Reinventing the Wheel

Wed. 22 April:  Rutherford Side Road

Exploring the side roads north of Hwy 7 (see the two "X" marks)

It was a snap decision.  Instead of returning to the old familiar Mill Pond as originally planned, we would strike out into new territory and explore the side roads northwest of Perth. 

The skies were filled with clouds, and it had rained earlier in the morning, so a walk along a quiet gravel backroad would at least ensure dry feet.  From the look of the clouds, anything might happen – and it did!

Rutherford Side Road heads north from the busy Highway 7 into remote country, a mix of farmland, swamp, and forest.  There are lakes further down this road, but we would need to wait for future hikes to reach them. 

Not far up the road, we passed a huge pile of tree trunks, and an even larger stack of logs, newly cut.  A man was busy working away with his chainsaw.

There was plenty to see along the way:  red-winged blackbirds sitting out on the reeds, some distinctive and apparently rare elms (was it rock elms?), white pines, a lot of flooded swampland, old farmhouses and even older looking barns, all of them still in active use.  The pictures can tell the story.

Later, studying the map, we apparently passed the site of an old mine, but there had been no sign of it.

Overhead, the clouds were quickly eating up the patches of blue sky.  As we turned around, a little short of the junction with McVeigh Road, we were treated to a hail shower – luckily the pellets were only tiny.   It just made the whole experience more rewarding, and as we reached our cars, we had already agreed to do further exploring along these lonely by-ways. 

In the meantime, the man with the chainsaw had been busily adding to the stack of logs.  Out in front of the pile were five thin logs, laid out on the ground like wheels.  Had he just had a flash of brilliance?

While this man may have been reinventing the wheel, we had not.  Exploring the side roads of Lanark County could become a new obsession.  Who knows?

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

Statistics:

Total Distance:         7.0 km (hike)

Height Gain:             Negligible

Time on Trail:          2 hrs. 01 min.

Start:                         9.57 am

Turn around:           11.04 am

Ret. to cars:            11.58 am

Temp:                     +8 C

Weather:                  Some sunny breaks, then overcast, with hail shower

A growing woodpile

Swamp

A boggy "river"

These old fences hold up well over the years

Spring is here (somewhere!)

Forest on private land

Cloudscapes:  profile of a head turned to the left?

Cloudscapes: fields and skies

Cloudscapes:  color contrast

Some old farms along the Rutherford side road

Animal farm

Old brick farmhouse

Caught in a hail shower

Cloudscapes:  hail showers in the skies

Reinventing the wheel???