Birds Hill Park has 36K of classic ski trails: Bluestem, Aspen, Lime Kiln, Esker, and Chickadee.
The Group Use #1 Road (5.2K) plus its center connecting road (.5K) and its two interior options (1.2K + .6K) is groomed for skate skiing and skijoring, as is the out-and-back Spruce trail (5.5K one way).
Trails map
Approved Trails Plan
There are 5 trailheads for cross country skiing:
– Riding Stables parking lot, north end: Esker and Lime Kiln trails (classic).
– Riding Stables parking lot, south end: Bluestem and Aspen trails (classic).
– Chickadee parking lot: Chickadee, Bluestem, and Aspen trails (classic). Group Use #1 Road (skate ski / skijor).
– Group Use #1 Road access at the locked yellow gate (winter parking lot): Bluestem and Aspen trails (classic). Group Use #1 Road (skate ski / skijor).
– Nimowin parking lot: Spruce trail (skate ski / skijor).
The Riding Stables trailheads have a warm-up building that is available for park users during regular park hours. It has a common area and two wheelchair-accessible washrooms / change rooms. The warm-up building is attached to the restaurant.
The other three trailheads have pit toilets.
Please do not ski on trails that are designated for other uses. Skiing on a horse trail, snowmobile trail, and walking trail does not have the same negative impact as walkers, snowmobiles, horses, and ATVs have on ski trails, but it does add to the level of conflict between different users.
There are signs at the trailheads that inform park users that groomed ski trails are for cross country skiing only: this sign and this sign and this new-in-2021-2022 sign.
The Birds Hill Park Patrol works on weekends: 204-792-1849
Birds Hill’s Park Manager is Kathleen Brown (as of 2021-2022) — kathleen.brown@gov.mb.ca 204-654-6730.
Trail Conditions (interactive map, updated in real time) reported by Manitoba Parks.
See below for reports submitted by skiers.
Group Admins
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Gary Wickens posted an update in the group
Birds Hill Provincial Park 2 months, 2 weeks agoWent Fri. 8:30 a.m. -2. Aspen from Chickadee parking lot to crossover to Bluestem. East Bluestem to tower back to parking lot via incoming Chickadee. Trail surface was still frozen from overnight. Only a few skiers had been ahead of me on Bluestem. Could use some more to help work in the tracks .
Who knows how long this will last as there’s a good…[Read more] -
d baniak posted an update in the group
Birds Hill Provincial Park 2 months, 2 weeks agoSo, I arrived at the Chickadee lot around 1pm Apr.7, hoping that earlier skiers had packed the Bluestem west of the Chickadee: I was not disappointed. I did the trail backwards and met the first and second skiers on the trail.
About 2-3 inches of snow had accumulated, and 1 track on the west Bluestem is now doable. At the lookout I packed the…[Read more]-
Chris, thanks for this report. I had planned to ski at Birds Hill Park on Friday — skating skis on the Group Use Road in the afternoon, but now I’m considering going mid-morning and classic skiing on your (and others) tracking on west Bluestem, north Chickadee, and west Aspen.
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Gary Wickens posted an update in the group
Birds Hill Provincial Park 2 months, 3 weeks agoBHP trails [Aspen,Bluestem] still a go as of this a.m. if you like high speed double poling on ice[which I do]. Not sure what tomorrow will bring though. Best track is on West Bluestem followed by East Bluestem and Aspen from Chickadee to stable.
