Running the Grey Owl Trail

ready to go

I've been thinking about running Grey Owl Trail for a few years. I'd paddled into Grey Owl's cabin but I'd never done it on foot. I felt like I was in decent shape for it so I started watching the weather forecast. It seemed like it was always either raining or too hot. Finally there was a forecast for a reasonable day - no rain and cool temperatures. There was a bear warning, but that wasn't surprising since this is bear country. I carried bear spray but thankfully didn't see any bears.

It rained most of the night - so much for conditions being relatively dry. Breakfast was instant oatmeal with raisins and a banana, washed down with coffee. I had the drive from Waskesiu to Kingsmere to let it settle. I got a little extra time since the road was slow - muddy and slippery.

It was cool at first, maybe 8c, I started out wearing my jacket, knowing it would probably be too warm before long. It stayed mostly cloudy but thankfully no rain other than a brief drizzle early on. Later, when it warmed up and the sun actually came out a bit it felt quite warm although it probably didn't reach 20c.

I carried a litter of water. That wasn’t enough but there was plenty of water around and I had purification tablets. The only flaw in that plan was that the water I picked up had quite a taste so I stopped drinking as much and only ended up drinking about 1.5 liters. But with the cool conditions and the moderate pace I didn't feel dehydrated at the end. In hindsight I could have just have carried 1.5 liters.

For fuel I used Tailwinds in my water and a gel once an hour - about 200 calories per hour. I had a couple of caffeinated gels for the second half of the run.

The trail was mostly pretty good. Wide and smooth at first, but that soon became single track. The main obstacles were the tree roots. You definitely had to watch where you put your feet. You really didn't want to sprain an ankle 20 km from the nearest road. There were also some wet sections which meant wet feet. I wondered whether that might lead to blisters but I didn't have any problems. Although described as having "steep sections", this is Saskatchewan and there were no major hills. In total there was less than 600m (2000ft) of ascent and descent - not a lot over this distance.

There were quite a few mosquitos around but they were fine as long as I was moving. I had put on sunscreen and insect repellent before starting but by the time I arrived at Grey Owl's cabin the repellent had all been wiped off my legs by wet vegetation and the bugs started to attack. It was good motivation not to stop too long.

The first half went quite smoothly. My pace was a bit faster than expected and I wondered whether I could keep it up for 40 km. I ended up only about 10 minutes slower on the return leg but it was definitely more of a struggle. I didn’t have any particular problems but my legs did not want to run. I found myself wishing for the uphills since I was walking them.

Parks Canada lists the trail as 19.9 km each way. My GPS watch said just over 38 km when I finished.

All in all, I was happy with how it went. My total time was 4 hrs 50 min and my actual running time (excluding stops) was 4 hrs 20 min. Not bad for an old fart.

mission accomplished

Thanks to Shelley for the photographs.