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As a boy skating on the frozen South Castor River, Trevor Jamieson didn’t want to be any place else in the world.
As an adult, Jamieson returned from the city back to rural life near Metcalfe, about 30 kilometres southeast of Ottawa. Skating is a central theme in his new venture.
On Saturday at his property on Yorks Corners Road, about a five-minute drive east of Metcalfe, Jamieson is launching the grand opening for the RiverOak Estates skating trail. There will be kids games, a bonfire and live music from 2 p.m. to 4 pm. At least 1.6 kilometres of skating trail should be open from 10 a.m. to 10 p.m., weather permitting, and as early as next week, another one kilometre-plus of skating trails.
Skaters pay $10 for the privilege of gliding under the canopy of an old growth apple orchard, part of it lit with lights for night skates. The rest of the trail can be skated at night with head lamps or under the light of the moon and stars.
Consider it south Ottawa’s answer to the popular woodland skate operating at Lac-des-Loups, north of Gatineau Park.
Jamieson has dreamed of this moment for many years, but is now all in on the project, after being laid off from his construction job last spring.
“I live close to where I grew up, the old farm off my parents property,” Jamieson said. “The Castor River borders the sound end of the farm – we always had a rink on the river and had a log cabin on the waterfront.
“I thought it would be cool, instead of going to a cold cabin and putting on your freezing cold skates … to be able to skate right from the house.”
People told Jamieson that folks would pay to skate the trails on part of his 108-acre property. Now they are – the RiverOak Estates had a “soft opening” on New Year’s Eve and the reviews were good, even if the ice was a little bumpy at the time.
He said this week’s rain might actually be a blessing, as it has smoothed out the ice, setting up a nice weekend for skating as long as the surface water freezes before the snow arrives Friday evening.
Trevor Jamieson has turned his childhood love of the outdoors and shinny into a magical skating trail through the woods – complete with turns, hills and twinkly lights at night – at his acreage in Metcalfe. Located a half hour from downtown Ottawa, RiverOak Skating Trails has just opened and offers offers a unique experience of the wilderness on blades.
The skating trail, Phase 1 of Jamieson’s master plan for making his property a year-round destination site for day trippers and event planners, was a huge undertaking.
While he has an old Olympia ice resurfacer, the Zamboni-style machines are built for hockey rinks, and only have a water capacity of 160 gallons or so. On a rural property, that is a lot of back-and-forth to reload water.
And so Jamieson created a handmade “Zamboni” out of a 1,000-gallon field sprayer tank, which he hauls with a tractor. A flood bar on the back of the tank acts like an ice machine, minus the ability to scrape up snow. He has used 100,000 gallons of water already.
He’d love a larger tank, but was reminded of the weight issues that come with it. His current tank weighs about 10,000 pounds and has slipped off an icy hill into a snow bank three times recently.
“I didn’t realize how hilly the land was until I flooded it,” Jamieson said. “You go for a skate and feel how tired you are just from that slight incline.
“That’s part of the appeal. You are skating through the trees and then go up and down a little bit.”
The biggest incline only stretches for about 150 metres, but on the way up, skaters will feel it in the legs; on the descent, kids are already enjoying the slide down.
By all means, bring your sticks and pucks to Jamieson’s place. He only asks that hockey players be respectful of public skaters. By February, he plans a separate area for 3-on-3 tournaments, but for now the main skate trail will include pleasure skaters and stick handlers.
“I’ve played hockey since I was three years old and it has always really bugged me that we live in the nation’s capital that boasts the world’s largest skating rink (the Rideau Canal) and you’re not allowed a hockey stick,” Jamieson said.
Visitors will put their skates on in an historic log barn Jamieson resurrected.
“In a fraction of the time, I could have put up a trailer made of conventional materials, but we’re losing all these old buildings,” Jamieson said. “I love them.”
By this summer, that barn will be connected to another Jamieson rescue effort, a post-and-beam barn from the mid 1800s he will dismantle piece by piece and rebuild on his property.
Here he will one day stage wedding parties and corporate events, as he strives to make his rural home a place to visit winter and summer.
wscanlan@postmedia.com
twitter/@hockeyscanner.com
查看原文...
