Day Hike in Limberlost Forest

What do you do when you and your bestie have no plans for the weekend? You make some plans to visit and go outside in nature, of course. A few weekends ago, Christina and I had no immediate plans (although I know there is tons of housework I should have done), so I went to her place for the weekend and we decided that we would head out Saturday to go hiking at the Limberlost Forest and Wildlife Reserve.

I highly recommend going to the Limberlost website and reading what they are all about. This is the first paragraph on their homepage explaining some information.

The Limberlost Forest and Wildlife Reserve is a publicly accessible private year-round wilderness haven with twenty private lakes and more than 10,000 unspoiled acres of mixed forest near Huntsville, Ontario, Canada. The private forest reserve contains more than 70 km of hiking, biking, skiing and snowshoeing trails made available to the public at no charge.

We headed out Saturday just before lunch with plans to complete a couple of the hiking trails. Since we have never been to this area, choosing a trail was difficult but once we arrived at the parking lot we decided to head out around the Clear Lake and Turtle Lake trails. There were a few cars in the lot and this trail seemed to be one of the more popular ones. It snakes around two small lakes, with options to complete it in a figure 8, or just a big loop.

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The first section of the trail took us around Clear Lake where we had nice open views across the lake. We were happy that the sun was shining and the sky was clear but it was -25!

The trail was very clearly marked and at each intersection there were signs and a map showing “you are here”. It is really great to see the homemade signs on these trails. Whoever did these, did a great job.

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At the bridge that connected Turtle Lake to Clear Lake, we decided to head along Turtle staying on the trail nearest to the lake. We wanted a nice sunny spot to stop along this section where we could stop to make our lunch of honey garlic sausage. It was not a huge lunch as we had dinner plans for later that night.

Once we reached the top end of Turtle Lake, the snow was perfectly flat and I just had to get out and make a snow angel. Might as well have a little fun right? Plus it really does make you feel like a kid again.

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It was here that we found a perfect lunch oasis. There was a babbling brook, a little wooden bench, and the sun warming the area perfectly. Christina set up her stove and frying pan and started cooking the sausages. Unfortunately I had forgotten to take a picture since once they were cooked we ate them down fast. We didn’t want our food getting cold!

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We sat soaking up the warm rays of the sun until it disappeared behind the trees. It was time to head out and continue our hike on the other side of the lake which was now behind all the trees and we noticed the drop in temperature.

This made our next decision a little easier. We headed along the west side of the trail and walked back on the main road where the Solitaire Trail connects and then back to the parking lot.

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Once we reached the main road and walked back to the main gates, we stopped to say hello to the two bear statues that stand on each side of the gates. These bears were pretty neat and one even looked like he was wearing a snow hat. The trail head also had a small cabin with information about the reserve inside. We were both very interested in the ice formations on the windows and how pretty they looked in the shining sun.

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We both really enjoyed our hike and I am sure that I will be back here during a different season to hike more of these trails. Have you ever been to Limberlost? I would love to hear what trails you have taken and what you thought about the area. Please leave a comment below.