wilderness region along the shore of the Ottawa River. It is the largest and oldest private fish and game reserve in North America, granted to the original owners by the King of France in 1674.

Topography

Fairmont Kenauk is located within the Canadian Laurentians or Laurentides as they are often referred to in Canada. The region is part of the Canadian Shield and extend into the United States where the mountain range is referred to as the Appalachians. The mountain range is one of the oldest in the world.

Fairmont Kenauk – An Accessible Wilderness Oasis

Fairmont Kenauk is home to  over 200 species of birds and 50 different mammal species.  Topographic maps detail many of its more than 70 lakes containing trout and other species of fish.  Over the years it has accommodated a wide variety of guests including heads of state, royalty and celebrities.

Fairmont Kenauk is a great place to get away and relax.  There are 14 cabins within the entire Kenauk preserve that can be rented through Chateau Montebello, 8 of which are the only cabin on their lake.  The cabins are fully equipped, ranging in size to accommodate groups from 4 through 18.  Summer activities include kayaking and canoeing, fishing, hiking, wildlife viewing and general relaxation on your own private lake.  Some of the cabins are maintained for winter activities including cross country skiing, snowshoeing and ice fishing.

Formerly known as “Reserve de la Petite Nation”, Kenauk is associated with Fairmont Le Chateau Montebello, a historic luxury resort with a legendary red cedar log building that has welcomed guests from around the world since 1930. It is easily accessible from both Ottawa and Montreal.

Create your own maps of the Fairmount Kenauk region with MapSherpa. Search for Montebello, Quebec and it will bring you to the region where you can navigate the map to get your own personalized map of the area.

Clicking on the small arrow to the right of these tools opens a menu that allows you to name the current map view.   Say you are planning a multi-day backpacking trip.  The Bookmark tool allows you to create a regional view, bookmark it as “Entire Trip” then zoom in to create a map for “Day 1″, etc.  When done, select one of the bookmarked views, send it to the cart, return and repeat until you have ordered all the maps for your trip.

Bookmarks are saved with your map so if you leave and return at a later date, you can return to a previously saved view

Gord Joins the Crowd

As you can see from this photo, Gord Downey decided to join the crowd not too far from yours truly!

No Hip concert would be complete without a performance of At the Hundredth Meridian which got me thinking — hmmm, what exactly IS at the 100th meridian anyway?

As it turns out – the 100th meridian provides an amazing cross-section of Canadiana as you can see from the maps below.

Topographic Overview

The 100th meridian roughly bi-sects Canada. It traverses the Province of Manitoba in the south and the Territory of Nunavut in the north. Beginning at the Canada – USA border, the terrain switches significantly from lake country, to plains, to Canadian Shield and finally to permafrost as we traverse Nunavut into the Arctic Ocean.

Not surprisingly, only the southern 200 km have population of any significance. The other 2000 km is almost exclusively beautiful Canadian wilderness.

For the non geographers – this map shows the effects of projection that can have a significant distortion on your map. In this case, MapSherpa uses a spherical mercator projection that allows for true north to always be at the top of the map, and preserves relative east-west and north-south directions. This is great for local topographic maps that are generated within the MapSherpa system, but results in a heavily distorted full map of Canada.

100th Meridian in Canada

Maps of Southern Manitoba

The southern populated portion of the 100th meridian are found in Manitoba. The border region with the USA is thick with thousands of small lakes as you can see in the map below:

Lake Region - Canada, USA Border

Just north of the lakes region, the 100th meridian traverses the eastern portion of Canada’s Great Plains. This is easily distinguished by the grid pattern of the road network – (and not many countour lines!) – found throughout the plains.

Prairies, South of Brandon

Map of Brandon, Manitoba

The only significant urban centre that falls along the 100th meridian is Brandon, Manitoba. Brandon has a population of just over 50,000  and was established as a junction of the Canadian Pacific Railroad and the Assiniboine River – the only major river that crosses the 100th meridian.

City of Brandon, Manitoba

Map of Riding Mountain National Park

The 100th meridian also falls along Riding Mountain National Park – one of Canada’s forty two National Parks. The park offers an extensive assortment of outdoor activities for it’s visitors.

Riding Mountain National Park

Map of Lake Winnipegosis

Heading north, the first large lake that intersects the 100th meridian is Lake Winnipegosis. This also marks the transition region from the flat plains of the south and the Canadian shield throughout the north of the province.

Lake Winnipegosis

In addition to Lake Winnipegosis, a couple of other significant lakes intersect the 100th meridian including Clear Lake and Nueltin Lake which also intersects with the Manitoba – Nunavut border.

Maps of Nunavut

The final region along the 100th meridian as we head further north is the permafrost of the Arctic. This rugged country is a mix of wetlands, lakes, and a glacier in the far north as we cross the arctic circle north of the treeline.

Manitoba, Nunavut Border

Arctic Coastline

Create your own Topographic Maps along the 100th Meridian with MapSherpa. Simply search for your favourite location with the search function in the upper left corner of the map making application.

Barry’s Bay is a small town located 2 hours west of Ottawa in the Madawaska Valley, just east of Algonquin Park. It is situated on Kamaniskeg Lake, one of numerous lakes found along the Madawaska River – a favourite of canoeists and kayakers alike.

The area around Barry’s Bay is a popular cottage region for Toronto and Ottawa residents. With many lakes in the area, access roads to the major urban centres, and beautiful natural scenery, the region is a perfect get-away for weekends and vacations.

Paugh Lake

Good friends of mine have a cottage on the island in he middle of Paugh Lake, just north of Barry’s Bay. Paugh Lake is a gem that’s both accessible being relatively close to Barry’s Bay, while maintaining a very natural feel on the lake and the surroundings. A little swimming, a little canoeing, a little sunning, a barbecue and a beer or two – what could be better? Now if only I could have had one of these handy maps in hand. Next time!

Create your own Topographic Maps of Barry’s Bay with MapSherpa. Simply search for Barry’s Bay, or your favourite location with the search function in the upper left corner of the map making application.