Contact Us  |  Local Weather  |  Precipitation Radar

Conditions: 22Mar10: A picture says it all... Get your hiking boots and mountain bikes out. It's time. Thanks for joining our venture on snow this season. Madawaska Nordic Trail System Weather Forecast

About Us:

A unique partnership between volunteer ski enthusiasts and the Township of Greater Madawaska. Working under the Township’s Recreation Department, Madawaska Nordic is staffed entirely by volunteers who are responsible for development, maintenance and grooming of cross-country ski trails within the Township.

Funding was provided by grants from the Province of Ontario’s Communities In Action (Active 2010) and the Trillium Foundation which has enabled the club to purchase state-of-the-art grooming and track-setting equipment along with a Skandic super wide track snowmobile.

The Township's Madawaska Nordic Trail System is supported by a number of volunteers and local businesses. 

Calabogie Peaks covers the Land Use Permit for the Crown Land on which our trail system is built. If you are like many of our members who both cross country and down hill ski, please visit www.calabogie.com to learn more about downhill skiing in the Township of Greater Madawaska. Calabogie Peaks also rents cross country skis.

Trail Description

The Madawaska Nordic ski trails are located behind the Peaks Village, across from Calabogie Peaks Resort, north of Renfrew County Road 508, during the winter season.

Trails are well marked and colour coded for level of difficulty: Green for Easy, Blue for Moderate and Red for Difficult. For the most part, the Madawaska Nordic trails are ‘Green’ (Easy) trails with some ‘Blue’ (Moderate) and "Red" (difficult) sections and are suitable for skiers of all levels.

These trails, which were at one time old logging roads, wind their way through a very picturesque forest landscape with lots of gentle ups and downs to keep the outing visually interesting and lots of fun.

From the trailhead, all skiers begin their outing on the Red Pine trail that takes them 1 km slowly uphill to where it intersects with the local snowmobile trail. At the Crossroads, skiers then have the choice of continuing on Red Pine or taking any of the other trails that branch off Red Pine - Chickadee, Footloose, Horse Collar and Hemlock. The Snow Bunting loop branches off Horse Collar.

Red Pine – 6km

Snow Bunting – 6 km

Chickadee/Footloose – 5 km

Horsecollar/Chickadee - 3 km

Crossroads – 2 km

Hemlock -  4 km

Note: During the winter season the trails are for the use of cross-country skiing only. The trails are accessible for bicycling and hiking during the other seasons. of the year

TRAIL FEES / MEMBERSHIP:

DAILY USE: $2.00 PER DAY per user may be placed in a collection box at the East entrance. In addition donations are graciously received for improving the trail network.

SEASON PASS: Adults $20; Teen $10; Child $5 Seasons Passes can be purchased at The Township Municipal Offices in Calabogie or at Munfords Gas Station at the intersection of County Roads 508 & 511.

Equipment can be rented at The Peaks downhill ski area downstairs in the main lodge.

 Printable Map

Write info@madawaskanordic.org

Directions

The Madawaska Nordic Trails are located west of Calabogie near the Calabogie Peaks Ski Resort. To find the trailhead, travel 7 km west from the intersection of Highways 508 and 511 in Calabogie to Viewmount Drive. Turn right on Viewmount and take the next right onto Crestview where you will find parking on Crestview at the trailhead.

Some Links

So Much More to Explore

Ottawa Valley Explore

Calabogie Peaks Ski Resort

CABA (Calabogie Area Business Association)
 
 XC Skiing Information Centre

Recent Trail Enhancements

The Township’s Madawaska Nordic trail system was given a real boost this past Fall when the new Hemlock Trail was built by the 33^rd COMBAT ENGINEERS RESERVES based in Ottawa. An entire weekend was dedicated last Fall to trail clearing, brush back and bridge building. In two days of heavy labour, the Hemlock Trail and the Lookout Trail were completed. We owe these men and women a tremendous thank you. Their work brought to completion about 3 years of trail scouting by Madawaska Nordic volunteers.

It took a few additional volunteer days, including a non-skier with an ATV to drags logs, to grade selected sections with pick axe and shovel to handle the groomer and track setter. In addition the Nordic volunteers were able to complete the link trails between Horsecollar and Chickadee and the Snow Bunting Loop. This was also a community effort with assistance provided by the Councilor Pratt, the Township, the County, Calabogie Peaks and the loan of an ATV for the military and the use of a portable saw mill to provide a first rate Nordic Trail system for our Community and Visitors.

You will notice that new trail signs, which have been made by one of our volunteers, are going up on the trails this season.

The trail system is now complete but we will continue to maintain and upgrade the quality of the trails. To date, we have spent over $2,500 dollars of user fees on bulldozer time, culverts, signs etc. This is in addition to buying gas for the snowmobile and putting money aside for future equipment maintenance and eventual replacement as our ongoing operations are not subsidized by any levels of government.

Feedback from users has been 100% positive. We can now offer about 18km. of trails. Thank you to all who have worked so very hard to make this happen and to you the skiers who helped us; "a Twoonie at a Time"

Contact Us