P.E.I. National Park offers different, dazzling winter experience

You'll want to trade your bathing suit and sandals for a parka and snow shoes, but Parks Canada says the beaches and trails within P.E.I.'s National Park can be just as fun in the winter as they are in the summer.

"I love the wintertime," said Jessica Foster, visitor services co-ordinator with the P.E.I. National Park.

"It's beautiful, really beautiful."

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The national park system remains open in the winter, Foster said, and though many of the parking lots are cleared of snow, the services and facilities are closed and visitors are responsible for their safety.

Snow well-packed

The Bubbling Springs and Farmland trails, which start two kilometres east of Stanhope to the South of the Gulf Shore Parkway, are particularly popular, Foster said on CBC's Mainstreet.

The trails are not groomed, she said, but the snow is well packed because so many people use it.

The Robinson's Island trail is also popular in the winter, she said, but the access road is not plowed after snowstorms.

The trail at Green Gables is open, but the house and attractions are closed for the winter.

Parts of Greenwich closed

Parts of the Greenwich trail system are also closed while work continues to replace floating boardwalk. That is expected to open by spring, Foster said.

Foster said she has seen lots of people walking along the ice-crested beaches this winter, as well, noting sometimes the parking lots are half full.

"I think it's just a different experience than they're used to in the summertime months," she said.

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