Sunny Saturday hike

It was a sunny Saturday afternoon and +5°C so we took Monty to Beaver Mountain Provincial Park for a hike.

This park is 2 km uphill from the James River speedway along Highway 104 when you’re heading into Antigonish.

The campground has been closed for a few years I suspect.  Just like the forest around our house, it was a first generation white spruce forest after a period of using the land as farmland.  The spruce beetle hit the monocultured spruce and they died and blew over, just like we see around our house.  Last year they cleared most of the rest of the trees in the campground for safety reasons and are trying to restore the forest as a mixed forest.

There is a good trail network that I haven’t explored yet.

The first thing Monty does when starting out on a hike (just like his Uncle Winger and Aunt Surf before him) is rub his face in the snow.

But peeing on every other dog’s scent quickly follows!

There are lots of people out cross country skiing today.  Probably the better way to use the trails right now.  The snow was deeper than I thought it would be.  Some parts our feet kept breaking through the snow and our feet would sink up to our upper shins.  Snowshoes probably would have worked better.

I LOVE these kinds of clouds.  A big rain/snow storm is on it’s way later today.  These were the first hints of clouds moving in.

Someone built a cute snowman on the trail!

This was as far as we could get without skiis or snowshoes.  Which wasn’t very far, but it was great to get out for a bit.

There is a great view from the parking lot towards town.

Self portrait on the iPhone for Instagram!