The Rideau Trail: Reflections

The Rideau Trail:   Reflections

Kingston City Hall:  The Rideau Trail starts here in the park beside Lake Ontario

A final trail sign in far-off Ottawa

End-to-End

Last Sunday, on a cloudless day, I walked into the heart of Ottawa, thereby completing my end-to-end journey along the Rideau Trail.  This was my first long-distance trail.  It proved to be enjoyable and compelling every step of the way through the varied, sometimes spectacular, scenery of Eastern Ontario.  

I started beside the blue waters of Lake Ontario and hiked northwards to the wide, swiftly flowing Ottawa River. This was a journey of three hundred and thirty kilometres, or two hundred and six miles, done in twenty one stages over the period of June 29^th to November 2^nd of this year.

Here are some reflections on my journey.

Sign in downtown Perth, about halfway along the trail

The Trail

The Rideau Trail Association (RTA) has divided up the 330.4 km trail into three sections:

• South:  from Kingston to Lally Homestead, south of Perth.  Distance of 152.9 km and containing the greatest challenges and contrasts in terrain.
• Central:  from Lally Homestead south of Perth to Rosedale Road, between Smiths Falls and Merrickville.  Distance of 67.4 km.  Rugged to start with, then more open farmland north of Perth. 
• North:  Rosedale Road to end of trail in Ottawa.  Distance of 110.1 km.  Farmland, forest, city pathways.

This tree is pointing the way - the sign is superfluous

The Route

The Rideau Trail is not a straight line running south to north.  As the crow flies, it is only 146 km between the two cities, and the most direct driving route is 172 km.  So this will tell you that the Rideau Trail charts its own unique course.  Often you will be heading directly away from your destination, and rarely does the path head exactly towards Ottawa.

As a result, a successful trip relies entirely on being able to follow the red isosceles triangles nailed to trees and other handy places along the way.  Miss one sign and you could be hopelessly lost.  On almost every leg of my journey, I had to stop and check for that next sign at least once.  There is a technique you soon learn so that you don’t end up in trouble.  Basically you always keep one sign in view before heading out in search of the next one.  Nevertheless, there were a few occasions where I had to search quite hard for that next sign.

Idyllic camping at Skycroft beside Lake Opinicon

Logistics

Since there are no (or very few) overnight stopping places along the trail, people usually work away at it in stages. I suppose there are people who have done the whole thing non-stop, but while this might be an interesting physical challenge, it is not my choice of how to enjoy a journey.  I chose to walk the trail from south to north, and it took me twenty one separate stages.  Logistics play a big role in tackling the Rideau Trail.  For this reason, I started in the Central section, then having completed that, I went on to do the southern, then northern sections, always walking in the general direction of Ottawa.

There is no “right way” to tackle the logistics.  It all depends on how far you want to walk, and how many of you are doing the trip.  If, as in my case, you are doing this largely on your own, then it requires someone else to help with vehicles.  The only exceptions are within the catchment areas of the two main cities, where public transport is available, and the smaller towns where you might find a taxi for example. 

A strategically positioned bike for returning to the starting point by road was part of my plan more than once.  On two occasions I camped out at handy campsites close to the trail, to allow me to cover a couple of more isolated stretches in one go.  There are apparently a couple of primitive campsites along the trail, but although I looked carefully for them, they were not to be seen.

Broken rope ferry west  of  Bedford Mills

The Pace

Overall I averaged 3.6 km/hour on the trail.  This varied greatly, depending on the terrain or the points of interest along the way.  I walked as slowly as 1.5 km/hour through parts of rugged Frontenac Park, and beside the fascinating Rideau Canal in Smiths Falls.  On straight stretches of old railway line or along city pathways I could easily do better than 5 km/hour.  I chose the pace that seemed right for me, and never felt that I had to be in a hurry to get to the end of my day’s trip. 

My overall time on the trail was 91.4 hours.  The average length of each trip was 15.7 kilometres.  Shortest day was the very first day on the trail, at 6.6 kilometres through Perth and beside the Tay River/Canal.  Longest leg is shared by two trips, each of 25.0 kilometres, one of which was my final day on the trail.

Westport from Spy Rock on Foley Mountain

High Points

How can I pick the high points, when every section that I travelled was full of enjoyment?  From a geographical point of view, the high point on the trail was about halfway along it, on Foley Mountain.  Here at Spy Rock is a magnificent view down to the village of Westport.  I arrived at the viewpoint to find the town shrouded in mist.  As I stood there, the mist cleared to reveal the picturesque scene shown here, in its autumn colours.

But this was just one of many highlights.  To mention a few others:  it might be the sight of the choppy waters of Lake Ontario stretching to the horizon, or the unexpected 360 degree viewpoint at Flagpole Hill in Frontenac Park, or the surprise encounter with a deer in the swamp near Lally Homestead; the glittering particles of mica on the trail beside the old mines; the twisting pathways through the Marlborough Forest leading to the remote Earthstar shelter; sneaking up on Ottawa through the prettiest woodland, and the final dramatic approach to the Capital beside the wide, swift-flowing Ottawa River. 

These combined memories are what made this long hike such a special one, and puts it right up there with my more  dramatic Rocky Mountain hikes.

Merrickville Locks on a busy afternoon

Canal and Trail

When I first heard of the Rideau Trail, I assumed it followed the towpaths of the Rideau Canal.  I soon discovered that the Rideau Canal is only partly a traditional canal.  It is really a waterway – a series of lakes and rivers connected by numerous locks, forty seven of them  (including the two Tay Canal locks).  So there are only short sections of towpath along the canal.  The Rideau Trail takes a totally separate route, occasionally meeting with the canal along the way.

