The Passionate Hiker: Buck Lake Blue Trail

Friday, September 2, 2016

Buck Lake Blue Trail

Thurs. 1 September: Buck Lake Blue Trail

Buck Lake Blue Trail

Note: click on pictures for full size view.

This sparingly-signed fifteen kilometre blue route runs between the Cataraqui Trail at Maple Leaf Road in the south, and the Massassauga Road five kilometres east of Bedford Mills in the north.

Perhaps the Rideau Trail used to pass this way in the days before it was rerouted onto the Cataraqui Trail and through the rugged Skycroft country. Although the main trail now follows a different path, the Buck Lake blue trail should stand on its own as a worthy one-way hiking route.

This is basically a road walk, with a magical rough track about half-way along the route, connecting two very contrasting landscapes. At the southern end are open fields and farms, with plenty of deciduous woodland and glimpses of lakes. Leaving the road behind, the trail follows an old farm track above a green valley, then emerges at the southern end of the Massassauga Road. Here the trees close in around you and it feels (and it is) a more remote country.

The road surfaces are all dusty gravel, and easy to walk on. Especially in the southern section, a few vehicles passed us – courier van, garbage truck, a few cars – all careful to slow down as they passed.

Buck Lake was never far from us on the left, but hidden from view. Finally we found a rise in the road, directly above the edge of the lake where we could glimpse the open expanse of water through the trees. A little further along, we stopped for lunch right beside an arm of the lake.

The kilometres passed far too quickly beneath our feet. This had felt like an adventure into an unknown world. We had in fact found two different worlds, connected by a secret path. This is what made this particular blue trail special.