We’ve loved the Calabogie area for a long time, so I couldn’t believe it when I stumbled across the Madawaska Nordic Trails- I’d never heard of them before!

I was out in Calabogie one day hoping to hike the trails over by Manitou Mountain, but they were closed for logging. So, I did a quick google search afterwards and came up with a tiny bit of information about the Madawaska Nordic Trails. The next weekend, we were back to check them out.

There was so little information online that we really didn’t know what we were signing up for. But we knew that new (to us) trails need to be hiked, so we packed up our rain gear and our dog on a cloudy day and headed out.

We were pleasantly surprised by what we saw of the trail network. Not only are there trails available for hiking, they’re groomed for cross country skiing and snowshoeing in the winter. AND, there are single track trails that cut through the forest as well. Mountain bikers, check it out!

When we arrived, we decided that we were going to hike the Red Pine Trail. It’s an out and back trail with a loop at the end. We didn’t know before we set out how long the trail was. But, we knew we would have the option of adding on the Hemlock Loop if the trail was too short for our liking. The majority of the Red Pine Trail was shaded, so it was a great option for a hot day.

Getting There

There are two trailheads that grant access to this area, off of Crestview Drive in Calabogie. Only the eastern trailhead has space for parking though. You can use these coordinates to get there: 45.279322, -76.784044.

When we arrived, we pulled up into the beginning of the trail. Even though parking is allowed here, there really wasn’t room for many cars. Maybe two or three could fit in the entrance to the trailhead. Anyone else would have to park on the side of the road. Fortunately for us, we were the only ones there so there were no issues.

Pulling up, we immediately saw TONS of dragonflies. We thought to ourselves that this was either a very good sign, because they would have eaten all the bugs, or a very bad sign, that there were lots of bugs in the area. Spoiler alert: There were lots of bugs.

At the trailhead, there was a huge map that showed all the trails in the area. We took a few minutes to think about what direction we wanted to head in, and decided on the Red Pine Trail.

There was a two dollar fee per use, and a little mailbox that we could drop our payment into. A couple little mailboxes there said they held maps, but they didn’t have any the day we were there. There were a couple of very rough looking, rickety picnic tables at the trailhead, but no outhouses or anywhere to dispose of trash.

The Route

Setting out on the trail was easy, because there was only one direction to head in. The trail was really wide starting out. It was actually almost as wide as a dirt road.

We had only been walking for about 100 metres when we came across the first singletrack trail. Trailmarkers indicated that the Ridgeline single track was heading off into the forest to our right. It was easy to spot, although the trail itself did not seem well travelled at all.

The Red Pine Trail started out really easy, and basically stayed that way for the entire length of it. When we reached the spot on the trail where the Ridgeline single track met back up with it (at the 0.9 kilometre mark), the trail was still really wide.

The Crossroads- Motorized Vehicles Allowed

We reached “The Crossroads”after we had hiked 1 kilometre. We had to cross over The Crossroads in order to continue on Red Pine. Luckily, we heard an ATV coming ahead of time, and waited patiently until it had passed. The Crossroads is open to motorized traffic, including ATVs in the summer, and snowmobiles in the winter. The Red Pine Trail is not open to these vehicles, so this was the only area where we really had to be careful about getting run over.

The trail thinned out a bit beyond the crossroads, although it was still as wide as an ATV trail, and very easy for us to walk side by side the entire way.

The Chickadee/Footloose Loop

We passed the first offshoot for the Chickadee/Footloose loop just 100 metres past The Crossroads. The split in the trail was well marked. Even though we were curious, we decided to continue straight, because we didn’t know how long the Red Pine Trail was. The Footloose Trail reconnected to our trail 700 metres beyond the original split. There was a picnic table at the trail junction for the Footloose Trail. It was in pretty good shape, and normally would have made for a great rest spot. With the number of mosquitoes that were hot on our heels that day though, there’s no way we were stopping!

The Hemlock Loop and a lot of Mud

We hiked past the split for the Hemlock Loop after hiking for 2 kilometres in total. Once again, the trail was so well marked that we couldn’t have missed it. Things started to get pretty wet not long after. There were three sections of the trail one after another that dipped and were absolutely flooded with water or full of mud. Our dog loved it, and actually rolled around in some of the muddiest spots. We couldn’t even blame her, because the mosquitoes were getting pretty vicious, so we just picked up the pace.

We reached the split for the Red Pine Loop at the 3 kilometre mark, and went to the right. The trail was obviously less traveled in this section, but it was still easy hiking. At the 3.4 kilometre mark, an ATV trail intersected the Red Pine Loop. Fortunately, again there was good signage and it was very clear to us that we needed to continue on to our left. We found ourselves hiking around a massive rock wall, which was pretty cool. We arrived back at the beginning of the loop after hiking 800 metres on the loop itself.

Bracing ourselves, we walked back through the wet sections. We do our best to follow Leave No Trace principles. That means staying on the trail no matter how wet it is, to make sure we don’t accidentally contribute to the widening of the trail and the destruction of vegetation alongside it.

There were a couple spots on the way back that were so muddy our boots actually got stuck for a bit. I thought this was pretty hilarious, but my partner (who was getting really fed up with the bugs), didn’t agree at the time.

A few of the muddy spots had boardwalks built in, so I’d guess that this isn’t the first time this trail has been really wet. It probably won’t be the last time either.

Getting Back

The Red Pine Trail was so easy to hike, and there were so many mosquitoes, that we did some of our quickest hiking ever! It really helped that most of the trail was dirt, and it wasn’t very often that there were rocks on the trail that made us slow down and think about where we were placing our feet. All in all, we covered seven kilometers on this trail in 1 hour and 46 minutes.

There wasn’t too much on this trail in terms of views, or really anything out of the ordinary or exceptional. But, it was a fantastic trail for a nice walk in the woods, and I think it would be really fun to bike it (especially if you added on some of the other trails, like the Hemlock Loop). Getting out and walking under a canopy of trees, especially when they have that bright green color of spring to them, is always worth it in my books.

We’ll definitely be back to explore the other trails in the area. And if we get really brave, maybe we’ll check out the single track.

I hope this trip report has enough info to get you there too. Let me know in the comments, or share and tag a friend to start planning your next adventure!

Maps and Elevation Gain

Whenever I’m hiking somewhere new, I tend to wonder about who was on, and who took care of that land before me. I’ve enjoyed using this website as a place to start learning more about the indigenous people whose land I’m on: Native-land.ca.

Gear We Brought