Limberlost – Snowshoeing in an Enchanted Forest with Lovely Ladies

I have heard of Limberlost but only vaguely and had never been there.  A new friend from Port Carling asked me if I’d like to go snowshoeing there and I was totally up for it!   I had just camped for a few days at Mew Lake in the Tipi and headed straight to Limberlost Forest and Nature Reserve from Algonquin Park.

The roads were a bit crazy and snow covered but we were going snowshoeing, so we did need snow! LOL

I arrived around 11am and checked out the registration booth and took a few photos while I waited for Sam and Marlene to arrive.  I was looking forward to adventuring with some other people as I had been solo the last few days.  It was nice to spend time alone, but also good to be with others who shared my love of the outdoors, even better if they are really cool chicks!

The booth had details about the history of Limberlost and showed a map of the trails. For a five dollar donation you could also have a paper copy of the map to take along with you. As Limberlost is a family owned and operated establishment, they only ask for donations, not admission fees, so I happily donated and got my map to take along with us.

Marlene and Sam arrived and as we were taking a group photo, we ran into Leslie Gareth who was walking her dog and she ended up taking this photo for us. Leslie’s family runs and owns the lodge and she was very proud to talk about it and give us some information about the area and the trails.

After we got our backpacks ready and our snowshoes on, we started our adventure trying to figure out which trail would suit us best?

With some advice from a woman on facebook the day before we came here, and some details we received from Leslie this morning, we decided to give the Solitaire Trail a go.

There was a bit of confusion finding the start of the trail as it began behind some of the cottages, but a nice man who was outside his cottage, showed us how to get to the trail through his backyard.

It was gorgeous right from the start!

The trail was listed as being 13 km’s and we kept up a good pace, still enjoying the scenery and taking breaks for snacks and water, but trucking along so we would  finished before dark!

The first few kilometers of the trail runs along the lake and through the backyards of the cottages. There were many of them and I was surprised I had barely any knowledge of this place prior to Sam suggesting we come here.

I was advised that it’s a place a lot of locals go to, and seeing as I was new to being a local, I suppose that’s why it was new to me too!

We were just under halfway according to Google Maps and we were still passing cottages. Even so, it felt like we were walking in an enchanted forest.  (stolen from Sam! lol).

And even though there was a cottage every now and then,  we still had views like this, that were totally incredible.  We were all in awe of the beauty here and I knew i was with the right people.

They were both as wonderstruck as I was at the amazingly beautiful winter wonderland we were seeing!

The trail continued on and although we didn’t see many markers, there wasn’t much confusion as to which direction to go.

Just past the halfway point, when the cottages were behind us, we started to climb up a very big hill. We got a fabulous view and then, got to go back down the hill!

I suggested the best way to go! And the girls happily gave it a shot!  I love being a grown up kid!

Even though I had arrived just after 11, we hadn’t really gotten started on our shoe until a few minutes past 12.  It was now just after 3 and I thought we had made pretty good time considering we had quite a few snack breaks and had also stopped quite a bit to take photos.

We were nearing the end, but as I think we may have done the trail backwards, it may have been the beginning. LOL

We took our solitaire photo, on the Solitaire Trail. Each alone but also together.  How fitting!

We started to pass all the signs and information that we didn’t get to see at the start, as I was fairly certain, now, was actually the end.  LOL.  Not a big deal at all, but when we came out of the trail, we were pretty sure we would not have found the start as easily as we found the end.

We came out on one of the roads we’d driven in on. We removed our snowshoes and walked the road back to the parking lot and were all pretty pleased with our adventure.  I was definitely going to be coming back to this beautiful place to shoe more trails!  I had really enjoyed the day and snowshoeing in a true winter wonderland and was anxious to see what the other areas of the park were like.  I hope you come back and visit and check out more of my posts and that you enjoyed our day at Limberlost!

If you have any questions, comments, or just want to say hi, please leave a message!

Happy Snowshoeing!

Camper Christina