The Black Forest

We had no plan today. This was the last day of the holidays and the idea was to just chill and get ready for tomorrow. However, I got a call from Ralph Celentano and his friend Micheline. They were heading to their trailer on Shields Point Road near Rutherglen and invited us out for a snowshoe hike. So without a map or compass or even a lunch, we headed out for a quick hike.

The last couple of days have been mild and it rained quite a bit yesterday and last night. During the night the temp dropped and in the morning it was snowing. A beautiful return to winter for us.

We forgot that between rain and snow has to be ice. We found that about a 1 km from our destination. The road was glare ice under a 1 cm sprinkling of fluffy snow. When I spotted a hill with a sandbox to the side I decided to back our way out and change plans. The B on the topo map is our turn-around point, and A was our new location--The Black Forest.

I've been wanting to hike this area for a while. The last time we were in the area, I was in a canoe and John was in the kayak. I thought today we could walk around the the trails and make our way to the water.  There are a nice set of short trails and trail markers--so getting lost was not an issue.

Getting near the water was difficult as the forest near the water is quite thick.  We left the trail and headed to the sound of the running water.  John led the way.

 

A couple of times I had to find my own way because John picked a route over a few logs.  It was easy for him with his short snow shoes, but a little trickier for me.

 

 

This forest is managed by Henri Menard, a local environmentalist.  He has a company called Le Chantier 705 497-3046.  We met him at the beginning of our hike and he was obviously someone who cares about our forests and is enthusiastic about environmental awareness.  He asked John to tell his teacher about the forest and to bring his classmates back for a tour.