Hiking the Hospital Ridge Trail in Whitehorse
The prompt for this post was yesterday’s short but perfect hike on the Hospital Ridge trail in downtown Whitehorse after doing some errands in town, but while I’m here I’ll show a bit of the other things going on in my world.
The main thing is that Spring finally arrived a few days ago! Most nighttime lows are just above freezing (though it was -3°C this morning), and daytime highs are usually 12-14. The snow is disappearing fairly quickly now. The first photo looking over a bit of the bee garden and the 3-cord load of firewood that spent the winter out of sight under a deep load of snow was shot a week ago (on April 23rd).
Seven days later, this is what it looked like! In the upper left of the photo is one of the boreal owl nesting boxes I built a month ago – I had to dig a path through 30 inches of snow to install it. The owl and ruffed grouse who were spending a lot of time with us have both disappeared 🙁
Both dogs love playing in Spring snow, and Bella wants to be outside almost all the time now. It was just below freezing (her favourite temperature) when I saw her asleep on the deck and moved one of her beds outside. She moved to it immediately, and didn’t move for the next 3 hours or so.
Tucker, on the other hand, loves sun and warmth (like me).
Bella has problems with stairs now, so last Fall I built her a ramp to allow her to get from the house to her yard more easily. I was never completely happy with it, though, so a few days ago I converted the ramp to stairs with very low-rise steps. This is much better for an old dog – the 3.5-inch rise will always be easy for her, and isn’t slippery like the ramp was. The bottom section is 18 inches longer than the ramp had been, to keep that 3.5-inch rise. The railing along the top section is at her shoulder height in case she topples.
Okay, let’s go for a little hike. I had a few errands in town yesterday, and one required a second trip in, after which I drove over to the hospital to see what condition this trail was in. Snow turned my hoped-for loop into an out-and-back hike, but the sunshine and scenery were wonderful.
Here’s the map from my Strava page – my walk was 2.88 km long (4,736 steps), which took 46 minutes moving time, with 19 minutes more added for various stops.
Trailforks records the Hospital Ridge Trail as 2.9 km one-way, running from the hospital to the Long Lake access road. The call it primarily a mountain bike trail and rate it Blue Square: Intermediate – I’ve lucked in and not seen anyone on it, on foot or a bike. Due to the amount of vertical, I agree with the rating.
Some trail users apparently use the hospital employee parking lot but I prefer the pullout on Wickstrom Road, which adds a few hundred meters to the hike.
There’s the start of the trail.
It’s very steep!
The wide-open views appear very soon – this was shot just 4 minutes from the start.
I had just put my little Canon back in its bag when I turned around to see this red fox trotting past me perhaps 6 feet away! My phone was the one to get a photo with before he went out of sight. What a wonderful way to start this hike.
The trail has lots of variety. It mostly climbs but there are also some short descents.
Where the trail goes into the forest, there’s still some snow, ice, and a wee bit of melt-water, but it will all be gone in a few days.
This was the worst of the trail – about 30 meters long.
The only sign marking the Hospital Ridge Trail on this southern section is this one at the junction with the connector trail to the Long Lake Ridge Trail.
The connector trail appeared to be completely covered with snow.
My favourite part of the trail starts when the “clay cliffs” come into view. With the city spread out along the Yukon River to the left and snowy peaks ahead, this is also one of my favourite views in Whitehorse.
The clay cliffs make such a great foreground.
Shipyards Park is in the lower centre of the next photo.
I’m very pleased with the way the next photo worked out. That could be a poster for “Whitehorse, the Wilderness City.”
My hopes to make this a loop hike ended a hundred metres or so further. The steep drop down the north slope was knee-deep in soft, very wet snow, with some ice hidden under it. I went down it about 30 metres but it was much worse ahead so turned around.
The next photo was shot on the way back. The dominant peak is Golden Horn, with the Mount Sima ski hill below and to the right of it.
Almost back to the hospital.
For a nice bit of exercise right at the edge of downtown, this trail is pretty hard to beat.
This morning, I finished splitting and stacking that 3-cord load of firewood. Once it’s dried like this for a couple of weeks, half will get moved to the basement wood room, the other half into the firewood shelter. Yes, burning is simply the final of several times firewood warms you 🙂
I’m going to finish this post with some information about a program that just started for me on April 27th. Since applying 7 months ago to be one of 550 Canadian seniors with MCI (mild cognitive impairment) accepted into the SYNERGIC-2 clinical trial, I have been interviewed several times, completed many surveys and questionnaires, and had less formal chats with various people involved. The program, described as a “lifestyle intervention,” is looking at ways to slow down, halt, or perhaps even reverse cognitive decline that may lead to dementia, through changes in diet, cognitive and physical exercise, sleep habits, and cardio-vascular health. Eight Canadian universities are involved, with over 50 scientists, and it has huge funding (the Weston Foundation donated $1.5 million to get it going). The program will run for 45 weeks in an intensive manner, with followups continuing for 10 years. Yes, this is a major commitment by both the folks who run the program and by participants.
This week, a baseline is being set by physical exercise and sleep monitoring with wrist, finger, chest, and head receptors. The amount of information being collected is quite amazing, and 4 hours of Zoom meetings this week is part of the initiation of the program. I have put many hours and a lot of energy into it so far, and I’m cautiously optimistic about positive results for me, and for dementia research in Canada.
In 28 days Cathy and I leave for Newfoundland!
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