Snowshoeing at Torrance Barrens Conservation Area - Muskoka

 

Are you the type of person who likes to get out there in winter,  embracing the lively snap of cold air as it tries to work its way through your careful layers of clothing? Winter is the season of the longest night, it’s true, but it is also the time of the festival of light as daylight grows a little longer each day. Get out there and celebrate! You won’t be disappointed.

Snowshoeing is a great winter event and I invite you to visit Torrance Barrens with your equipment for a satisfying stomp over barren Precambrian bedrock that is more than 2 billion years old. Stand here, close your eyes and imagine the immensity of what this place represents.  It has been under mountains, under water, under glaciers miles thick and under tropical jungles many times during its existence. The bare bedrock is a result of wave washing of the receding ancient glacial Algonquin Lake and Nipissing Lake.

This conservation area consists of more than 5000 acres of Crown Land with two main trail loops and two extensions; parallel ridges of rock with lakes, small ponds and wetlands nestled in between. The trails are well marked with white blazes on trees and rocks, stone cairns and metal signs and a boardwalk near the start keeps you dry as you traverse through a marshy area.  Choose from 3, 5 or 6km trails. While the trails aren’t completely flat and trail guides rate them as difficult, we don’t find them particularly hard to navigate other than a tricky creek crossing on one of the trails. The creek isn’t that wide or deep but it’s the ascent on the other side that can be a struggle.  If you are unsure of your ability or endurance level, trek out part way, about 1km, and then return along the same trail and enjoy the same experience.  I wouldn’t recommend cross country skiing as winter winds can sometimes expose spots of bare bedrock not to mention you could potentially get hung up in low spreading junipers.

In summer Torrance Barrens is equally wonderful. Hiking, mountain biking, star and galaxy gazing or just sitting on the flat rock along the shoreline of Highland Pond for a picnic are some of the activities you might take part in. Blueberries grow in abundance here, too, which is why this is bear country, as the sign in the parking lot reminds you.

 

You will find Torrance Barrens on Southwood Road (approximately 7km south off Hwy. 169) with a parking lot of flat rock that is ploughed in winter.  Drive with care as the road has many twists and turns. Pick up a colour brochure at tourism information centres throughout Muskoka, Ministry of Natural Resources in Bracebridge or at the Muskoka Heritage Foundation Resource Centre.

Torrance Barrens is isolated. There are no services here except a well maintained port-a-potty just beyond the parking lot by Highland Pond.  Make sure you carry some water and snacks with you and be prepared for any eventuality. I always carry a flannel backed plastic table cloth in my backpack which I use for taking photographs from a lying down position, but this item can also come in really handy if you find yourself suddenly needing shelter.

This is a magical place of serenity and beauty with 360 degree vistas and just the occasional haunting whistle of a passing train in the distance.  There is no payment for use of this special gem of the Muskokas, other than to respect what you are witness to and a part of.  Pack your garbage out with you and  leave no trace other than footprints in the snow so that others who visit after you will enjoy the same experience.

 Torrance Barrens is also one of the few places in Canada which holds the designation of  Dark Sky Reserve, which I will post about in summer 2013.