Algonquin Adventures / Brigham Lake Trail

**Posted by APPaul** 2/29/2016 8:46 am

Hello,

On Jeff's map there is a trail marked as the Brigham Lake Trail (unofficial) that goes from the Brigham Lake parking lot to the High Falls/ Stratton Lake area. Its looks to be just under 4k. Thinking about using it to access the Stratton Lake area in two weeks. A snowshoe and toboggan camping trip.

I know that easy summer hikes do not equal easy winter travel, so I was wondering if anybody has hiked it and if there are any major hills? It looks to be about 50feet of total elevation change, which is not bad over 4k, but that doesn't factor in hills that could be along the way.

Thanks!

**Posted by MartinG** 2/29/2016 9:36 am

It's as good a trail as any for a toboggan. The hills and there are a couple are more long than steep. I would be more concerned about where to park. Does anyone plow the Brigham Lake parking lot or High Falls Trail parking lot?

**Posted by DanPM** 2/29/2016 10:32 am

Parking aside, is the road itself even plowed? The park website says:

The Barron Canyon Road (access road to Sand Lake Gate) and associated parking lots such as the Barron Canyon Trail,McManus Lake Access Point, Lake Travers Access Point, etc. is not ploughed in the winter by Ontario Parks. This includes the +/- 18 kilometres of road outside the Park. Road maintenance (ploughing and sanding) is performed by the forest industry to meet their needs, with no maintenance on weekends or holidays.For winter road conditions on the Park's East Side (not Highway 60), contact Brent Frederick, Achray Group Leader, Ontario Parks at (613) 732-5553.

Maybe some of the east siders know the current condition though?

**Posted by APPaul** 2/29/2016 12:25 pm

Thanks MartinG that is good news. We were looking for something that was not dependent on lake travel and on the Baron Canyon Road. After the 50cm a couple weeks ago followed by the rain I figure that the lakes could be slushy.

As for parking. We are going on the assumption that it is NOT ploughed and will be digging out enough to get the truck through the bank. On Family Day weekend we did a trip down to Sec Lake and the loggers had ploughed part of that road the week before when we went to scout a spot ...then the weekend we went it was not ploughed so we did a bit of digging followed by some slow consistent driving to get us closer to the lake.

We are also tossing a bike in case we need to shuttle from somewhere else along the Baron canyon Road.

Thanks!