Sat.
6 June: The Cataraqui Trail: Indian Lake Road to MacGillivray Road
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| Trestle bridge west of Chaffeys Lock - photo from www.railwaybob.com |
Halfway there!
Today we passed the mid-point of the
Cataraqui Trail. And judging by the
energy and enthusiasm on hand today, we are well positioned for success later
this year as we continue down the line to Strathcona, one hundred and four kilometres
from our start in Smiths Falls.
It’s always a good idea
to do some research on your proposed hiking trail. It could be very easy to stroll down the
CataraquiTrail, with its almost dead flat grade, and have no idea what you are
missing. Thanks to the RailwayBob website
noted in my last RTA hike blog, I knew that, along this stretch of line west of
Chaffeys Lock were some gigantic wooden trestles now buried by earth. I also knew that huge amounts of rock had
been cleared to make the grade flat. So
as we walked westwards, we were on the lookout for high embankments, which we
saw, and admired, despite their being mostly obscured by trees and bushes.
We were more immediately
engaged in making sure not to step on any turtles, several of which, both large
and small, were sitting in our path, and with no inclination to avoid us. We could see many places on the path where
turtle nests had been raided by predators and the eggs smashed. Luckily there are enough eggs to assure the
survival of these curious throwbacks to prehistoric days.
We met a friendly escort
from our club, who bikes along the trail every week and knows the route better
than anyone alive. As a result, we found
a magical swamp-side venue for our lunch, and were shown a hidden rock culvert
beneath a tall cliff.
There was always
something interesting to keep us motivated, with several beautiful lakes, rock
cuttings with overhanging cliffs, and, of course, high embankments hiding wooden
trestles!
We followed the Rideau Trail
for much of our journey, except where it disappeared off into the magnificent
Skycroft wilderness for several kilometres.
By the time we reached
MacGillivray Road, we were just warming up.
Thirteen more kilometres had flashed by, and we now had less than fifty to
go.
Note: single-click on the first picture above to scroll through the photos separately
Statistics:
Total Distance: 13.0 km (hike)
Height Gain: 56 ft.
Time on Trail: 3 hrs. 24 mins.
Indian
Lake Rd: 10.27 am
RT South (1): 11.07 am
Lunch/50 km: 12.07
pm
RT South (2): 12.59 pm
MacGillivray Rd: 1.51 pm
Temp: +13C rising to +16 C
Weather: Cloudless, N wind at our backs
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| Possibly same location today - trestle now filled in with earth |
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| Several turtles on the trail |
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| Their eggs are surprisingly small |
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| They lose a lot of nests to predators |
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| Views from embankment (originally a trestle bridge) |
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| An avenue |
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| Rideau Trail heads south towards Skycroft |
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| Lots of dragonflies but few bugs today |
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| Several rock cuttings along this stretch |
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| Rare piece of trackbed |
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| Crossing a swamp |
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| Lunch beside a swamp filled with water lillies |
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| Such as this one |
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| The team authorized this "almost half-way" picture (50 km completed) |
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| Garter Lake |
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| Dangerously overhanging rock |
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| The Rideau Trail rejoins us from its path through Skycroft wilderness |
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| A resting place beside the trail |
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| Colorful lily |
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| Trailside culvert runs underneath the rock cliff |
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| "Freedom Fifty Five" |
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