The Passionate Hiker: The North Shore

Sun. 7 December: The North Shore

Miner's Point Road: cat on a cold tin roof

The temperature had dropped to below minus ten C overnight, but this did not deter the intrepid hikers who gathered at Conlon Farm on Sunday morning. There were ten of us today, well prepared for our adventure.

A short distance south of Perth lies a section of the rugged, forested Canadian Shield country. Today we would explore this varied landscape, a mix of gentle rolling country and straight-forward walking along peaceful gravel roads. Starting at Miners Point Road, we travelled southwest above Big Rideau Lake to a lonely spot in the forest where a deep swamp made further travel risky. We then returned the same way; an overall distance of just less than ten kilometres. This route followed the Rideau Trail the whole way.

There was a handy parking area a couple of hundred metres west of the entrance to the St. Anthony Monastery, and this was the start for our hike. It was a cloudless day, with a cold northerly breeze, which was at our backs for the first part of the hike. After a short stroll along Miners Point Road, we dropped down a steep bank into the forest. The uphill section on the other side of this little valley helped us to warm up a little.

Soon we came to the North Shore Road where we caught our first glimpse of Big Rideau Lake through the trees. One great advantage of hiking in late fall and winter is that the views are unrestricted by the forest. You can get a good feel for the lie of the land. You can also spy on luxury lakeside summer cottages, hidden during the summer!

We stopped for a short time at Red Rock, a beautiful lakeside viewpoint, owned by the Rideau Waterway Land Trust, whose mission is “preserving special places in our community”. This was indeed a special place. The wind was creating gentle waves along the shoreline, and the other side of the lake seemed a long way off. Trout Island was prominent across the water.

Diving back into the woods, we soon reached the end of our outward journey. Here was a deep swamp, with a narrow wooden plank stretching across six or eight feet of open water. In our pre-hike yesterday, we had ventured across the plank, which sagged alarmingly in the middle. The water here was at least three feet deep. To slip off the plank into the icy water would be serious indeed, especially on a very cold day such as today. We had noticed a pile of timber a few hundred metres back along the path, and had quickly – in our minds – designed elegant structures to bridge this gap. No doubt the Kingston Club will come up with a much better solution when they head out here to fix the gap.

On our return, we stopped for a lunch in the bright sunshine above the Big Rideau Lake at Red Rock. It felt almost warm at minus ten degrees out of the wind.

As usual on these hikes, I learned something new. Today we saw a shagbark hickory tree, which is at its most northerly extreme here in Eastern Ontario. Its nuts are edible. We noted a beautiful frosted mullein leaf which every other year grows tall stems with yellow flowers; and we heard the distinctive sound of a pileated woodpecker. Hiking is a lot more than simply racing from point A to point B, and should always be so.

We were soon striding back down Miners Point Road, and arriving back at our cars. It had been another grand day out on the trail – although the warmth of the car heater was appreciated by all.

Statistics:

Total Distance: 9.8 km (hike)

Height Gain: Say 100 ft.

Time on Trail: 3 hrs. 32 mins.

Miners Point Rd: 10.07 am

Red Rock: 10.54 am

Swamp: 11.42 am

Red Rock: 12.20 pm

Ret. to cars: 1.39 pm

Temp: Around Minus 10C

Weather: Cloudless, cold N.breeze

Note: single-click on the first picture above to scroll through the photos separately