A Toss-Up

Sun. 22 January:  A Toss-Up

St. Anthony the Great

We were in no danger today of getting lost.  For we had St. Anthony on our side, patron saint of lost things!   Or so we thought.*

But we still had a bit of a dilemma at the start of today’s 13.7 km hike.  Would it be snow-shoes or just icers?  It was a toss-up, and we were about equally split in our choice.  In the end, either selection worked.

This is mid-winter in Canada.  Yet temperatures were two or three degrees above freezing, and the snow was starting to get slushy.  How crazy was that?  Luckily we were still able to walk across the ice as we threaded through the swamps and across beaver dams.

Our walk took us down the Rideau Trail from Long Lake Road in the north to St. Anthony’s Coptic Christian Monastery, hidden in the trees neat the end of an icy Miners Point Road.   This was the continuation of the “Winter End-to-End” adventure.  Since I had last joined this hardy group, they had progressed a further twenty eight kilometres, all the way from Westport Lake up to Miners Point Road, in two long stages.  For logistical reasons, we walk each leg in a north-to-south direction.

Today’s journey took us through snow-covered, rolling woodland, into Murphys Point Provincial Park, where we enjoyed lunch in the luxury of the Lally Homestead warming hut – although it was warm enough today that we didn’t need to light the stove.

There were no ski tracks through the Park due to the poor snow conditions. Black Ance Road was a sheet of ice - easily navigated with icers.  Our final leg, through the mysterious land of frozen swamps, was a great way to finish off yet another successful day on the Rideau Trail.

And as far as I know, nobody lost anything!

*religious scholars will correctly point out that this particular St. Anthony is actually St. Anthony the Great, while the patron saint of lost things is another St. Anthony,  of Padua - but we didn't know that on our hike - and it made for some good conversation.

Note: click on pictures for full size view.

A toss-up:  snow-shoes or spikes?

Setting off from Long Lake Road

Through a beech grove

The end-to-enders

A favourite landmark on the trail

This grouse was a little more than just ruffled!

Swampland north of Lally

Approaching Lally Homestead

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=INKnnZ2Gu1g

Black Creek

McParlan House (1814)

Threading our way through the swamps

Gnarled trees and icy reflections

The final beaver dam

Reaching our destination

Our route

Contours