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Bert Graef posted an update in the group
Birds Hill Provincial Park 2 months, 3 weeks agoSunday 6pm-9pm. Started off on skate skis.GUR was somewhat soft from the sun but still ok. The classic trails became superfast at dusk. Switched back and forth from double poling down the trails to going back on the GUR. Fastest conditions I have seen all year. If things stay cool, trails will still last a long time, even if no grooming is…[Read more]
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Bert Graef posted an update in the group
Birds Hill Provincial Park 2 months, 3 weeks agoGUR is a crusty mess of footprints,paralell grooves and deep x marks but still ok. Grade C- . Ive lowered my standards for skating at BHP somewhat. Where is that groomer?? , sheesh. GUR would be amazing if they would just make one pass to even things out . The west bluestem was quite fast at dusk and after a km of walker sabotage and I was…[Read more]
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Kevin Miller posted an update in the group
Birds Hill Provincial Park 2 months, 3 weeks agoFrom John Kim on Saturday afternoon:
14.5 km – bluestem, aspen (partial), chickadee (partial). classic (skins). start noon; wax….doesn’t matter
don’t put away your skis just yet ! for me likely one of the best skis of the season today. tracks are better if you take aspen (east) from chickadee until it meets up with bluestem.. once on blueste…[Read more] -
Kevin Miller posted an update in the group
Birds Hill Provincial Park 2 months, 3 weeks agoBirds Hill Park, Saturday.
Classic — the temp was just *below* freezing, cloudy: Aspen was very good, west Bluestem was very good, eastbound Esker was fair, the first 200 metres of Lime Kiln was poor, and *all* of Chickadee was obliterated with footsteps.
Skate — the temp was just *above* freezing, cloudy: The Group Use Road was very good. (I…[Read more] -
Bert Graef posted an update in the group
Birds Hill Provincial Park 2 months, 3 weeks ago7-9pm- Classic trails are mostly icy, but I found them not too bad by using my skate skis and double poling. Could be way faster if they were groomed. GUR was mostly a mix of crusty ice, fossilized x patterns, boots and a squiggly fat bike line. Just hard to always focus on balance. Would be world class skiing if the groomer would come out. The…[Read more]
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Kevin Miller posted an update in the group
Birds Hill Provincial Park 2 months, 3 weeks agoFrom Al Stewart on Thursday afternoon:
I skated the Group Use Road this morning and found mid winter conditions at 9:30 am.
– 12c temp, soft and cold snow made for a slow ski. The glide did improve as the temp climbed and a few more folks helped flatten the track a bit. But honestly who would expect to find a ton of cold glide wax snow on March 31? -
Esther MacKinlay posted an update in the group
Birds Hill Provincial Park 2 months, 3 weeks agoBluestem Wednesday afternoon. Used our Salomon skin skis. Surprisingly very good grip and glide. Basically skier tracked with the new snow over the harder ice tracks. Double skier tracked the whole way around. No walkers on Bluestem but asked several walkers not to walk on the Chickadee.
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Kevin Miller posted an update in the group
Birds Hill Provincial Park 2 months, 3 weeks agoBirds Hill Park, Wednesday 11:00 to 1:30, -4°, classic.
The ice and ice-snow was covered with 2 to 5 cm of really nice new snow. The trails were in various stages of skied-in.
Aspen was very good, especially Chickadee to the Stables (under the power lines), which was excellent.
West Bluestem was excellent … so good that I skied it once in…[Read more]-
typical ungroomed slippery depressing ankle killing trails. Could be so different if the only this dammed park would groom. Got enough snow to last till May for petes sake. Whats with these stupid park people? At least groom the skate track with one pass already.
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Tony Hoess posted an update in the group
Birds Hill Provincial Park 2 months, 4 weeks agoI went to ski BHP today.
I did Aspen – I’d rate the Aspen cc ski trails as decent. There were a lot of areas that I’d rate as a 7/10 for spring skiing (skier made trails and icy but not bad), but the leaves are starting to show in a few places and there are a few holes in deeper snow areas, so you had to be careful.
I also did Bluestem – and…[Read more]-
Please be more critical of the park and its lack of grooming. If we keep patting them on the back like this, they will get worse and worse.
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d baniak posted an update in the group
Birds Hill Provincial Park 3 months agoSo, curious to see what the cold snap had done to the trails, I arrived at the park around noon Mar26, to the Chickadee parking lot which was dirt on the west side and packed frozen snow mounds on the other, but easily accessible by my sedan.
