Challenge

 Sun. 31 December:  Challenge

536 km worth of RTA "150" badges!

We’ve been celebrating Canada’s 150^th birthday all year long.  In so many different ways.

Hikers in Eastern Ontario have had a lot of fun attempting the Rideau Trail Association (RTA) challenge to travel 150 km on the Rideau Trail during the course of the year.  And many people have been awarded their special edition "150" badges for completing this challenge.

Here’s a question:  has anyone exceeded 150 km on the Rideau Trail this year?  And by how much?  The Passionate Hiker’s tally this year is 536 km.  Which means, I suppose, that I could claim three and a half “150” badges!  Can anyone top that?

And if you haven’t yet completed your 150 challenge, you have just a few hours left to do it.

Gift Ideas

Wed. 20 December:  Gift Ideas

Big Rideau Lake from Red Rock

Note: click on pictures for full size view.

Here’s an idea for a Christmas gift this year.  Give yourself a treat and go on a short walk down to Red Rock on Big Rideau Lake.  The round trip from the safe parking area on Miners Point Road is about six kilometres, all on a quiet, snow-packed side road.  You can make it a slightly more challenging walk by sticking to the Rideau Trail where, on two occasions, it dives into the snowy woodland.

Either way, you will be rewarded with a stunning lakeside panorama.  Today, this might have been two lakes at two different times:  to my left, blue skies and dark blue waters, and to my right, the back end of a squall line, the watercolor clouds reflecting in the lake.  Two for the price of one.

Treat yourself – and Merry Christmas to all my reader(s?).

View to the east:  blue skies

View to the west:  a disappearing squall line

Pleasant stroll down North Shore Road
(mid-ground:  squirrel racing across road)

I quickly moved to the "wrong" side of the road
to avoid this speeding snowplow on Miners Point Road

Christmas gift:  a visit to Red Rock

The Lost Spike

Thurs. 14 December:  The Lost Spike

Note: click on pictures for full size view.

The lost spike - then found!

This morning on the TV there was an interview with the author of an interesting book called “The First Spike”.  It tells the story of the local railways of Eastern Ontario.  I must ask Santa for a copy (hint!).

The title was probably inspired by Pierre Berton’s classic book “The Last Spike”, the story of the making of Canada, through the building of the CP railway. 

It was a cold, sunny morning today, with temperatures around minus 23C, although it later "warmed up" to minus 15C.  Six inches of snow lay on the ground.  So for the first time this season I dug out my trusty MICROspikes for a walk along the Rideau Trail.

So spikes were on my mind today as I set out on my walk in the woods.   Somewhere along the way, however, one of my MICROspikes fell off my boot.  It had never happened before.  Luckily, I found it on my return journey, lying in the snow.

My journey was a short pre-hike of this Saturday’s RTA trip from Long Lake Road to Lally Homestead.  It is an enchanting woodland walk, and I hope you will join me on the trail.  Bring your spikes!

 

On the road to Lally Homestead

On the snowy Rideau Trail south of Long Lake Road

Satellite shot of crystal trees beside a lake on another planet? 
Or an icy puddle on the Rideau Trail.  You decide.

Enticement

Fri. 1 December:  Enticement

McLaren Point Road

Note: click on pictures for full size view.

Don’t these pictures entice you?  To explore this quiet corner of Canada?

If so, then all you have to do is to turn up at Conlon Farm in Perth this Sunday morning (3rd December) at 8.45 and you will meet a friendly band of hikers who will be heading out on this enjoyable nine kilometre loop.

If you don’t read this blog until later, then go anyway.  It’s worth the effort, at any time of year.

These photos, taken today, will be familiar to many local hikers, but perhaps may entice new explorers.

The RTA bridge seems to sag a little more each year

Our ancient friend

A well-marked trail....

... winding through the woods....

....and across the boardwalk...

..recently strengthened with central supports

Approaching Ferrier Road from the south

Busy skies

The route

Under the Arch

Tues. 28 November:  Under the Arch

A Chinook in Eastern Ontario?

Note: click on pictures for full size view.

A Chinook Arch in Ontario?  Not very likely. 

But how else could you describe the weather this morning?  The strong westerly winds were causing the clouds to bunch up together, above a clear blue sky, as the temperatures were soaring from minus 9C to plus 10C in just a few short daytime hours, instantly melting the thin layer of snow.  Sounds like a Chinook to me – and it looked like it too.

