Ever since my visit to Arrowhead last year  I have been dying to go back again.  When I was in Niagara for Christmas, I had a visit with my friend Andrea, who had been trying to come see me in Muskoka since I’d moved,  but hadn’t made it yet.  We devised a plan and this Saturday, was the day we were going to visit Arrowhead with one of our other awesome friends Kim. As Valentines day was just around the corner and an event I obliviously don’t celebrate, I decided this would be our Galentines Weekend.  (thanks to Sam for giving me the word Galentine, had no idea it existed).

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We had a snowstorm rolling in Friday, but that didn’t stop these girls from making it to Muskoka, even though their 3 hour drive turned into almost 5, and their car got stuck, of all places in my driveway upon arrival. We were going to Arrowhead, no matter what!

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It was a gorgeous winter day Saturday when we woke up. The forecast was for temperatures around zero and originally precipitation was expected but that was no longer the case. It was the perfect day to go to Arrowhead and adventure and I could not wait!  We arrived at 11am, with plans to start at the skating trail and then spend the afternoon skiing.

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We stopped at the washrooms to put on our outer layers after the hour drive from Port Carling and Kim had a little friend visit her hand looking for food. Once it realized she had nothing, it flew away unhappily, leaving with a little peck to her hand. That’s what you get! LOL

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As the skating trail opens at 11:00am, it was extremely busy. Plus, it was Saturday, which is the peak day for skating trail traffic.  We waited  for our turn to sit down somewhere and put on our skates, then just left our boots near the cubbies as they were all completely full.  There were huge crowds of people, but every once and a while, we would get a big surge of people and if we waited patiently, we would get a minute or two where we could take a few photos on our own.

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Andrea hadn’t skated in about 20 years but she picked it right back up and we were gliding along with ease after the first loop.

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None of us wanted to stop, so we just kept going around and around.

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The girls took a little break and then we did a few more laps.  Kim was kind enough to take a video of me for my blog and the lovely people at Arrowhead and Ontario Parks.  Thanks Kimmie!

After we were skated out and ready for lunch, we took the trail back to the hub, as I call it where we parked, where you get the rentals, where the warm up trailers are and washrooms.  We went to the car and grabbed the cooler with our lunch in it and as the sun was out, we decided to sit at a picnic table outside by the fire, instead of one of the warming trailers.

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I had made lunches before my friends arrived Friday night to save time and everyone seemed to enjoy what I’d packed. I also brought a big thermos of hot chocolate and it warmed us from the inside out.  It is always such a nice treat to have something like that when you are outside adventuring in the cold and we all agreed it hit the spot!

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After lunch we went to the car to drop off the cooler and get our stuff to go skiing. Andrea had her own skis but Kim and I needed to go to the rental trailer to get ours.  As the half day starts at 1pm and it was now just before 2, there was no lineup and we got our boots and skis fairly quickly. We headed outside, got our skis on and we were off.

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We weren’t quite sure what trail to do.  It was my third time cross country skiing and I hadn’t loved it so far. The first time I was here I did a few of the easy trails and I enjoyed myself, but didn’t find the trails very challenging. We decided on a trail and headed in the direction we thought it was, but didn’t see it. Some people passed by and told us they were on the Arrowhead Lake trail and after a chat with a gentleman who was taking their photos, who comes here quite often, we decided we would handle the moderate Lake Trail and decided to give it a go.

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We were off.  The trail was absolutely stunning and we were pretty much by ourselves the whole 2 hours we were on the trail.

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We had some gorgeous views and had to stop often to take photos, in addition to having a small rest. This skiing business was hard work!

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Another cool video taken by my friend Kim, thanks lady!

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I wasn’t crazy about the skiing itself, but found it the best that I’d done so far. Maybe it was an acquired taste and something you liked as you got better at it?   I’m not entirely sure, I just knew that out of all the times I’d skied so far, this was definitely my favorite!

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We were out in a winter wonderland, skiing all on our own. We stopped whenever we wanted to take photos and didn’t have anyone pushing us along or photobombing us!  It was truly awesome!

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Shortly after we’d started the trail, the sun came out as well and it was so nice!  The temperature was perfect and although the snow was a bit sticky in a few places, it was generally perfect for us.

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After almost 2 hours, we were getting pretty tired. None of us do this regularly and we had had a very late night with little sleep, so as much as we enjoyed the trail, we were all very happy and proud of ourselves when we recognized the area we’d started in!  We did it! The longest cross country ski trail any of us had ever done and I was pretty pleased with myself and my galentines!

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After we returned our skis, poles and boots to the rental office, we got in the car and headed back to Port Carling. I took the back way hoping we’d find some deer, and amazingly, we did! I snapped a few photos of the curious creatures and then got too close and they ran off.  Showing us their  cute little white tails  behind them.

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We headed to one of my favorite places to go in Muskoka, Bass Lake Roadhouse,  for a celebratory drink and some food! We were all starving and deserved a good hearty meal.  Needless to say, we all slept like babies that night with big smiles on our faces from such a great day at Arrowhead.  I will be back again soon!!!

Thanks so much for checking out my post. I hope you enjoyed it and will come back to see what I get into next.  This weekend I will be at the Toronto Outdoor Adventure Show. If you are there Saturday or Sunday and see me, please say hello!!!  I would also love it if you would check out my youtube channel and possibly subscribe.  You can find me on YouTube at CamperChristina.com.

HUGE THANKS to my galentine girlfriends for making the drive up to Muskoka for a visit, for all the huge belly laughs and for the great photos and videos!  I can’t wait to see what adventure we will get into next time!

Happy Wintering!

Camper Christina