JoAnne Burek

Ice and Snow: Whitemud Park to Hawrelak Park

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Eight people came out to hike along the North Saskatchewan River into Hawrelak Park. We started from the parking lot at Whitemud Park in softly falling snow. Crossing the Quesnel bridge into Laurier Park, we continued on past joggers, dogs, and fat-bike riders.

We reached Hawrelak Park, where the Silver Skate Festival has been on for the past week.

The ice castle looked well preserved in spite of the swings in weather.

The snow sculptures where amazing as always, like this shaggy rabbit.

A new attraction this year was the helicopter. For $80 per person, you and up to two friends could have a lot of fun flying over the city and getting some spectacular views.

On the walk back to Whitemud, we followed the south bank. The sun broke through the clouds, warming up the day.

There’s a new development on these trails—the city has installed some wide lookouts on the trail. In this photo, the house you see in the clearing across the river is Yorath House, the historical residence situated next to the Edmonton Rowing Club.

One of the expansive new lookouts on the bank of the North Saskatchewan

Thanks to Lee for leading this hike. You can find more photos on Flickr.

Forecast the weather with this new tool

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Would you like to be better at forecasting the weather for your hiking, picnics, and other outdoor pursuits? So would we!

That’s why we added a new web page called “Forecasting the Weather”. It’s based on Waskahegan member Terry Elrod’s useful and easy-to-use article of the key weather data sites and how to use them. And by weather, we’re talking temperatures, precipitation, air quality—and for the Edmonton region—mosquitos.

Terry’s article has been available on the website for a year, but now the information has a permanent web page. The page includes links to weather data sites that detail current conditions and trends in the vicinity of the Waskahegan Trail. There are also links and commentary on long-range forecasts, five-day forecasts, and real time weather information.

Even Alberta’s weather phone numbers are clickable. That means you can download the web page to your smartphone and call the weather number for Camrose with a single tap—even when you have no internet!

There are two places where can you find the link to this web page from the Home page. Look in the right sidebar under “Resources” or on the navigation submenu under “Hiking”. Or you can always go the search box at the top and type “forecasting the weather”.