The Upper Grasslands of Lac du Bois Provincial Park are a wonderful place to hike in the snow, snowshoe, or cross country ski.   Your choice will be determined by the conditions.   When we did the hike listed here, the snow was about 1' in depth and a bit crunchy so boots with gaiters were a good choice.   With more snow, snowshoes would be a better option.

There are places to park on the side of the Lac du Bois Road, but it is an active logging road all winter, so to be safe, it is best to pull off.   There is a small parking lot off the side of the Lac du Bois Road at N50 46.611 W120 25.906.   Without a GPS, go past the long lake in the gully to your right, and watch for a pull-off on a curve of the road.   There is parking here for 6-8 cars unless it gets too snowed in.  

An interpretative sign on sharp-tailed grouse is posted at the trailhead.   On the snow, the trails are hard to see, but we established clear tracks in the snow recently.   The single track goes along the west shore of a pond, then passes between two sets of hills.     At a junction, stay on level terrain going north.   You will arrive at Island Lake, so named because of the hummocks in the lake on the east and north ends.   The snow-covered grasslands slope down to the lake in every direction.   You can make a loop by climbing to the ridge on the east, but you will have to break trail to do this.  A very large esker can be climbed north of the lake.    The terrain is a series of hillocks, kettle ponds, kames, kame terraces, some free-standing erratics, moraines, and erosion features.  

If you choose to snowshoe, you can strike off in any direction for hours of exploration.    In the spring after the melt, this area is full of pond waterrfowl and grasslands birds, but in the winter it is a quiet winter wander.    Another special place….

Winter Tracks: