Toronto Photography Meetup Group

Sorry, postponed again.

Details:

What: Snowshoeing at the King Day Camp Outdoors Centre
When: TBA, ideal snowshoeing conditions desired.
Time: 10AM
Where: The Outdoor Education Centre, Seneca College, 13990 Dufferin Street, King City ON. Meet in the Parking Lot.
Bring: $6.00 cash admission, $4.50 parking fee (if I read the Seneca website correctly), Snowshoes or $10.00 rental on site, Camera, Winter boots, Warm clothes, appetite for food in Newmarket afterward.

http://www.kingdaycamp.com/Ski+Center/default.aspx

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Original Post:

I have this fantastic pair of snowshoes that I bought last year with the assumption of using in Killarney. Unfortunately, Killarney lacked enough snow to actually get some use out of the snowshoes.

In the meantime I was talking to some people about the idea of an event to hike some of the Oak Ridges Trail near King City (since I love having events that are a short commute for me!), and figured I'd like to get a feeler out there, and maybe talk about scheduling this on a Saturday or Sunday this month... possibly as early as tomorrow or Sunday.

I don't know if the snowshoes are actually required, but I think with the level of snow up here it seems in my amateur opinion a good idea.

Sounds interesting, although I don't have snowshoes. Knowing my own schedule, it doesn't look like renting would be an option, unless you knw of someplace to rent that is on my route from Mississauga.

Sounds interesting, but maybe in the new year.

Janet, I've been told (I think by Maureen) that you can rent snowshoes from MEC.

Ah... here we go: http://images.mec.ca/media/Images/pdf/R ... 811186.pdf

Some quick googling has turned up pretty empty for other snowshoe rental options.

Pam, okay, how about we pencil it in for late this month between X-mas and new years, or January?

Go ahead without me. I won't be available till next year. Work stuff.

Looking at the MEC website, it doesn't look like the Burlington store does snowshoe rentals. If we are looking at December, then the only date I would have would be Dec. 19 or Dec. 28. Knowing my schedule, though, there are no opportunities for me to get to MEC during the week of Dec. 20-24, which means I would have to rent them for an entire week, unless someone else who was coming could pick them up or return them. If we could find a convenient Saturday in January or February, then I would have a better chance of returning the snowshoes on a Sunday.

This could be cool (in all meanings of the word), but like others the next two weeks are busy. Something the weekend after Christmas (New Year weekend) would work for me or into January or February (beware the traditional February thaw).

Did you have a specific trail in mind yet? I am familiar with many of the Bruce Trail loop trails in the Caldon and Dufferin areas, but not with the trails associated with the Oak Ridges. If you are interested in something further afield from King City the Mono Cliffs PP near Orangeville is great for snowshoeing.

Daryl

The New Year's weekend looks good for me - I could return rented snowshoes on the Monday as I am off work that day, and would like be able to pick them up on the Friday (assuming I finish work early, which is probable but not yet confirmed).

Now that the Island outing is on Jan. 2, can I suggest doing this on a Saturday in January or February? That would allow me to return rented snowshoes on the Sunday. For me, Jan. 1 would work as well; however, I doubt that would work for most other people.

I would have taken Jan 2 for this event, if not for Tim rescheduling the island event.

I'd be in to this too..... I am available most days next week, as I am on 2 weeks vacation. However, this week is bad, because Shannon and I have friends coming from Australia.


D

I just found out that Hikers Haven/Europe Bound, which has a location at Trafalgar/QEW in Oakville, also has snowshoe rentals. That would make the pickup up and dropoff more convenient for me.

http://www.europebound.com/EyeCandyNews ... newsid=77#

So, any chance of a date for this? Next week works well for me, with the exception of Monday and Wednesday.

I might be able to manage Tuesday, but I may not be able to pick up rental snowshoes until Tuesday morning which would necessitate a late start. I don't know if I'll get another chance to check the forum before Monday night, as I'll be visiting my Father until then.

*if* we do it, then Tuesday then. Next week I'm only off Mon and Tues.

Lets assume a 10:30-11am start time, somewhere near the Hwy 400 corridor (Weston Road, Jane or Keele at the Trail), north of King Road.

I'm willing to wait a few hours this weekend to gauge the interest.

Is there enough snow?

Sorry can't do the Tuesday I am committed elsewhere.

DG

same here.... not sure that Tuesday is going to work... and really not sure there is going to be nearly enough snow to warrant snowshoes.

Is this event on? Have a day off tomorrow and would be nice finally to meet some of you.

Don't have snow shoes but I am pretty sure I can do without them.

I'm going to take a quick look at the trail section I'm considering later today, between Keele Street and Jane Street, as recommended to my by a friend.

I can't seem to find any information on local snoweshoeing conditions, save for one item:

http://www.kingdaycamp.com/Ski+Center/default.aspx



The Ski Centre is located on the Seneca College Campus, on Dufferin north of King Road.

From the ORTA Website:

http://www.oakridgestrail.org/news.htm#Seneca



The ORTA section I'm considering may have had some boot traffic to date, so it might be more packed down, but snowshoes may still be possible. Failing that, I'm willing to dry run it with a few people tomorrow, and then if it works, maybe we could return in January to the Seneca Outdoors Centre which does have on site rentals. Their trails might be better? Admission is 6 bucks plus parking.

Hikers Haven doesn't open until 10:00am, so I don't think I would be able to rent snowshoes and get up to Hwy 400/King Road before 11:00am. It's too late now to get there before they close tonight. My best bet to get there by 10:30 am might be to take my cross country skiis instead. I'll check the forum again in the morning.

Due to lack of interest at the moment, I think it's best not to go through with this event.

In the new year, I will organize an event using the Snowshoe trails at Seneca, especially since they have on site rentals. Also, they have the trail condition report, which will be good to have access to.

So I figure an update for those interested.

As early as last weekend, the website for the Ski Centre in King City mentioned "Grass" as the conditions. They have now updated it to indicate "Snow" on a relatively shallow base, with hope for the snowfall tonight etc, thought at least tonight the expectation is only 2-4cm in King City.

dgibson and I have been talking about Mono Cliffs PP. Our feeling is to schedule Mono Cliffs, for sometime in the next 3-4 weeks with plenty of notice so people can plan to attend, and consider it a "snowshoe optional" as the conditions from Daryl's reports are still boot walkable. If conditions change, we can adjust the planning, and people can plan to rent snowshoes from MEC, etc, if required. I believe Daryl will take the lead on this event, though I plan to attend. Driving distance is 1.5 hours from Yorkdale.

Since we can get almost daily condition reports from King City, can rent snowshoes on site, and the location is only a half hour drive from Yorkdale Mall, the King City snowshoeing event can be a little more short notice (I'll post on a Tuesday or Wednesday for a probable Saturday I think). I would like to wait for a deeper base.

I will be posting something soon as Hotwire says. Not sure how much notice there will be, but I will try to make it at least a week.

DG

sounds like fun. i'd be interested in this. hopefully we get some snow in the next few days.

I think we're getting a little snow on Tuesday.

What's the preliminary feedback if I schedule this for Sunday Feb 6th?

I'm out of town the following weekend.

Feb. 6 sounds good to me, depending on weather and road conditions. The weather network website is currently showing scattered flurries (less than 1 cm), so that looks OK at the moment.

I can't commit right now, but the 6th is looking pretty good.

DG

Well, the ski centre's website is down, so I won't confirm this until I confirm timing with them. I fully expect them to be open on the Sunday. We snowshoe, we eat, then everyone can go home and watch some football game. Go Packers?