For most winters we drive down the icy road past Tranquille to the parking lot and walk out on the snow to Cooney Bay. Last year there was no open ground and the bay was covered in ice. In this “snowless” winter (2018 – 2019) , the road road was wet and the trail was muddy.

When the river freezes up, the flowing water of the river usually spreads across a wider area and freezes onto the gravelly beaches (see Tranquile Ice). The section of the walk/hike around the river is usually on the ice. This year the walk was on a gravel beach and the river was wide enough to make for a wet crossing. Upstream were a few logs across several braided channels so we were able to keep our feet dry.

We attempted a loop route without going onto CN property. Every spring the river floods and more logs are swept down to Cooney Bay (see Cooney Bay in Flood). The logs pile up and are left on the shoreline, making a difficult-to-traverse barrier over to the shrubs bordering the highwater mark.

After an awkward traverse, we walked on the edge of grassy fields along the border of the Tranquille property.

Just before coming back to the river crossing we spotted two old crabapple trees still bearing fruit from the fall.

The loop route was 2.3 km, a pleasant walk on a sunny winter day.