Taking advantage of this break in the weather, a chainsaw was put to good use in clearing several obstacles along our hiking trail.  Best to get it done before winter arrives. 

And how pleasant it was to be outside today, especially since we don’t get to enjoy a Chinook here in eastern Ontario as often as we used to do in Southern Alberta (of course!).

Before.....

...and after

More debris....

...now removed (and so on, as we walked down the trail)

Undeterred

Sun. 26 November:  Undeterred

Poonamalie from the Rideau Trail

Note: click on pictures for full size view.

It’s been a wet year.  And we’re racing into winter with waterlogged fields and over-flowing creeks.  The snow will soon cover this frozen landscape, and then all we can do is to wait for floods in the spring.

Sounds depressing.  But despite the wet trail, and a biting northwest wind, our energetic group of fourteen hikers made record time along this 8.8 kilometre stretch of the Rideau Trail between Smiths Falls and Port Elmsley, enjoying every minute of the soggy experience.

The photos show a determined group who weren’t in the slightest way deterred by the terrain.  It was an adventure.  And we all emerged onto the road amazingly dry.  The carnage in the final field was quite a sight.  Deep muddy ruts and water-filled trenches had turned the fields into a quagmire.  Some crazy person had tried to drive a car into the field, and there it sat, buried up to the axels in mud which will freeze solid any day now.  What was the driver thinking? 

In the meantime we had picked our way carefully through the minefield and were congratulating ourselves on yet another splendid walk. 

“Undeterred” would be the right word for our team today:  a characteristic common among those who are to be found exploring this amazing Rideau Trail.

A  determined group of walkers heads west from Poonamalie Side Road

A light dusting of snow under foot

Plenty of soggy patches

Navigating the flooded cart track

Quagmire in the final fields approaching Port Elmsley

Now (what) was this person thinking?

Old Bob

Fri. 24 November:  Old Bob

A grand viewpoint above Westport Sand Lake

Note: click on pictures for full size view.

I don’t know who Old Bob was, but he has a fine viewpoint above Westport Sand Lake named after him. 

Unfortunately someone keeps taking the sign down at the lookout point.  Every time I stop here, I end up reattaching the sign to the tree.  Not that you need to be told there’s a view here.  It stares you in the face – a magnificent rocky outcrop from which you can enjoy a bird’s eye view of the lake and, off to the left, the spires of Westport village.

So once again I applied some spare duct tape to the sign – but I hope someone might make a more permanent fix.

This ten kilometre circuit of Westport Sand Lake is worth the effort.  The first seven kilometres follow the route of the Rideau Trail, climbing steeply from Lions Beach up onto the top of the escarpment, and along an often waterlogged route to the western end of the lake, then dropping down onto Concession Road 9 heading southwards. 

Apart from Old Bob’s Lookout, the best view is just before you drop down off the escarpment onto the road.  Here you get an enticing glimpse of rural Eastern Ontario stretching away to a distant lake, framed by the trees. 

Of course, I wouldn’t particularly recommend County Road 12 for a quiet stroll. But today there was hardly any traffic on it, and it made for a speedy three kilometre, mostly downhill, journey back into Westport, the wind at my back.  It worked for me.  For hikers with just one vehicle, looking for a nice circuit, this is it.  Why not try it out before the snow flies?

A sunny November morning 

Ice is forming very quickly now

Lively stream 

Lions Beach, Westport

My 10.4 km journey was mostly on the Rideau Trail (7.0 km)

Escaping the Hunt

Tues. 7 November:  Escaping the Hunt

Lake Ontario from the waterfront trail

Where to go during hunting season?  Try the City of Kingston. 

Today I biked thirty kilometres around the city, seeing only scattered other trail users.  It may have been a cool day, temperatures just reaching five degrees Celsius, but the sun appeared out of an early morning cloud cover, and there was hardly a breath of wind. 

Kingston City Hall on a cool November morning

Perhaps the reader might already have stored away their bike for the winter.  But there are often perfect cycling days in November such as this one, and it was certainly safer than hiking into hunting country.

The route

In Search of Perfection

Sat. 4 November:  In Search of Perfection

Big Rideau Lake from Murphys Point Park

In a bygone age, I would sit in the back of the car with my siblings as my dad drove down yet another bumpy side road on the search for the perfect picnic site.  We would call these trips “walks in the car”. 