The Aspen trail to the stables parking lot was skier packed dual track,and back west to the Bluestem.…[Read more] -
d baniak posted an update in the group
Birds Hill Provincial Park 3 months agoSo, curious to investigate what Monday’s rain and high temps might have done to the conditions, I, ER,and AD hit the trails at noon. Debriefing skiers coming off the Aspen and Bluestem reported icy conditions at first with rapid softening,
On our ski on Esker and the Chickadee northern loop revealed soft tracks with a phenomenon never experienced…[Read more] -
Kevin Miller posted an update in the group
Birds Hill Provincial Park 3 months agoBirds Hill Park, Wednesday morning, -1.5° to +1°, skate ski on the Group Use Road.
The track surface was a mess of footprints, deer hoofprints, a kick-sled that created two thin 5 cm deep ruts and boot divots, and horizontal washboard/corduroy (which was actually the best part of the track’s surface).
At 8:00 AM, the track was a thin icy layer o…[Read more] -
Alison Steele posted an update in the group
Birds Hill Provincial Park 3 months, 1 week agoFriday morning – overcast with frosty trees…so pretty! Bluestem was firm, fast and a bit icy when starting out from the ranch, but softening and slower on the return, with the sun appearing. It seemed the worst part was the windy section between the stables and the tower as the crisp sides were grabbing my wide boots. Many skiers starting out…[Read more]
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Alison Steele posted an update in the group
Birds Hill Provincial Park 3 months, 1 week agoThursday late morning the classic trails were well skied-in, and still firm but not icy with last night’s snow. I had great glide and kick on skin skis, yet my ski buddy struggled with no kick (-3 to 0 wax). Many human footprints on Chickadee, but overall very good conditions. If everyone can stay off the tracks during the warm afternoons, there…[Read more]
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Staying off the classic tracks when the temperature is above zero is good advice as the potential for damage is high.
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Kevin Miller posted an update in the group
Birds Hill Provincial Park 3 months, 1 week ago15 members of Nature Manitoba’s Grey Hares skied Aspen, Chickadee, and west Bluestem on Wednesday from 11:30 to 2:00. We saw the groomer and grooming equipment that Gary saw this morning. The trails we skied were all double tracked by the time we left. With sun from 11:30 to 1:30, melting would have peaked at 1:30. The new tracks were soft and…[Read more]
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Anything done to the GUR or just classic trails?
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Skated a couple of laps on GUR until 830PM. Trail is ungroomed and a bit rough but not bad at all. Some sponginess due towarm midday temps but firmed up during evening skate. Best to go in mornings or evenings when temps are below freezing and sun’s rays arent beating down. Just got to watch out for all the brown klister piles left by the…[Read more]
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Good to see Im not the only one who feels the same about the brown piles… as a responsible dog owner at least knock it off… dogs don’t do their deal and run at the same time…
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Hi there,
As a dog owner, skijorer and kick-sledder I apologize for the irresponsible that don’t pickup after their dogs. But you shouldn’t blame the ‘skijoring crowd’ for that as there are still a lot of walkers on the GUR all winter coming with their dogs. The majority of the skijorers are well educated on that and pick up after their dogs. So,…[Read more]
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Gary Wickens posted an update in the group
Birds Hill Provincial Park 3 months, 1 week agoWed. 10:30 a.m. Some of the classic trails groomed ! Aspen , Chickadee and Bluestem at least 1 track on each by snowmobile with 4 ft. leveller and light weight track setter. Thank you groomer!!
Not sure about Esker and Lime Kiln [didn’t appear to be groomed from the restaurant ] and definitely no grooming on GUR.
Anyway we had an excellent ski…[Read more]-
Classic trails were both spongy in places and moist- icy around 6 pm . Borderline klister conditions. Didnt want to bother with sticky wax so went skate skiing instead. GUR is ungroomed and a bit spongy, but will be pretty good at zero and below. Best to go early mornings or in the evenings when temps drop.
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Eric Sokolowski posted an update in the group
Birds Hill Provincial Park 3 months, 1 week agoDid west bluestem from chick parking lot.Single tracked and skier packed.Good glide and kick.No grooming noted as of 5 P.M. Monday.
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