The Marlborough Forest

Sun. 18 January:  The Marlborough Forest

Entering the forest at Roger Stevens Drive

These temperature swings are crazy!  Only last Wednesday I had woken up to minus 30C.  Today, by contrast, it was around zero with a warm westerly breeze – a much more pleasant experience.   

Starting at Roger Stevens Drive, we headed south on the Rideau Trail, with several options ahead of us for shorter or longer loops.  In the end, we went perhaps further than we had expected, reaching the Flood Road before turning back.  We were a mixed party of hikers and snow-shoers.  This worked out well, as the snow-shoers took the lead through the forested section, packing down the thin snow cover for those behind us.

This pleasant trail headed southwards through the trees, passing to the west side of Rogers Pond into the forest, and then onto a good, hard-packed snowmobile road.  At the first turn in this road we stepped back as two snowmobiles whizzed past, around the tight bend.  Luckily these were the only vehicles encountered as they left behind a pungent smell of exhaust fumes. 

Continuing south down this road, we then turned off in a westerly direction, following the large Rideau Trail sign into the forest.  This exciting narrow twisting path through the trees finally opened up onto another road, which headed south past a large frozen swamp.  The hazy sunlight cast a slightly eerie glow in the sky above the dead tree trunks.

Finally, after a further stretch of narrow forest trails,  we reached the Flood Road.  Here, we turned east then almost immediately north onto the southern end of our previous snowmobile trail. 

Our return journey took us northwards along the road, and then back along our original route beside Rogers Pond and all the way to the parking lot.  This had been a good workout. 

We had seen the tracks of deer and other smaller animals, but had seen no wildlife and had heard only chickadees.  It was a strangely silent forest, with only the sound of the wind in the treetops.

As we climbed into our cars, it started to rain!

Note:  single-click on the first picture above to scroll through the photos separately

Statistics:

Total Distance:         10.0 km (snow-shoe)

Height Gain:             Negligible

Time on Trail:          3 hrs. 15 mins.

R Stevens Dr:           10.25 am

Flood Rd (14E):        12.22 pm

Ret. to cars:                1.40 pm

Temp:           0C to +3C

Weather:       Thin clouds, hazy sun, W. wind

Rogers Pond

Snow-covered fence

Speeding snowmobilers

Sun shines weakly through the clouds

The forest path

Heading south on the Rideau Trail

Snowshoers packing down the trail for the hikers

We pass beside a lonely frozen swamp

Great sky-scapes today

Busy winter junction