Hiking the Sugarbush Trail in Gatineau Park

Grant Lamontagne · **on:** January 29, 2017, 10:42:08 PM

It has been too long since we did anything, and so we decided today to get out and enjoy the fresh snow. We ended up hiking the Sugarbush Trail in Gantineau Park, a huge woodland park not far from where we live. It wasn't a long trail, so we ended up doing a couple of loops for the fun of it. I had some trepidation from the get go because of a very serious health concern.

In the end, since we were well bundled up in -4C weather, and any poison ivy would be dead, and buried under several feet of snow, we decided to risk it!

The trail is groomed once a week, usually on Fridays, so it wasn't a difficult walk.

I also went off the groomed path a few times to explore some side trails, and I am glad that I did.

There are a few nice streams that you walk by, or maybe they are all the same stream, it's hard to tell when they are iced over in a lot of places, and you can't tell what is going where. Still, where the water is visible, it is very pretty in the largely unspoilt snow!

It was a relatively short hike as I said, but it was certainly a good one. We both had a great time, and glad we were finally able to experience it. We tried this trail in the summer, just after I arrived here, but I was unable to hike then.

In fact, I was apparently feeling so much better that I was once again a lot more adventurous than Megan, as she stuck to the high ground while I went down to get closer looks at the streams!

And, of course, what adventure would be complete without a little bit of good old fashioned MTO representation?

Don't leave home without it!

Def

Aloha · **Reply #1 on:** January 29, 2017, 10:57:05 PM

What a beautiful winter wonderland. I have to admit I've never been in that cold of weather. I'm not sure how my body would react since I'm a SoCal native

. We have snow in our mountains but no where near that cold of temps.

How'd your ankle feel with the metal parts and cold? I'm guessing a little whisky and coffee in a flask would warm most up

Gareth · **Reply #2 on:** January 29, 2017, 11:37:22 PM

Quote from: Aloha007 on January 29, 2017, 10:57:05 PM

What a beautiful winter wonderland. I have to admit I've never been in that cold of weather. I'm not sure how my body would react since I'm a SoCal native . We have snow in our mountains but no where near that cold of temps.

How'd your ankle feel with the metal parts and cold? I'm guessing a little whisky and coffee in a flask would warm most up

I don't think you'd freeze to death.

Gareth · **Reply #3 on:** January 29, 2017, 11:38:59 PM

Looks like a fantastic place for a hike Grant.

What supplies did you have with you?

Grant Lamontagne · **Reply #4 on:** January 30, 2017, 01:38:53 AM

Quote from: Aloha007 on January 29, 2017, 10:57:05 PM

What a beautiful winter wonderland. I have to admit I've never been in that cold of weather. I'm not sure how my body would react since I'm a SoCal native . We have snow in our mountains but no where near that cold of temps.

How'd your ankle feel with the metal parts and cold? I'm guessing a little whisky and coffee in a flask would warm most up

The metal parts don't like the cold, and they drive it right up into the bones they are drilled into. It can be very unpleasant at times, but this was fairly warm in comparison to how cold it can get here. Either way, I had my heavy duty winter boots on- they are rated to -40 degrees, so today's -4C was well within their comfort zone.

Quote from: Gareth on January 29, 2017, 11:38:59 PM

Looks like a fantastic place for a hike Grant. What supplies did you have with you?

Not much- I had a couple of flasks of overpriced and not so great hot chocolate from one of the trendy little spots near the entrance of the park, a pair of gloves that I didn't bother wearing and some YakTracks spikes for dealing with slippery spots, although we didn't actually encounter any place that we needed them.

I also had my Million Post Leatherman Surge with me, just in case.

Def

Syncop8r · **Reply #5 on:** January 30, 2017, 01:48:26 AM

Looks nice!

What's the top sign? Is it warning of a fine for something?

Grant Lamontagne · **Reply #6 on:** January 30, 2017, 02:21:26 AM

Yeah, it was a warning that you could be fined if you don't pick up after your dog, although it doesn't seem to be enforced.

Def

Gerhard Gerber · **Reply #7 on:** January 30, 2017, 09:41:09 AM

WOW.......winter wonderland........hope to experience something like that someday!

Grant Lamontagne · **Reply #8 on:** January 30, 2017, 12:33:38 PM

Quote from: Gerhard Gerber on January 30, 2017, 09:41:09 AM

WOW.......winter wonderland........hope to experience something like that someday!

I suppose it does look a little different to you!

For Canada this is typical in the winter, and we have to stop and purposely look at it to see how pretty it is, as it looks just normal to us!

It kind of reminds me of the shock I had when I went to Las Vegas for the first time. I got off the plane and saw palm trees for the first time and my first thought was "Where the heck did they get palm trees?"

Then it occurred to me- this is where palm trees live...

Def

Aloha · **Reply #9 on:** January 30, 2017, 08:24:02 PM

Palm trees huh, We've got our share here in SoCal. I've got a date palm and queen palm in my yard right now

.

Aloha · **Reply #10 on:** January 30, 2017, 08:33:30 PM

Quote from: Gareth on January 29, 2017, 11:37:22 PM

Quote from: Aloha007 on January 29, 2017, 10:57:05 PM
What a beautiful winter wonderland. I have to admit I've never been in that cold of weather. I'm not sure how my body would react since I'm a SoCal native . We have snow in our mountains but no where near that cold of temps.

How'd your ankle feel with the metal parts and cold? I'm guessing a little whisky and coffee in a flask would warm most up

I don't think you'd freeze to death.

Hmm

. With average temps where I live at about 70-75F, current temp 75F with the week forecast pretty much the same give or take 5 degrees F.

Local mountain season snow total so far is 140 inches. The mountain is located in San Bernardino which is not far from me. Temp right now there is 57F with a low of 35F tonight.

Grant Lamontagne · **Reply #11 on:** January 30, 2017, 08:35:53 PM

The low in those mountains is about 15 degrees higher than our high today.

Def

Ron Who · **Reply #12 on:** February 02, 2017, 08:35:02 AM

I'm wondering about these metal parts. I've had some in my ankle, it was badly crushed after a motorcycle accident, but I had them taken out as soon as was possible, which was after three months and not a day later. The metal hurt and I was glad to be rid of it. The scars on my ankle still hurt now and again, nearly 25 years later.

Grant Lamontagne · **Reply #13 on:** February 02, 2017, 06:18:26 PM

The metal parts aren't the problem. They affect it, but in the end it's the post traumatic arthritis and how the parts don't really seem to line up the way nature intended. The docs did the best they could, but the busted bits will never be 100% again.

Common practice here is to not remove the bits following recovery unless they cause problems. Additional surgery is costly, and there's not a lot of reason for it if they aren't getting in the way.

Def

zoidberg · **Reply #14 on:** February 27, 2017, 07:06:12 AM

Hold up... a mto bag?? ...we need more pics!!

Grathr · **Reply #15 on:** February 27, 2017, 06:34:41 PM

Quote from: zoidberg on February 27, 2017, 07:06:12 AM

Hold up... a mto bag?? ...we need more pics!!

(Image removed from quote.)

We most certainly do!

Grant Lamontagne · **Reply #16 on:** February 27, 2017, 08:33:39 PM

I was wondering when/if someone was going to notice that...

One of the companies I've been ordering MTO gear from (hats, shirts etc) had some bags too and I decided to give a couple a try. This was by far the better one but is probably going to be a bit too pricey to produce for members. The other one was more reasonably priced, but was so horrid that I have been unable to bring one on any adventures with me.

The backpack at the top is embroidered with the Tenth Anniversary logo, the web address and 2006-2016 and looks very nice.

The sling bag has the Tenth Anniversary logo silk screened onto it, and that is the only part of the bag worth looking at. It is so bad it is tragic. I've seriously considered cutting out the logo and using that portion of the bag as a patch on other things!

The backpack is a nicer bag, but to be worthwhile we'd have to try and sell it for way more than I would pay for it, so I really wouldn't expect anyone else to pay that much for it either.

Def

dks · **Reply #17 on:** February 27, 2017, 09:15:33 PM

please note that if you want to advertise your MTO rucksack here you need to first get permission from the forum owner

Grant Lamontagne · **Reply #18 on:** February 27, 2017, 09:21:14 PM

I asked myself last night, and, after several hours of discussion, I managed to come to an agreement with myself.

Besides, I am not advertising it, I mentioned twice in the post that they won't be for sale.

Def