There is a special magic about those places where canal and trail intersect.  You have to be patient for the first meeting.  And then, it’s not strictly the Rideau you first meet, but the Tay Canal, which runs from Perth to the Rideau at Beveridges Locks.  Smiths Falls provides the most impressive meeting of trail and canal.  Here you cross over the canal at the relatively modern Combined Lock, at 26 feet the highest lift of all forty seven locks, before strolling beside the wide canal/river on well-kept pathways leading to further locks downstream. 

Merrickville is your next encounter, where the canal passes right through the middle of the village.  Some of these lock stations are lonely places, and the section of trail between the two Nicholsons locks is a good taste of that isolation.  After crossing the old canal swing bridge at Burritts Rapids, the trail then heads off into the forest, not meeting again with the canal until the dramatic conclusion of the trail at the Ottawa Locks.  Here is the famous staircase of eight locks which lowers the canal into the Ottawa River.

On the Cataraqui line north of Skycroft

On the Rails

The Rideau Trail might have been custom designed for The Passionate Hiker.  With a love not just for canals, but also for disused railway lines, I was treated to plenty of both.  My route followed long stretches of both the south-north K&P (Kingston and Pembroke) line and the southwest-northeast Cataraqui Trail, once a rail route from Napanee to Smiths Falls.  There were no tunnels, but there was one deep cutting on the K&P south of Sydenham, and some lonely stretches along the Cataraqui Trail east of Perth Road.

The climax of this rail/trail system came at a section of trail between Harrowsmith and Sydenham where the K&P and Cataraqui lines meet.  Here, the Rideau Trail, which had been running north along the K&P, swings east on the Cataraqui.  It was not hard to imagine the scene in days now long past, of two steam trains crossing paths at this lonely junction.

I was equipped for a surprise encounter

Surprises

Just about every section of my hike brought some pleasant surprise.  Some of these I have captured in my blog entries. 

I was surprised to discover the exciting new section of trail in Kingston, which starts at City Hall and joins together several waterfront parks.  The blue, choppy waters of Lake Ontario stretched out to the horizon.  I was surprised to find the platform and ticket office of Kingston VIA rail station to be on my route through town.  How incongruous, and what a good example of the great variety that this trail provides.  By contrast, I was surprised at the extent of rugged wilderness that I encountered as I crossed the Canadian Shield country.  The magnificent lakes, for example Gould Lake, were a surprise to me.  The list could go on and on. 

Finding a trail sign attached to a lone tree in the middle of a large swamp in Frontenac Park was certainly a surprise, but luckily I used some common sense and did not swim out across the water!

 

It was a little surprising to discover the occasional short sections of trail alongside busy highways.  These are limited, and as far as I can see, necessary, but if there was some alternative that could be found, it would make the overall experience even better.  In studying the maps, it surprised me that the Rideau Trail is a fluid route, open to the whims of landowners, and constantly being adjusted.  So perhaps there is always an opportunity to reduce the worst of those roadside marches.

Friendly frog beside a large swamp

Companions

I may have travelled alone, but there was plenty of life all around me.  At various places I saw an occasional deer, a coyote just south of the Marlborough Forest, lots of birds, particularly geese flying south in formation, and lone herons in many swamps and lakes.  Squirrels were racing about all over the forest floors, and the ponds were full of friendly frogs.  There was a bear warning sign posted on Foley Mountain.  Although I did not expect to see a bear, I did carry my bear spray through the remoter sections of trail, just for peace of mind.

Even the trees seemed to be beckoning me onwards.  One tree leaned over so strangely with one arm pointing to my destination, that the trail sign nailed to the branch seemed completely superfluous.  I passed a few magnificent trees along my route, lone giants surrounded by much smaller trees.  I felt a need to greet them as I passed by.

A muddy patch north of  Richmond

Maintaining the Route

Someone has to keep the trail in good shape, checking the signage, clearing away fallen trees, and so on.  That responsibility lies with the three sections of the RTA, and it’s all volunteer work.  With a few exceptions I found the trail to be in very good shape.  The sections through the swamps and across the rugged Canadian Shield country were sometimes a little overgrown or damp, but the fact is that I completed the route without once getting lost and with dry feet at the end of every hike.  This speaks for itself.

Rare sign of a recent fellow traveller (luckily not a bear paw print in the mud)

On Record

I found only one travelers record book along the trail.  This was at the Skycroft Shelter, in the woodland north of Lake Opinicon.   Here I signed a visitors book placed inside the shelter.  The previous entry was by some hardy hikers who were racing down the trail from Ottawa and had already covered thirty four kilometres that day!  I never did meet any end-to-enders on my journeys.  In fact I hardly met anyone at all.

I think that more strategically placed trail books should be placed along the way.  Here travelers could share their thoughts, add notes on trail conditions, and then perhaps these notes could find their way to a shared website.  In the meantime, anyone wanting to learn more about this trail can do worse than read my blog!

Enjoy YOUR journey.

Approaching Parliament Hill in Ottawa:  a grand ending to a magnificent trail

Safety Note:  The Passionate Hiker is not recommending that people hike alone.  If you do choose to go on a solo trip, make sure you have a back-up person who knows your exact route and timing, and do not deviate from that plan.  Always carry a SPOT satellite GPS device (or equivalent) to alert your backup person of progress waypoints and (in the final resort) to allow you to press a button for emergency support.  Do not rely on cell-phone coverage.