Grand River Conservation Authority Parks are slowly opening for winter activities after debris was removed in the wake of the Dec. 22 ice storm.
However officials continue to caution that many areas are still unsafe for use.
Laurel Creek Conservation Area, 625 Westmount Rd., Waterloo opened for cross-country skiing Friday morning. Two other GRCA parks had previously opened for ice fishing: Shade’s Mills in Cambridge and Belwood Lake near Fergus.
However, authority officials were cautioning the weekend thaw may interfere with activities at the three open parks for a few days. Park users were being advised to check the Winter Activity listing in the Newsroom section of the GRCA website at www.grandriver.ca or call the parks directly for updates.
A number of other GRCA facilities remain closed in the wake of the storm, which damaged thousands of trees on the 20,000 hectares of property owned by the GRCA.
These include Conestogo Lake, Elora Gorge, Elora Quarry, Guelph Lake, Rockwood, Brant and Byng, all paid admission parks which are normally closed for the winter, as well as:
– Elora-Cataract Trailway, Cambridge-Paris Rail-Trail, SC Johnson Trail (Paris to Brantford) and Brantford-Hamilton Rail-Trail; and
– Free-entry natural areas such as Starkey Hill (Guelph),
