The Dogwood Marshes area is an informal snowshoeing area right next to the Bush Lake parking area on Lac le Jeune Road.   There is a gate to go through and then user-established trails wind down the hill to the red-ossier dogwood and willow shrub marshes below.   there are a few marshes and ponds above on the east and south side and snowshoe tracks wind through the forest to link them up, using single tracks and double tracks on the hillside above.   The south side of the area was logged and replanted and the trees of the plantation are now 2- 3 m high.   We can snowshoe through the spaced trees, winding in and out of open spots.   We broke trail to do a good loop through the replanted area, then followed established tracks to return for a 5 km (2 hour) snowshoe outing.

There are a few aspens around the wetter slopes, the douglas fir and pine cover the slopes higher up.

This was New Year’s Day and the low winter sun shone through thin cloud layers onto the forests.

Our route was eclectic for the first the first half, turning into open areas as we scribed a wide loop.

At an open spot we could see over the forest above Teal Pond across to Chuwhels Mountain.

Every time we snowshoe Dogwood Marshes we pick a different route.   When we drove by there recently, we could see that water had pushed up in the marshes below,, but cold weather will change that again.   As conditions change throughout the winter so do route options.