Awenda snow shoe 2022

Awenda Provincial Park has always been a favorite of mine during the summer and fall, yet I have never taken advantage of its winter trails for snowshoeing. I arrived at the parking area, and almost turned around. I have never seen it so busy, and as you all know, I don’t like company on the trails. As it was later in the afternoon, I really didn’t have an option to travel to a different area and resigned myself to a less than optimal afternoon trek. I could not have been more wrong.

It began when I stopped two young ladies from Quebec, holding snowshoes, where the best trails began. These lovely girls where friendly, and happy to send me towards the beach trail. I then went in search of the pay kiosk I had always used before, only to find it replaced with directions to an on line app. Except, there is no cell signal to access the app. Enter the park warden, touring the parking area and handing out passes to those with cash or a credit card. Umm, I only bring my licence and debit card to avoid having my cards stolen if my car is broken into. Here is where the next good person of my day steps in, as a completely stranger overheard me talking to the ranger and paid for my pass. Thank you, and I will pay it forward.

I headed out on a very packed down trail, which I absolutely hate for snowshoeing. Pessimistic me again resigned myself to a disappointing hike. I pushed on, and headed down a long slope that ended below the bluff and out to the beach. I am no longer disappointed; I am in awe. The wind hits you first, a piercing cold that reaches into your clothing. Then the sound, as though a jet is taking off close by. As you step out onto the beach, the dark clouds lay low on the horizon, and the grey waters roll in large breakers towards the shore ice. Over to the left, there is a spit of land that juts into the cold waters. The spit is covered in large glistening blocks of blue ice, and as the cold waves roll towards them, the waves break with the sound of rolling thunder, and send of spumes of ice water thirty feet in the air.

As so often happens, the majority of people turned around here at the first beach, allowing me to continue on down a little used trail toward beach four. It is here that I am glad to have my snowshoes, as the trail is less used and the drifts from the continuous winds are often deep. I spent the next kilometer or so travelling along the beach and through silent forests. The trail ends at a western facing beach, studded with large rocks. I sat down on one of these rocks and breathed in the cold winter air and let my mind calm. Here is what I needed, solitude. I returned the way I had come in, my trail in all but obliterated by the drifting snow. At beach one I decided to try the Nipissing trail rather than the route I had come in by.

The Nipissing trail is really only a summer trail, as it takes a steep route up the bluff using stairs. In the winter, these stairs become encased in ice and snow and become a slippery slide, suitable for training for the Olympic luge team. I advise you hang onto the railing as you scramble up the slope. From here I returned back to my car, about two and a half hours and about eight kilometers. Although I must admit, I spent a significant amount of time stopping to admire the scenery.