Feb/March, 2001

DID YOU KNOW?

A Snowy Owl has been seen a number of times on the Three Pond Barrens at the beginning of January. This very large almost pure white Owl spends most of its time in Labrador and the Arctic, but every few years, when the Lemming population is low and food is scarce, it will spend part of the winter here. This huge white bird, with fully feathered legs and feet,a large head and broad rounded wings, never makes a sound and is quite eerie when it swoops silently overhead. Most of the time it will be perched on a pole or a tall tree, but I have seen it sitting in the middle of ice-covered Left Pond. It flies and hunts in the daytime or at dusk and probably feeds on any small animals or birds that it spots including mice, squirrels or even rabbits.

The Grand Concourse Authority has their headquarters located in Pippy Park. The Authority occupies a large rambling house originally built and owned by the late Dr. Arch Lewis which is located on a magnificent site on Nagles Hill overlooking the city. It was purchased by the Pippy Park Commission and is leased for a nominal fee to the Authority who have made many improvements in order to accommodate their extensive administrative, design and computer technology staff. The Authority also has a stone cutting yard set up at the site of the old Transport Museum on Mt. Scio Road, where most of the landscape masonry used in their huge operation is produced. Altogether the GCA employed 132 people in the year 2000 working on various projects from Paradise and Mt. Pearl all through St. John's and Pippy Park to Signal Hill.

There are many places to eat in Pippy Park. The Smallwood Centre at Memorial University includes an extensive variety of fast food outlets located on the "bridge" over Prince Philip Drive. In addition there is a drug store, travel agent, hairdresser and lounge all located within the same building. "Bitters" located in Feild Hall at Queen's College is a nice little pub/restaurant run by the Graduate Students Union. There is also a popular coffee and donut outlet in the newly refurbished cafeteria at the General Hospital as well as a Coffee Shop There is a snack bar in the Arts and Culture Centre and a large cafeteria in the basement of the West Block at Confederation Building. Both the College of the North Atlantic and the Marine Institute have cafeterias that are open during termtime. During the golfing season there is no better place to snack and relax than the Admiral's Green Golf Clubhouse at the top of Nagles Hill.

The Oceanic Consulting Corp. at the Institute for Marine Dynamics will be testing models of the Swiss entry for the Americas Cup 2003 Yacht Race. The National Research Council's state of the art ship's hull testing facility commonly known as the "ICE TANK" is located in Pippy Park next to the Long Pond Marsh. The Institute for Marine Dynamics was also involved in testing one of the fastest entries in the 1995 Americas Cup Race. The hull will be tested in the 200 metre Towing Tank which is one of the largest in the world. The facility also has a Wave Tank for making waves to order and an Ice Tank where various sea ice conditions can be simulated. The yacht when built is expected to cost $55 million!

THE PIPPY PARK CROSS-COUNTRY SKI TRAILS

There is a network of cross-country ski trails throughout the three pond barrens in pippy park. They start on the west side of the upper part of nagles hill above exit 46 on the outer ring road. The series of "one way" trail loops gives skiers a choice of distances they wish to ski. The longest trail is a little over 8 km. Long and passes by big pond, middle pond and left pond. The shortest loop is about 1.5 km. A two-way extension of these trails continues west from the log shelter located at the furthest point on the loops, and continues past the former" parkers pond" d.n.d transmitter site towards windsor lake. It ends up where thorburn road passes close by windsor lake, a little before you get to the rotary sunshine park. This trail will give a total round trip distance of 13 or 14 km.

The narrow trails are not groomed or maintained, skiers use them at their own risk and they are not recommended for beginners, but they do make a wonderful afternoon adventure when snow conditions are right. This winter has been the best in many years for skiing in the park. There have been hundreds of skiers up there every day this winter and all have big smiles on their faces. Everone has a cheerful comment about the great time they are having when they greet each other.

The ski trail system was laid out and cut in close cooperation and with the assistance of the st. John's x-country ski club 12 to 15 years ago. The extension which originally went all the way to the rotary sunshine park was done in partnership with the city of st. John's parks and recreation dept. In about 1988.

The trails were not designed for competitive "skate type" skiing. They are too narrow and twisting to be groomed but they are full of surprises and excitement. They are mostly going through the wooded areas so that the maximum amount of snow will be retained for the longest time possible, but when you come out into the open barrens on a sunny day in the middle of winter it is a truly unforgettable experience. Rabbit , squirrel and moose tracks are commonly seen and there has been a good chance of seeing a snowy owl during the last few weeks. I and a visitor from the u.k. saw it close up twice on two separate days in early january and that was, I suspect, the highlight of his visit and a sight he will long remember.

The trails are marked with plastic arrows, red for the outward bound trails and yellow for the return trails but this was done some years ago. Some of the markers may be missing since the trails had not been used much since the last good snowy winter! The trail to thorburn road has been well marked with blue arrows.

Warning! If the snow is icy, the narrow twisting hills can be quite treacherous. Do not set out to ski late in the afternoon, it is easy to get lost and the trails are not safe to use after dark. Always remember with the huge weight of snow on their branches this winter, there may be fallen trees or other hidden hazards; so ski with caution and ski at your own risk. Maps of the trails are available at the pippy park headquarters.

"Wolverine" is to be thanked for his/her public spirit in pruning brush and removing deadfalls on the ski trails. It is just another indication of the public interest and involvement in pippy park.

Good skiing for beginners and competitive skiers is very popular in the trailer park. There are some lights on at night but there have been electrical problems so not all the loops are well lighted.

Many people ski on the grand concourse walkway around long pond. They should be extra careful to avoid the hundreds of walkers who are still walking the trails in spite of the deep snow!

CHRISTMAS IN PIPPY PARK

Once again the Rainbow Riders and the Friends of Pippy Park hosted a very successful Christmas event on December 17th. in the barn on Mt. Scio Road. There was a good crowd of children and adults in attendance and the animals along with the manger scene with it attendant shepherds and angels were much admired even though St. Mary did have two unwilling "donkeys" to contend with!. The Gonzaga Army Cadet Band (the ones who frightened the "donkeys") provided great accompaniment to the small but talented "Forest Carollers" choir of the Junior forest Wardens and friends. Cllr Peter Miller was an excellent Master of Ceremonies as usual and this year the sound system was good. Volunteers from the McMorran Centre collected food items for the Pius X Food Bank and the Rovers provided traffic control outside. Our concerns with lack of parking space did not materialize and everyone left feeling that Christmas had started out on the right note. FAREWELL TO DR. PHIL At a meeting of the Pippy Park Promotions Committee at the Aquarena, Chairperson Shirley Newhook helps Dr. Phil Warren cut the cake with which the Committee said farewell and thanked him for his continued active support over the years.. He retired as Chair of the Pippy Park Commission in December.

For more information on the Pippy Park activities check the Arts Depot website; www.artsdepot.net and the new Pippy Park website; www.pippypark.com