Today we hiked a unique eleven kilometre loop around Murphys Point Provincial Park.  This route was inspired by the vision of the perfect hike.  And perhaps we came close to succeeding.  Woodland avenues with a carpet of leaves, lakeside viewpoints, beaches and even a small island, and (on a more practical note) convenient rest stops and picnic tables!  

Eleven magical kilometres

The sun shone through the bare trees and turned the waters silver.  The seventeen hikers were kindred spirits in this magical landscape.  

There may be more spectacular places on earth, but this corner of Canada came close to perfection today.

Cataraqui Cycle

Fri. 22 September:  Cataraqui Cycle

No photos today!  Perhaps I should leave my camera behind more often.  It would not have done justice to the typical scenery along the route of the Cataraqui Trail, with kilometre after kilometre of tree-lined, grass-covered pathway, sprinkled with newly-fallen leaves:  a multitude of subtly changing colours and shadows. 

I travelled fifty kilometres in four hours, starting at the well-positioned Lombardy Fairgrounds and heading south all the way to Forfar – for a well-earned ice cream (of course).   On the return journey I side-tracked into Portland to relax in the idyllic Hanna Park beside Rideau Lake, a picture-postcard setting.

Make the best of this amazing early Fall weather and travel the Cataraqui Trail - and don't bother with a camera.

Echoes of the Past

Fri. 15 September:  Echoes of the Past

It's that time of year again

Note: click on pictures for full size view.

You can never have too much of a good thing – so they say.   And so, early today, I was back in Tichborne, heading south on the K&P Trail on my bike.   It was a familiar journey through the woods, beside lakes and swamps, across green fields, past farms.  I turned around at Godfrey, a wide spot along Highway 38 at the Westport Road junction, where there’s a gas station and general store.

Returning northwards, I noticed a twisted rusty metal post beside the trail, with a diamond shaped top which had a faded capital W marked on it.   Perhaps many passers-by would not even notice it.  But here was an echo of the past:  this sign indicated to the engine-drivers of the steam trains that they should blow their whistle.  Somehow, while all other traces of the old railway line had long since been swept away, this one sign had survived.  It didn’t take a lot of imagination to hear the sound of the train whistle carrying across the fields.

I had seen no other people on my travels today, apart from a speeding quad driver who came round the corner at top speed and had to slam  on his brakes, before disappearing ahead of me in a cloud of dust.  Sorry, but I’m not a fan of speeding ATV’s on a joint-use trail.  But nearing Fish Creek, I met a man on a bike.  I asked him where he was heading.  He replied, to my surprise, that he had started off in Kingston in the early morning mist, and was about to return there, a round trip of 120 km or more.  Judging by the speed with which he accelerated away, he’d be home by early afternoon. 

Biking at my own steady pace, I caught a heron unaware (not easy to do) as it sat beside a lake.  It quickly took off across the water.  I watched a small turtle cross the trail and hide in the grass, and I followed a colorful green frog hopping into the ditch.  In no hurry, I stopped for lunch on a slab of rock beside Fish Creek – a tiny tumbling stream.

Continuing north past Tichborne, I followed the route of the old K&P line north from Bradshaw Road to see if any progress had been made yet on the new trail.  It still lay untouched, a forgotten, enchanted pathway through the woods, leading to the flooded section which last time I had christened “the canal”. 

Beside the line, hidden in the trees, were the old telegraph poles, many still with their glass insulators on them.  I hadn’t noticed them before.  Here was another echo of the past.  I enjoyed the challenge of finding each post, well camouflaged by the woods which had grown up along the route since the closing of the railway decades ago.

There’s always something new to discover, if you give yourself time to find it.  

Spot the heron...

...which quickly takes to the wing

Godfrey and a friendly general store

Beside Hwy 38 heading north

The forgotten whistle sign

A scenic trail

One of several rock cuts

Small turtle trying to hide

Nice new bridge across the swamp

ATV disappearing in a cloud of dust

Speedy biker from Kingston

Lunch beside Fish Creek

Fall colours north of Fish Creek Road

End of the dry trail north of  Bradshaw Road

Old telegraph poles hidden in the trees

Eagle Lake, north of Tichborne

Fox cub having a good scratch