The footbridge over the Drag River, where the river runs into Head Lake, has been closed since the last Thursday in October. Dysart et al closed it on October 29, 2026, so the old structure could be torn down and replaced. The township's notice says it will stay closed until December 31. In less than two weeks, on December 1, the Haliburton County Rail Trail closes to walkers for the season.
That's two of the village's familiar walks out of service at the same time. What remains open this December is mostly on the north shore of Head Lake and up the hill above town. That's also where most of what's new in Haliburton village has been built over the past year: new pieces in the Sculpture Forest, a lit ski loop, a groomed trail system with a warming hut, and new structures at Skyline Park.
A Bailey bridge, and a date that is still a schedule
The replacement took most of 2026 to settle. In March, council turned down a like-for-like arched bridge with a minimum price of $590,000 and asked staff to look at a cheaper modular option. At the time, Mayor Murray Fearrey said the township needed to move quickly "so that we don't cut off the two sides of the park," The Highlander reported in May.
According to The Highlander's October 1 report, the township received six bids. The contract went to the low bidder, Scarborough-based McPherson-Andrews Contracting Ltd., at $370,950 plus HST. That's about $220,000 below the arch design's minimum. The contractor will take down the existing bridge and install a prefabricated structure. Transport Canada cleared a Bailey bridge for the site because this shallow stretch of the Drag River isn't considered navigable. McPherson-Andrews has worked before with D.M. Wills and Associates, the engineering firm managing the project. The two recently replaced the bridge on Barry's Line.
The new bridge won't look like the old one. Public works director Rob Camelon told the paper he expected the work to be finished this year, but added a caveat:
"The bridge is moving ahead for replacement this fall, but the schedule is still up in the air."
He said the structure still had to be fabricated. December 31 is the township's planned reopening date. For now, Head Lake Park is effectively two halves: Rails End Gallery, Rotary Beach and the Head Lake Trail all sit in a park you currently can't cross on foot.
December 1 takes the Rail Trail too
The second change comes every year, but this year it lands while the bridge is out. The County of Haliburton sets the Rail Trail's seasons. From May 1 to November 30, the trail is open to all non-motorized users and to ATVs with a permit. From December 1 to March 31, or when trail conditions permit, it's open only to snowmobiles with a Haliburton County Snowmobile Association permit.
Here's how the season lines up from today:
| Date | What changes |
|---|---|
| October 29, 2026 | Head Lake Park footbridge closes for replacement |
| November 30, 2026 | Last scheduled day of walking on the Rail Trail |
| December 1, 2026 | Rail Trail opens to permitted snowmobiles only |
| December 31, 2026 | Scheduled end of the bridge closure |
| January 6, 2027 | Winter Hike Haliburton registration opens, 8:30 a.m. |
| February 6–7, 2027 | Winter Hike Haliburton |
For the month of December, both of these walking routes in the village are closed.
The north shore carries the walk
Dysart's Head Lake and Drag River Trail is listed as open year-round. Parts of it follow the shore of Head Lake, other sections pass through residential streets, and part of it runs through Glebe Park. There are two parking areas, one at Head Lake Park and one at the Haliburton Highlands Museum. With the bridge closed, the museum lot is the more useful one this month. It sits in Glebe Park on the north shore of Head Lake, alongside the Sculpture Forest and Fleming College's Haliburton School of Art + Design.
Glebe Park covers 175 acres of woods and rolling hills. In spring, summer and fall its trails are used for hiking and mountain biking. In winter, the township switches them over to cross-country skiing and snowshoeing. The park also has a toboggan hill. Dysart lists the museum's main gallery as open year-round, Tuesday to Sunday from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m., and closed Mondays. That makes the museum an easy indoor stop on a cold afternoon.
What's new among the forty sculptures
Within Glebe Park, the Haliburton Sculpture Forest takes up about 15 acres. It marked its 25th year in 2026. The Highlander's anniversary coverage reported that it opened in 2001 with three commissioned pieces by Canadian artists. The forest also has a new curator. On October 10, local musician Nicholas Russell took over from Jim Blake, who had held the role since 2001 and is staying on as an advisor. The Highlander's October report counts 47 sculptures and seven artistic benches along a walking trail of roughly 1.4 km, with about 40,000 visitors a year. On August 29, the anniversary week included a ceremony welcoming five sculptures installed since 2024.
If you haven't walked the forest since before then, three of the newer pieces are:
- Quadratic Whisper by George Hart, a sculpture you can walk through, installed on October 4, 2025, as The Highlander reported
- Friends by Marlene Kawalez, dated May 1, 2026, in the forest's own catalog
- A Life Well Lived by Annette Blady and Al Van Mil, dated August 29, 2026
For the anniversary, Russell also wrote a piece of music inspired by Atmosphere, the stone dome, using sounds recorded around and inside it. "If people go inside the sculpture and sit down, the sound will be really great," Blake told The Highlander in August.
Admission is free, donations are welcome, and leashed dogs are allowed.
After dark, and on skis
December light goes early, and that's where the north shore has an edge over the closed routes. The Sculpture Forest's FAQ says Glebe Park is open from dawn to dusk, 365 days a year. In winter, sections of the Sculpture Forest trails are lit for cross-country skiing.
The skiing itself is run by the Haliburton Highlands Nordic Trails Association, which grooms two trail systems for both classic and skate skiing. Glebe Park has 13.5 km, which the association describes as "very hilly, very technical terrain," with a warming hut 3.5 km from the trailhead. Its other system, at Twin Lakes, has 7 km of gentler, rolling terrain. In other words, the trails within walking distance of the village are the harder of the two.
Registration for the 2026/27 season is open, with early-bird pricing through the association's online registration.
Above the village at Skyline Park
Skyline Park, the lookout on the slope above the village, changed a lot this year. The Highlander reported in September that after about three years of work by the Haliburton Rotary Club, crews finished a second timber-frame picnic shelter over the summer. The Ministry of Transportation, which owns the land, installed a permanent, year-round accessible washroom.
The other major addition is a new upper viewing platform, about 80 percent complete as of that report. It comes with a new path for visitors who'd rather not make the steep walk down to the original lookout. "We wanted people who aren't able to, or just don't want to, walk down to the lower viewing platform to still enjoy the view," Ursula Devolin of the Rotary Club told the paper.
Rotary's "Reach for the Sky" campaign started on September 11 and brought in $6,600 in pledges in its first week. Next season the club plans to enlarge the main lookout, which Devolin said currently fits about four to six people. Later phases include a welcome sign, an Indigenous land acknowledgment developed in consultation with Curve Lake First Nation, a Rotary International Peace Pole, and hand-carved stone sculptures by Rotarian John Beachli. The goal is to finish by 2027. Fundraising runs through the fall and into next spring. Gifts of $500 or more earn a place on a permanent donor plaque.
When the guided season returns
Once the bridge is back in service, the next date on the village's walking calendar is Winter Hike Haliburton on February 6 and 7, 2027. The hike schedule is expected in December, and registration opens Wednesday, January 6, at 8:30 a.m. Until then, the walking in the village happens on the north side of the Drag River.
If you're spending more winter weekends in the Highlands and wondering how a property near Head Lake fits into that kind of week, Ryan Harkin is happy to walk you through it, on the trails or over coffee. And if you already own here, Get My Valuation is the easiest place to start.
