The trail runs cold

An authentic, textbook, Canadian winter. Especially out here in Goulais River. Last year's winter had me miss six days of work via snow day and I felt I had gone back in time to when buses used to be cancelled as a child.

But these snow days consisted less of building snow men, forts, skating and tobogganing, and more grueling driveway and roof snow removal to ensure the Brash name survives this nasty Goulais winter again.

Our dear Mother Nature drops subtle temperature hints in early October and maybe even a scattered flurry or two, but I find it easier to ignore these warning signs and immerse myself in the beauty of the fall colours. In my naivety, I somehow manage to convince myself that this beautiful season will never end. Even as leaves begin to fall and temperatures begin to drop.

Fall is my heaven for a number of reasons. Most of all, this is trail running’s greatest season. The cool crisp air, the vibrancy of the leaves, the fact that bears for the most part have finished their berry picking and are not much of a worry on trail.

People are out hiking with family and their dogs. It’s as if we are all soaking up these last few precious breaths of fall air we can inhale before the impending doom of our polarizing Northern Ontario winter.

Polarizing, you say? There is a great divide in this area regarding our winters.

The Algoma Region is an outdoors-man’s paradise regardless of season. When it comes to winter, though, two schools of thought exist. “Get it over with” and “Let’s rock!”

Snowshoeing, ice fishing, fat biking, cross-country skiing, and snowmobile enthusiasts are counting down to that first blizzard as the kickoff to some of the finest winter sport Canada has to offer. The rest of us roll our eyes, get out the shovels, snow blowers, roof rakes, and hang on for dear life, as we anticipate the sweet embrace of spring.

- Nick Brash

Read the full article about great places to run in the snow