A Mini Winter Hike Exploring the Musquodoboit Trailway
The Musquodoboit Trailway is a must-see, easy trail to visit during the winter months. This extensive trail is an old railway system that has been transformed into a scenic, nature hike through a diverse forest landscape. One of the great perks is that it is just minutes from the Halifax area, so very close to other great tourist destinations in Nova Scotia.
Old rail way bridge near the start of the trailhead.
The Musquodoboit Trailway
A trail that seems like it goes on forever! Lots of room for visitors to snowshoe, XC ski and hike.
The main parking lot for the trailhead was relatively easy to find via GPS. Upon entering the trail you will see, not too far ahead, the old railway bridge. In the winter season, the trail is groomed and/or packed down well with foot traffic so it is relatively easy to hike through. In addition, it is flat and wide enough trail for multiple visitors hiking through with little ascent; though in the winter, high traffic volume shouldn’t be an issue. For most visitors, the trail should be quite accessible, if you stay on the main trail.
Beautiful seating areas to take in the views.
Beautiful, historical maps to outline the loops off the main trail.
There are now upgraded maps along the trail to find your way.
The trail is approximately 26 km including backcountry trails that venture off the main path. In the winter depending on the weather, these may be more difficult to navigate through, depending on your comfort level. The main trail (~15km) is great for winter activities such as hiking, snowshoeing and XC skiing. On our visit, we decided to take on one of the backcountry trails on foot called Bayer’s Lake Wilderness Loop (via the Admiral Lake Loop trailhead).
The start of the Admiral Trail Loop to get us to our destination on the Bayer’s Wilderness Lake Loop.
A beautiful, sunny day on the Musquodoboit Trailway.
The Bayer’s Lake Wilderness Loop is approximately 1.07km with a total elevation gain of 70 m. To access from the main Musquodoboit trailway, it is approximately 1.7 km until the Admiral Lake Loop trailhead where you enter to proceed the Bayer’s Lake Loop entrance (~170 m). In the winter this forested, backcountry trail offers views of snowy granite rock as you climb up to the lookoff.
Entrance way to Bayer’s Lake Loop Trail.
Granite cliffs along the Bayer’s Lake Loop trail.
In the winter, this climb to the look-off may be difficult for some as it depends how icy and snowy it is at certain times. We visited on a bright, sunny day with little ice but still slippery in parts of pack snow on the rocks. As you approach the top for the look-off point, you will notice that it opens up to a beautiful view, making the trek up well worth it!
The icicles off the granite cliffs are glistening on this sunny day.
The bright forest views!
On this day, we only took the time to visit the one trail as it was getting late in the day and wanted to make it back before the sunset and to get the warmer part of the day. We will definitely be back in the spring/summer to explore as there are so much more to this trail that we still need to see!
Bayer’s Lake Loop short trail look out view!
We made it to the look-off point to get a great selfie shot!
Happy Adventuring! See you on the next trail!