Several activities are planned around Lac des Roches to ring in the new year. Drop-in pond hockey, snowshoeing and organized sled rides will be the popular daytime fun, and the night skies will light up with several firework displays at house parties. Local events are a safer alternative to driving on the highway this time of year, so to those staying close to home and those venturing on the highway, have a safe and happy new year!
New year perspective
Since most of the area residents are enjoying their senior years, there tends to be very few new year resolutions discussed. It is apparent each person who has chosen to live in this a relatively remote and wilderness area has pretty well made a long-term resolution to live an active lifestyle. Pond hockey, skiing, chopping firewood, shovelling snow and snowmobiling are just a few of the ways residents keep off of the couch, especially during the winter. For those that do resolve to change a habit or behaviour, best of luck to you, and for the rest, enjoy another active and healthy year.
Winter playground
As expected, the fantastic ice conditions changed overnight when we got our first big snowfall in mid-December. Most of the ice rinks required some flooding once the snow was cleared. There are many slushy spots on both lakes where the water has seeped up through the cracks in the ice. Driving through these areas on a sled is unnerving and skiing or snowshoeing through them is annoying. For a year that was predicted to be below-normal temperatures, we are certainly experiences some of our mildest winter days and nights in recent years.
Follow the leader
With snow, some natural and man-made private property boundaries are obliterated. Often outdoor enthusiasts will follow the tracks of previous excursionists, whether on sleds, skis, snowshoes or foot, but these do not imply public access. Please remind your guests that all of the cleared land around the lakes is private and should be respected. There are miles of frozen lakes, roads and trails around to be enjoyed by all. Public roads are not playgrounds, but when used for access to wilderness areas, must be used sensibly.
Wonderful wildlife
The otters are leaving their distinctive ruts in the snow along the shores and have been observed accessing the water through a hole in the ice near Access #7. The absence of deer sightings had most residents thinking the deer had migrated down off the plateau to lower elevations and milder temperatures until a small herd of mule deer meandered through yards just before Christmas. Since then, fresh tracks in the snow are evidence of their daily nibbling routine throughout the area. Fresh coyote and fox tracks show up after every snowfall and the fox has visited several neighbours during the day. The badgers have obviously been digging and clearing out underground dens near Boultbee Road. Local snowshoers unknowingly trekked within feet of the dens in December, but it was likely the noisy snowmobiles on the same trail that roused these typically dormant critters during the holidays. This is probably a good thing, as the trekker with the young puppy will detour around the dens in the future.
Active trapping
Beaver trapping at the east end of Boultbee Road is done for now, but there is active trapping in the area. Traps are often accessed by sled and foot so human tracks leading off into the bush are often evidence of a trap set nearby and should be avoided.