The Rideau Trail: Making a Start. Conlon Farm in Perth (10D) to Rathwell Road (11A)

Sun. 29 June:  The Rideau Trail: Making a Start
Conlon Farm (10D) to Rathwell Road (11A)

The Bandstand in Stewart Park, Perth

This 300+ km trail links Kingston, Perth and Ottawa.  It is by no means a straight line northwards across flat countryside.  It passes through the rugged Canadian Shield, a jigsaw puzzle of lakes and forest and low rocky hills.  

Perhaps few people walk it from end to end (or E2E as it is called), in one single trip, as there are often no convenient campsites along the way.  Instead, people pick away at sections, gradually completing the whole thing.  The trail is divided into three sections, the south section managed by the Kingston club, the central section based on Perth, and the northern section managed from Ottawa.  There are good maps of the complex route, divided into manageable well-defined and measured sections. 

As a new member of the Rideau Trail Association, I felt a compelling need to get started.  So today I completed sections 10D and 10E, covering the town of Perth and the upper part of the Tay Canal.

It’s quite a remote trail in many places, and so you have to make use of the maps to pick the best access point for vehicles.  My plan today involved dropping my bike off at the far end of my hike, so I could bike back to Perth afterwards.  Future trips will require more complex arrangements to get me to where I need to be.

Section 10D of the Rideau Trail starts at the Conlon Farm recreation area on the west side of town.  It soon crosses then recrosses the Tay River, runs through the pretty Stewart Park, and passes the Town Hall and the Tay canal basin on its way out of town.  This early on a Sunday morning, Perth was still asleep.  For several kilometres the path follows the Tay River – my kayaking route of yesterday.  The river banks are wooded, but I enjoyed many glimpses of the river.  

Further along, the trail runs along the very edge of the river, and one could be in danger of slipping off the narrow path into the water below.  The banks were eroding and sections of the trail may soon need rerouting.  

After about three kilometres, the trail turned abruptly away from the river and followed a ditch then the edge of a field to my destination, Rathwell Road.  The path was steadily becoming more overgrown as I moved away from Perth, and I had to make my way through grasses well above my knees.  There was no doubt about the route, even in the most overgrown sections.  Little red isosceles triangles nailed to handy trees, the long end pointing in the right direction, kept me safely on track.

At the Rathwell Road, I had earlier dropped off my bike, and so I was able to make an easy return to Perth along the main road from Smiths Falls, in light traffic and enjoying a cooling headwind.

I had completed just 6.6 kilometres of this long trail, but it was a start.  I felt capable of doing much longer sections in the future.  After all, it was not yet 10 o’clock in the morning.  But it had been a hot walk, and I was ready to put my feet up and relax. 

My E2E challenge was under way!  

Statistics:

Total Distance: 6.6 km (hike) + 6.0 km (bike)          = 12.6 km

Height Gain:       negligible

Time on Trail:    2 hrs. 1 min.

Dep. car:           7.40 am

Perth Basin:      8.00 am

Rathwell Rd:     9.11 am

Ret. to car:         9.41 am

Temp:               +20C to +24C

Weather:           Sunny, hot, light S. breeze

Crossing the Tay River in Perth

Beautiful Stewart Park in the middle of town

Sign opposite the Town Hall

The Anglican church spire seen across the fields

Perth Outfitters - awesome selection of canoes and kayaks

Tay River and Last Duel Park

A reminder that this long trail passes through much private land

Hugging the edge of a field - trail sign points the way

Lots of wild flowers along the trail

 

And some wild life too!

The trail runs through the woods beside the river

Some stunning views across the marshes

I had kayaked along this stretch just yesterday.

Leaving the river, the trail heads through tall grasses beside a marshy ditch

A little rough going in places, but the route is never in doubt

Rathwell Road - end of section 10E of the Rideau Trail