The Athabasca Landing Trail r (Athabasca – ) T ails y Trail to Tr m Sunset Net o Beach Athabasca So .c ciety ailnet 55 www.albertatr

Lincoln

812

End of trail 60.2 km Colinton

Coolidge

Meanook 813 2 Type of Trail: The trail route uses existing through valley bottom lands and open N pathways, consisting of a combination of road countryside, the trail follows country roads, Tawatna River allowances, open countryside, wooded areas, old rail road lines - climbs over a steep Perryvale bush land, footbridges, gravel roads, secondary escarpment, and crosses through bush country roads and railway beds. Between Perryvale and and woodland. Rarely visible from a distance, , with the exception of a few short link it blends perfectly into the landscape. Trail Operator: Landing Trails Committee, sections, the trail closely follows the Old Landing Access: The trail is wide enough to David Gregory (780) 675-5823 Trail. Trail use is permitted year-round, but be accommodate a pair of skiers or horse-riders prepared for some boggy sections in the spring. Length: 32 Kilometres (19.88 miles). at all times. The surface is mostly natural, Location: The trailhead begins at the town of except in boggy areas where corduroy, gravel Surface: Natural, some corduroy, gravel and dirt. Athabasca municipal campground, proceeding and woodchips are used. Some sections utilize Width of Trail: Wide enough to accommodate south through Colinton to Perryvale. graveled country roads. (Footbridges and a two horse-riders or skiers at all times. road bridge are planned where necessary - Historical Perspective: The Trail follows an several are yet to be completed.) Permitted Use: Hiking, bicycling, Nordic skiing, important early trading and settlement corridor, horse riding, snowshoes and dog sleds. (Please the historic Athabasca Landing Trail, which was Points of Interest: Following the route of the note – no snowmobiles or ATV’s allowed.) the first overland route between and historic Athabasca Landing Trail, the trail Signage: Trailheads are located in Athabasca, the southern loop of the . By the passes through beautiful, open, rolling Colinton and Perryvale, with Trans Trail end of 1880, Athabasca Landing had become the countryside and crosses close to the shore of a signage in place.A Pavilion will central point of transfer for all furs being moved small, pretty, un-named lake, eventually be located at the Athabasca trailhead. along the Athabasca, Peace and skirting around the of Meanook to the systems, and the central distribution point for all south-west side of Colinton. In doing so it Facilities: Washrooms and/or shelters will be goods being shipped to the north. Missionaries climbs over a steep escarpment between the available at all three trailheads. (Construction will soon followed the fur traders, the first being the northern river basin (draining into the Beaufort be done over the next year.) Camping is available Anglicans (1884), and subsequently the Roman Sea and the prairie river basin draining into at the Athabasca Municipal campground.There is Catholics and Methodists. By 1893 the North Lake Winnipeg and thence into Hudson Bay). a general store in Perryvale and several stores West Mounted Police arrived and in 1898 some Crossing the line of the Old Landing Trail it and cafes located in Colinton and Athabasca. 600 gold rush prospectors traveled along the winds its way through a wooded area emerging Current Condition: Perryvale to Meanook is Landing Trail journeying north to the gold fields onto the eastern bank of the Creek. signed and usable in all seasons.The link between in the Klondike. Within a few short years after After crossing a footbridge (not yet Meanook and Colinton is missing and hence not the federal government declared the route a constructed) the trail reaches usable, alternate along a secondary highway.The public right-of-way, homesteaders settled along the southern shore of road allowance north of Colinton is usable, but the trail. the Athabasca River, adjacent to the not signed. In winter the frozen Tawatinaw River Terrain: The trail takes a north – south town of can be crossed (future bridge planned for Spring, direction and includes a variety of natural Athabasca 2002) and continue on the railbed to Athabasca. terrain. In some sections it runs parallel to the campground. valley of the Tawatinaw River. Traversing