We are thinking of taking a holiday in Canada and skating a river this coming winter. We all skate and my 2 kids both play hockey. The idea came after watching Mystery Alaska.
Anyone have any suggestions where the best place would be? I like the idea of skating a managed river, but also like the idea of a river out of town.

An actual river? I don't think that would work due to them not being flat.

Ottawa has a long canal on which people skate.

This is not in Canada but is a wonderful video of a 14 mile skate skate on Lake Champlain, Vermont http://vimeo.com/37034460

Not a river but Lake Louise freezes in the winter and the owners of Chateau Lake Louise keep a section of it swept for skating and ice carving. On the right day, it is an amazing sight.

Here in Newfoundland we prefer to skidoo rivers rather than skate them.

What month will you be coming? For your best chance you'd probably have to aim for February. Our grass was still green the week before Christmas so there wouldn't have been any rivers to skate on around here!

here is the link to the Ottawa skateway http://www.canadascapital.gc.ca/plac...canal-skateway

Or the river trail in Winnipeg http://www.theforks.com/events/signa...ts/river-trail

You can play hockey on the canal in peterborough in winter.

We hardly had a frost at all this winter.

It's still snowing here. -11C this morning.

To be fair, it's supposed to be 18C by Saturday.

as a fellow loch lomonder I highly recommend lake Louise.
well managed, beautiful scenery.

From ice to mud then?

Yep. Everything getting stuck again for the next 2 months until it dries out. Ho hum.

Thanks for the replies everyone. Here's the thing, we'd like to skate a river, similar to the Eagle River used in the movie Mystery Alaska. I have seen all the promoted CBD Canals, and the popular lakes. So does anyone have a favourite river they skate?
I had initially thought of being in Canada in December, however from some of the info it looks like January or February would be better.

Can't see the appeal. If it ever got cold enough the freeze the north or south Thompson Rivers where I live, it'd be too cold for me to want to venture out. Frozen choppy water to skate on? A back yard rink's a far nicer proposition.