Snowshoeing at Kerry Wood Nature Centre – Red Deer, Alberta, Canada

Entrance to the Sanctuary. (iPhone pic)

I have been watching the search terms for this blog over the last few weeks and every second day it seems that someone is searching “snowshoeing in Red Deer”. Watching this search term repeatedly show up inspired this post.

View of the bird blind from the snowshoe trail at Kerry Wood Nature Centre, Red Deer, Alberta (iPhone pic)

Snowshoeing in the sanctuary behind Kerry Wood Nature Centre is a great spot for a quick snowshoe plus a great spot for beginners. The sanctuary gives two different trail options depending on your skill level and the amount of time you have. One loop  is approximately 1 km in length ; it goes from the Nature Centre, past the bird blind path, over the little bridge (you can’t actually see it under the snow!) and then back through the grasslands.

Dusk on the trail. (iPhone pic)

The other loop is around 4 km in length, and heads up hill, then skirts around the edge of Gaetz Lakes, before heading back down hill to return to the Nature Centre on the flat; once up the hill there are a couple of nice viewpoints overlooking Gaetz Lakes. The 4 km loop does have some stairs to navigate depending on snow cover, I haven’t been back in that section recently so I can’t comment on what the current conditions are.

Snowshoeing beside Gaetz Lakes, Red Deer, Alberta. (iPhone pic)

The other evening I managed an after work snowshoe with my husband down at Kerry Wood Nature Centre. Even at 5:30 pm we had not lost all the light, and with temperatures of +3 C, the weather was just too nice to not be outside. We had the trails to ourselves which made for a pleasant walk. Knowing that daylight was not on our side, we chose to walk to the end of the trail that runs along the west side of the lake (and back again!).

Sinking when stepping off packed snow. (iPhone pic)

We’ve had a lot of snow this year in our area which makes for great snowshoeing, however it is certainly worth watching your footing at the moment as going off the packed snow means you will sink down quite a way (and get very wet socks!).

Of course all the snow meant we were able to see tracks other than that of snowshoes, including those of deer, moose and bunnies of course.

Frozen Gaetz Lakes, Red Deer, Alberta (iPhone pic).

We took in the view of the frozen and snowy Gaetz Lakes, then returned back to the Nature Centre while watching an amazing sunset.

An amazing sunset viewed from the trail. (iPhone pic)

Kerry Wood Nature Centre rents snowshoes for those wanting to give this mode of transport a try. It is a great way to enjoy the outdoors on a warm winter day.

Below are the snowshoe rental rates for those wishing to try snowshoeing in Red Deer, Alberta.

Close up of the rental rates.