As an adult, Jamieson returned from the city back to rural life near Metcalfe, about 30 kilometres southeast of Ottawa. Skating is a central theme in his new venture.
On Saturday at his property on Yorks Corners Road, about a five-minute drive east of Metcalfe, Jamieson is launching the grand opening for the RiverOak Estates skating trail. There will be kids games, a bonfire and live music from 2 p.m. to 4 pm. At least 1.6 kilometres of skating trail should be open from 10 a.m. to 10 p.m., weather permitting, and as early as next week, another one kilometre-plus of skating trails.
Skaters pay $10 for the privilege of gliding under the canopy of an old growth apple orchard, part of it lit with lights for night skates. The rest of the trail can be skated at night with head lamps or under the light of the moon and stars.
Consider it south Ottawa’s answer to the popular woodland skate operating at Lac-des-Loups, north of Gatineau Park.
Jamieson has dreamed of this moment for many years, but is now all in on the project, after being laid off from his construction job last spring.
“I live close to where I grew up, the old farm off my parents property,” Jamieson said. “The Castor River borders the sound end of the farm – we always had a rink on the river and had a log cabin on the waterfront.
“I thought it would be cool, instead of going to a cold cabin and putting on your freezing cold skates … to be able to skate right from the house.”
People told Jamieson that folks would pay to skate the trails on part of his 108-acre property. Now they are – the RiverOak Estates had a “soft opening” on New Year’s Eve and the reviews were good, even if the ice was a little bumpy at the time.
He said this week’s rain might actually be a blessing, as it has smoothed out the ice, setting up a nice weekend for skating as long as the surface water freezes before the snow arrives Friday evening.
Trevor Jamieson has turned his childhood love of the outdoors and shinny into a magical skating trail through the woods – complete with turns, hills and twinkly lights at night – at his acreage in Metcalfe. Located a half hour from downtown Ottawa, RiverOak Skating Trails has just opened and offers offers a unique experience of the wilderness on blades.
The skating trail, Phase 1 of Jamieson’s master plan for making his property a year-round destination site for day trippers and event planners, was a huge undertaking.
While he has an old Olympia ice resurfacer, the Zamboni-style machines are built for hockey rinks, and only have a water capacity of 160 gallons or so. On a rural property, that is a lot of back-and-forth to reload water.
And so Jamieson created a handmade “Zamboni” out of a 1,000-gallon field sprayer tank, which he hauls with a tractor. A flood bar on the back of the tank acts like an ice machine, minus the ability to scrape up snow. He has used 100,000 gallons of water already.
He’d love a larger tank, but was reminded of the weight issues that come with it. His current tank weighs about 10,000 pounds and has slipped off an icy hill into a snow bank three times recently.
“I didn’t realize how hilly the land was until I flooded it,” Jamieson said. “You go for a skate and feel how tired you are just from that slight incline.
“That’s part of the appeal. You are skating through the trees and then go up and down a little bit.”
The biggest incline only stretches for about 150 metres, but on the way up, skaters will feel it in the legs; on the descent, kids are already enjoying the slide down.
By all means, bring your sticks and pucks to Jamieson’s place. He only asks that hockey players be respectful of public skaters. By February, he plans a separate area for 3-on-3 tournaments, but for now the main skate trail will include pleasure skaters and stick handlers.
“I’ve played hockey since I was three years old and it has always really bugged me that we live in the nation’s capital that boasts the world’s largest skating rink (the Rideau Canal) and you’re not allowed a hockey stick,” Jamieson said.
Visitors will put their skates on in an historic log barn Jamieson resurrected.
“In a fraction of the time, I could have put up a trailer made of conventional materials, but we’re losing all these old buildings,” Jamieson said. “I love them.”
By this summer, that barn will be connected to another Jamieson rescue effort, a post-and-beam barn from the mid 1800s he will dismantle piece by piece and rebuild on his property.
Here he will one day stage wedding parties and corporate events, as he strives to make his rural home a place to visit winter and summer.
wscanlan@postmedia.com
twitter/@hockeyscanner.com
查看原文...
