First backcountry skiing in Frontenac Provincial Park

This winter was the first season for Jack and I started backcountry (BC) skiing.   We both have xc skied in Gatineau for many years, BC skiing becomes our next aspiration in pursuing of winter outdoors.   We jumped into action during Black Friday sale with BC xc ski gear acquisition to prepare for the skiing season.     Being total BC skiing novice, we envisioned progressive BC skiing outings for this skiing season, starting with BC trails in Gatineau park, followed by day trips to Ontario provincial parks such as Frontenac or Algonquin, and moving to a multi day hut-to-hut trip later in the season.  Our first BC skiing in Gatineau park in late January was a blast immediately following a major snow storm.  With forecast for another snow fall just before the weekend, we agreed Saturday Feb. 8 should be our turn to venture into Frontenac provincial park.

Frontenac is a good BC skiing and winter camping destination among Ontario provincial parks, for its network of hiking trails and backcountry campsites, diverse ecosystem and abundant snow (https://www.ontarioparks.com/parksblog/frontenac-snowshoeing-skiing/).  Two other friends would like to join our trip to go ice fishing on one of the lakes in Frontenac.  Jack proposed to go to the northern corner of the park to ski the Tetsmine Lake Loop and Helmlock Lake Loop http://www.ontarioparks.com/pdf/maps/frontenac/Frontenac_Portages-Campsites_2015.pdf where our ice fishing friends could try their luck on one of the lakes stocked with trouts.  In our mind, BC xc skiing in Frontenac would be similar to BC skiing in Gatineau park.  We were into a bit of surprise.

our skiing track over Tetsmine Lake Loop

It was -20C on Saturday morning, one of the colder days in this winter.   Everyone was well prepared for the day trip, layers of clothing, lunch in backpacks, skis, snowshoes and a sled full of ice fishing gears for the aspirational fishing men.

Ready to go

We were a bit surprised to see 5 or 6 other vehicles in the parking lot when we arrived, some of them were blanked with thick show.  Apparently people were overnight camping in this corner of the park.

It was late morning when we started skiing.  A short distance from parking lot, we crossed the Kingsford Dam through which Kingsford Lake flows to  Devil Lake.  In the mid of winter, the lake close to the dam is ice free, a rare dark surface in the whole white world.   It was fascinating to be able see through the lake, waves, pebbles, and whatever lurking in the depth. 

Kingsford Dam

The trail was easy to ski at the beginning, where snow was compressed by campers' snowshoes and sled.  As soon as we reached the Tetsmine Lake Loop trail, we parted with our ice fishing friends who went to the opposite direction towards Moulton Lake.  We would rejoin them later that day on the lake.   We met a couple of campers by the McNally Bay of Kingsford Lake.   Everyone loved to chat about the cold weather, and joked about not telling the true temperature to their wives.  Later when we finished the day, we met a couple with a Border Collie at the parking lot, who were returning to their camp.  The cute dog raised both its front paws to its owner as soon as it got off the car, in an apparent gesture to say it was feeling cold.  I was tempting to bring my large golden retriever to the park with us, but decided it would be too cold for its paws.  The couple proudly told us it was -27C the night before, and -15C even in their heated tent.  Winter campers here truly love and thrive in the Canadian winter.

After meeting the winter campers by the lake, there was no more snowshoes and sled track. We would break our own trails for the most part of the day.   Fortunately the trail is well marked with blue trail markers, and well made wooden signs at every trail junction.   Frontenac ought to be great for hikes during snow free seasons.   Canoeing looks good here with so many lakes interconnected with short portage trails. I would love to return for some canoe camping in Frontenac in early fall.    BC skiing in fresh snow is fun.  On flat sections of the trail,  skiing was serene with powder snow, sunshine and blue sky.  We felt lucky to be in Frontenac in such a beautiful winter day.

delicate snow

fresh track

surprised to see frozen wave!

BC skiing in fresh snow can be challenging.  There are a lot more up and down on the trail.  On some uphill, I struggled to gain a foothold, as the steep and narrow trail doesn't provide easy positioning for the long skis.  Once both of my skis slid backwards, and I inevitably fell.  On some of the downhill, it was another struggle to control the speed and direction so not to hug a tree or fall off the steep side slope.  This was when I wish my skis had spikes.  Fortunately falling in thick fresh snow was safe and fun, except sometime it was time consuming to get back up when my skis and poles got tangled on a steep slope and I had to release the skis and poles, get up, step into the ski, and put on pole straps.   Several times during the day, we had to take off our skis and hike over some steep sections of the trail.  Jack is a better downhill skier, and his downhill skiing skill was put on good use swing through the trees.  Needless to say, we soon realized that Tetsmine Lake Loop trail is more suitable for snowshoeing than skiing,  at least for our novice BC skiers.  We decided we would not have time to do the Helmlock Lake Loop.  The 10-km Tetsmine Lake Loop would be good enough for the day.

negotiating an uphill section

We took a lunch break at a ridge top by Lynch Lake two and half hours into the skiing.  We laid down our 4 skis in parallel as a makeshift bench, sat and enjoyed sandwiches, hot water and sunshine.

lunch spot 

We continued our skiing after lunch, trying to avoid going on the extra Helmlock Lake Loop which we decided to drop off from our day plan.  We spotted another winter tent in this part of the park. Their dog barked at us to alert its owner about us two skiers.  It must have taken them many hours of skiing or snowshoeing to set up tent deep in the park.   An hour and 15 minutes after lunch break, we reached the side trail junction going to Moulton Lake where our friends had been ice fishing for a few hours.

The side trail is narrow and steep at places.  Our ice fishing friends said they struggled to snowshoe to the lake towing a heavy sled, that they had to leave some gears by the trail half way through the side trail.  They returned to retrieve the gear after lunch and regaining strength.   Once reaching the wide open Moulton Lake, we could see friends sitting on the lake fishing.  Our hope for a taste of fresh catch on the grill was dashed quickly.  It wasn't a lucky day for our friends, not a single catch for their many hours of hard work.  We were treated with our friends' hospitality of wood fire on ice, roasted sweet potato, hot water, and a warming tent.

ice fishing

Fire on ice

Time passed by quickly while we enjoyed relaxing time of warmth, hot drink and yummy food.  All of us started to ski or snowshoe back to the parking lot when the sun was getting low on the horizon.   In less than an hour we crossed the Kingsford Dam again.  Standing on the shore of Kingsford Lake, we were rewarded with golden mellow glow of winter sun in later afternoon, marking a wonderful day out in Frontenac. 

final skiing

ending with sunset

Following is a bit of stats of the day.  We were much slower in Frontenac than our BC xc ski in Gatineau park, reflecting the challenging trails for skis.

• total distance: 11.08 km
• moving time:   3 hour 11 min
• average speed: 3.5 km/hour
• total time: 6 hour 26 min

Overall, our BC skiing outing to Frontenac was a good day.