The Rideau Trail: Rathwell Road (11A) to Port Elmsley (11D)

Fri. 4 July:  The Rideau Trail:

Rathwell Road (11A) to Port Elmsley (11D)

At Lower Beveridges Lock

Today’s section of the Rideau Trail took me further east from Perth, towards Ottawa.  It was a day of contrasts:  bush-whacking, woodland trails, a dam, canal paths, and finally a road walk, all in the space of about twelve kilometres.

I set off from Rathwell Road, where last week’s journey had ended.  Striding down the pleasant country lane, I almost missed the red triangle pointing left into a field.  Here I immediately plunged into tall grasses and bush.  It had rained last night.  The clouds were rapidly disappearing to the east, leaving a clear blue sky and cooler temperatures.  It didn’t take long for me to get wet as I waded through the grass.  

Thank heavens for all those trail signs which, along this section, were the only way I had any clue of my route.  The long grass hid any sign of a trail, and anyway it zig-zagged all over the place, following fence lines, then diving in and out of the woods and along the edges of fields.  It was obvious that the early season would have been a better time to travel this section, before things started to grow!

Nevertheless, it was an exciting challenge, watching out for the signs.  At one point a red arrow appeared to point me towards a field, over a low fence.  Using some of my accumulated hiking sense, I soon realized that the sign pointed in the wrong direction, and I quickly found the right trail in the woods.  Apart from that one incident, despite the often overgrown state of the trail, one could hardly go wrong;  although, on several occasions, I only had blind faith to lead me from one sign to the next.  Eventually I heard the sound of traffic and, passing a snowmobile abandoned on the trail, I came out onto the fairly busy Highway 43, the Perth-Smiths Falls road.

As I walked along the edge of the highway, I almost missed the orange trail sign in the ditch below the road, beside a wood, pointing across a field.  I followed the edge of the wood into the field, and here the red signs continued to point the way.  The trail skirted a number of open fields, diving in and out of the woods, before passing through a more open woodland section on a wider trail.  This soon led to the Beveridges Dam.

In earlier days, the original Tay Canal followed the river all the way to Port Elmsley, my destination today.  But the canal fell into disrepair and a new canal was built at this point, heading straight into Rideau Lake.  This dam was built to raise the water upstream sufficient to allow the new canal to function.  It also created (or enlarged) a wide area of marshland.

It’s not a big dam, possibly a hundred metres across, but water flows over the low wall and so you have to be careful not to slip.  Being over-prepared, I had brought my MICROspikes along for added traction and managed to tip-toe through four or five inches of fast-flowing water to reach the higher central section of the dam.  A chain winch on rails would at one time have allowed the central gate to restrict flow of the river, but it didn’t look to me as if it had been used in decades.  The river flowed wide and fast below the dam.

After continuing down a pleasant access road beside the marsh, I came to the canal itself, at the Upper Beveridges Lock.  A small tugboat lay moored above the lock, and a white lock-keeper’s building sat beside the canal.  A bike was chained to a tree but I saw no signs of life.  I have always been fascinated by canals and here was a classic canal scene, minus any activity!  

But further down the trail I came to the Lower Beveridges Lock, where I was just in time to watch three lock-keepers in green teeshirts operating winches to open up the lock for a flotilla of boats; or to be exact, a small motor boat and a canoe with a man and woman and their dog!

Here the canal drops down to the level of Lower Rideau Lake, joining the lake just below the Lock.  It was a peaceful scene, with kids fishing and a rental boat moored below the lock.

The rest of my trip today was a forced march beside a (luckily quiet) paved road leading to the tiny village of Port Elmsley.  Not very inspiring.  But there is always something to notice:  An old outdoor movie theatre, still in use (last night it was showing the Transformers movie!!);  a modern school, closed for summer; some brightly coloured wild flowers right beside the road, and finally the bridge across the Tay River, which flowed gracefully between the trees on its final run into Lower Rideau Lake.  

I was soon back at the car, which I had parked in a large, ideally located parking lot beside the Community Hall on Station Road.  Now I’m planning to complete the entire Central section of the Rideau Trail this year.  There’s something addictive about the trail of red triangles.  I just have to keep following them!

Wildlife seen today:  Two deer (one a stag with antlers), heron, frog, hidden duck in the marsh

Statistics:

Total Distance:                12.2 km (hike)

Height Gain:                    Negligible

Time on Trail:                  3 hrs. 38 mins.

Start (Rathwell Rd.):        `8.49 am

Frizell Rd./Hwy 43 :           9.49 am

Beveridge Dam:               10.25 am

Upper Beveridge Lock:    11.01 am

Lower Beveridge Lock:    11.21 am

Port Elmsley:                   12.27 pm 

Temp:                             +16C to +20C

Weather:                         Sunny, clouds building.  Cooler.  Light breeze.

The trail immediately plunges into long grass, wet from last night's rain

Interesting large fungus growing on the side of a tree

This long-ago abandoned truck tells me I'm on the right path

Typical stile along the trail

Looking back to an impossibly tangled section of trail

Open fields, but tall grasses hide the route

The Perth-Smiths Falls road (Hwy 43) at Frizell Road

Pleasant contrast between dark woods and open fields

More open woodland and wider track, approaching the dam

Beveridge Dam - the trail crosses the fast flowing water on the dam wall

Tay River and canal above the dam

Upper Beveridges Lock, looking upstream towards Perth

Upper Beveridges Lock gate

Lower Beveridges Lock - an active scene as the gate is opened

And this canoe party passes through the gate on its way upstream

Peaceful scene at Lower Beveridges Lock

Rideau Lake from the entrance to the Tay Canal

On the road to Port Elmsley

The Tay River at Port Elmsley