Grand Beach Provincial Park

Would have skied more than the trailhead and Blueberry – our first ski in 3 years – but the packed overnight drifting snow basically vanished away all of the classic trails so it was a fuller workout tracking it all. Hopefully conditions are better today after more hardy skiers are been around.

Trails groomed Wednesday after it snowed. Another inch or two of snow fell Thursday. Most of the trails have since been skied (skier tracked) so it’s in great shade. The beautiful forest sheltered me from the 36 km/h wind.

We skied the full Beaver pond trail on Mon. 23rd. Certainly agree with previous post, trail that crosses Creek has never been groomed, I don’t think this year. Information of this should be posted at the parking lot and it would be nice if there were MAPS available, as we don’t ski this area very often. There was fresh snow overnight, trail was…[Read more]

We skied the full 13km Beaver Pond trail on Saturday the 21st. The loop that crosses the creek and back is definitely not groomed and wasn’t marked that it was closed where we entered it at the “7” marker. When we exited at the “8” it said trail closed. Woops! Luckily it was a beautiful day to track our way through a 3km foot path…
Els…[Read more]

From Edward Zwingerman on Monday afternoon:
Skied Beaver and Squirrel. Conditions good but not great. Needs a little more fresh snow. Hills are hard packed but not icy so very fast but doable. Safe if you can snow plow. Skate skiing looks a bit better but far from ideal. With the terrain and scenery it’s still worth the drive.

The classic tracks are in very good condition with the odd wiggle here and there. Beware of 2 rocks in the tracks. The skate deck is a mixed bag with some good areas and some not so good.

Happy to report that Grand Beach trails are in excellent condition. Classic track is great, skate track is okay, looked like 1 skate skier had been through. Beautiful day in the woods

Jan 3, 2023. Trails are in marginal condition, fair would be generous. Not sure what’s happened to the ability to groom Grand Beach (seem like they started to pack a foundation, and then left it a chunky mess). It’s still a nice trail and forest of course, but the lack of good tracks is a major disappointment.

A post on the A Cross Country Ski Club Facebook group dated January 31 says: “I skied Grand Beach this morning. Track was patchy with lots of snow on top. Some parts seemed skier-made. Regardless, it was a great ski.”.

Skied Beaver minus the beaver dam loop. Classic is skier tracked, but worn, skate has some old base groomed before last snow falls, but not really skiable. Lots of boot marks/hiker damage. Good amount of snow, just needs grooming.

From Edward Zwingerman on Thursday evening:
Skied Beaver and Squirrel trails today.
The snow was beautiful. Probably groomed a while ago but very skiable. No grooming for skate skiers. Conditions were great for hills, no debris or rocks. Trees were snow laden and picturesque.

2 inches of snow fell on today’s (Thursday) grooming but is now skied in. The Beaver trail is packed but not track set between Jack Pine junction and where it joins with the Squirrel Run.

From Chris Green on Sunday afternoon:
Beaver Trail. Enough snow for tracks but tracks were chopped up badly by a couple hikers.

It was optimistic to hope that the province would’ve groomed Grand Beach, or even plowed the road to the trailhead. A single track went out-and-back up Blueberry, not sure where to. And a couple of snowshoers. Great snow cover. Such a shame the province can’t do better with these trails.

Skied Lester Beach access, then Boulder Hill trail, then South Beaver Pond trail, back to Lester – 11k total. No recent grooming but trails are in pretty good condition. Definitely skiable and lots of fun!

I was glad to hear the trails were groomed March 10. Unfortunately they were covered with a fresh coat of snow by the morning of March 12. It was a great ski day nonetheless.

From Edward Zwingerman on Saturday afternoon:
Skied Beaver, Squirrel and Boulder today. Snow conditions were ideal even though there has not been grooming for a while. Classic skiing trails were fast but the skate skiing looked pretty rough. The Beaver trail after the hut wasn’t great and a sign at the end of the trail says it’s closed? Everyone…[Read more]