Valentines Day seemed to herald a week of warm weather that climaxed at 15C degrees locally this week. That included Cold Creek Conservation Area which was host to the Winterfest community get-together on the Monday school holiday. By Thursday the temperature had risen to 15C which was probably a record. While it was balmy up in the main public activity areas of Cold Creek, down in the bog it was somewhat chillier. The bog is host to trees like Black Spruce, Balsam Fir and Hemlock which provide much evergreen shade to the low-lying bog. The bog itself is covered with a layer of snow in most places and the boardwalk itself is mostly covered with snow and a layer of ice on top of that. The footing is treacherous but the handrails on each side provide some measure of safety. The only way to be really sure-footed is to be wearing some sort of clamp-on or tie-on spiked footplates.
The branch of Cold Creek that runs through the low woodland bog is open and running free, as it often is in winter even when temperatures are below freezing
in the bog, as seen in the photos above and below.
There are several places in the bog where water is bubbling to the surface and presenting the very noticeable orange colour of iron. See the photos above and below.
I can't stress enough the hazards of walking the trail at this point in time, due to the hazardous conditions. If one does not have some form of metal spiked footwear, do yourself a favour and bypass the bog trail until April.
Barry Wallace
Quite amazing how much colour the camera picks up that your eye simply passes over when you walk these places.
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