Biking the O&Q (3): Armstrong Line to Fall River Road

Thurs. 12 May:  Biking the O&Q (3):  Armstrong Line to Fall River Road

On a lonely stretch of the line

Lucky I didn’t plan to hike this stretch.

Not that it was boring – far from it.  But there were two very wet sections, one of which offered absolutely no way for a hiker to avoid wet feet.  At the longest stretch of flooded trail, I simply launched myself into the water on my mountain bike and kept pedalling until I reached the far side.  If I had stopped, I would have had soggy boots.

Don’t try to ride a road bike along this trail.  The smooth surface along the first section west from Glen Tay doesn’t last.  It soon reverts to a more typical rough gravel and stone.  I was surprised to find these long stretches of standing water, but they were the perfect work-out for my sturdy bike.

Logistics on these rail trips require me to travel out and back from each starting point.  Today I parked at Fall River Road, since there was no parking at the Armstrong Line end.  The return distance was 17.7 kilometres.  If you have the luxury of not having to do out-and-back trips, then you want to travel eastwards on this stretch.  It’s almost uniformly downhill the whole way from Fall River Road to Armstrong Line.  It may only drop forty metres in eight kilometres, but I could feel it.  No question about it.

It was a surprisingly warm afternoon, around 26C, but no bugs yet.  They were probably gathering in the trackside swamps ready to unleash a frenzied attack any day now.

Here are some pictures from today’s journey.  Not far around the next corner is Sharbot Lake, the jewel in the O&Q crown.

Note: click on pictures for full size view.

Several rock cuts along this section

Puddles, but more to come

Several lakes along this part of the line

Large beaver dam

Another beautiful lake

Reflections

Gently curving line, through rocks, beside lakes

Flooded section - biked through it (without stopping!)

The only piece of significant engineering along this stretch..,.

...an impressive bridge, but rusting underneath

This is part of an elaborate snowmobile trail system

Change of weather on the way

And around the next  corner is........ (see my next blog)