Hardwood Ski and Bike, Oro-Medonte, ON

My friend, Trish, has been a member of Trakkers for a few years.

Trakkers is a volunteer, non-profit, recreational ski club dedicated to the support and enjoyment of cross-country skiing and has been providing Sunday ski trips in luxury highway coaches to southern Ontario ski resorts for over 30 years. 

Trakkers welcomes members of all ages and all skill levels, from novice to the expert. Trakkers is the club for you if you want to learn to ski or improve your skills.

Trish invited Gord and I to be her guests on today's trip to Hardwood Ski and Bike, just outside of Barrie (about an hour and a half north of Toronto).  We caught the bus at 9am and were back in Toronto about 5:30pm.

Hardwood Ski and Bike has over 40 km of beautiful, rolling trails through hardwood and pine forests for cross-country skiing. The trail network consists of 8 different loops ranging from 3 km to 22 km. There is a trail for every level of ability, from beginner to elite racer on terrain that ranges from gently rolling to challenging.

Cross-country skiing, snowshoeing, and fat biking are all offered at the resort; therefore, the whole family can enjoy the outdoor winter playground. With a café serving healthy, delicious meals and snacks, a service shop for your entire rental, waxing and repair needs, as well as a retail shop equipped with cross country ski gear galore, we promise you’ll have an amazing, full-service experience at Hardwood Ski and Bike.

Trish is a skier and Gord and I are snowshoers so we went to our respective trails when we arrived.

Gord and I started on the Lookout Trail (this trail takes you to the Lookout where on a clear day you can see Barrie and Lake Simcoe), then hooked onto the Fox Trail (this trail makes its way to Janet’s Gateway at the top of the property before coming back downhill to the chalet) when the Lookout Trail ended and then took the Lynx Trail (starts at the main chalet and takes you on a great loop through some old hardwood forest) back to the chalet.

The snowshoe trails are the dotted lines

It was a gorgeous day to be outside ... sunny and 0C/32F.  We were snowshoeing for about 2.5 hours and did about 6km.  The trails meander through the woods and varied between being flat and hilly ... some the hills are tough (but fun).  There was about a foot of snow.  At times, the ski and snowshoe trails ran parallel to each other and we sometimes had to cross over the ski trails to stay on the snowshoe trails.

It was funny to watch Gord try to get up this steep bump

But he never gave up!

And he was kind enough to help me up and over it!

It took us about 1.5 hours to get to the lookout ... a lot uphill

At the Lookout

When we got back to the chalet, we ran into Trish.

She had stopped for lunch and was heading back out to ski again.  Gord and I got a bite to eat and chilled in the chalet.

It was a fun fun day!  No doubt we'll all have a great sleep tonight!  Snores could be heard on the bus ride back.

Thanks to Trish for bringing us as her guests!  If today is any indication, Trakkers is a great club and no doubt we'll become members.