The Passionate Hiker: The Winter Walkers

10-12 February: The Winter Walkers

The winter walkers

Note: click on pictures for full size view.

There’s something different about these end-to-enders, steadily making their way along the Rideau Trail in the depths of winter. This particular weekend, we travelled over thirty six kilometres.

The snow was falling briskly, coming in at an angle that fogged up my glasses every few seconds. Our snowshoes plowed through the soft snow cover, hitting the frozen crusty surface below. The temperatures were around minus 12C. We had already done five kilometres and had twice as much ahead of us. One of my fellow hikers turned to me with a large grin on his face: “Isn’t this wonderful?” he exclaimed. I did a double-take, but he was serious – no question about it. “What better way” he added “to appreciate this country than to travel through it on a snowy day”.

And indeed, we all agreed with him. We may have looked like a strange group, making our way along the Rideau Trail on a Sunday morning when most people would still be tucked in their beds, but we, like our colleague, were glad to be there.

Our weekend adventure had started on the Friday night with a so-called “moonlight hike”, under cloudy skies and a light snowfall. So much for the moonlight. But as we headed south out of Perth, leaving the last street lamp behind us, we immediately knew we were on an adventure.

This was a short hike of 6.7 kilometres, from Conlon Farm in Perth to Ferrier Road, passing through fields, alongside roads, and into the woods. It might have been quite easy to have strayed off course through the trees in the dark, but we were on the lookout for the orange trail triangles, which led us safely to our destination.

The following morning we were on the trail promptly, heading south through more rugged countryside to Long Lake Road, on a journey of just less than sixteen kilometres. A light snow, almost a freezing rain, drifted down, but there was no wind and conditions were ideal for a winter walk. We were glad of our snowshoes today. The nine hikers had settled into a rhythm, and we made steady progress through the woods, across a swamp, up and down the rolling terrain. The middle stretch along roads allowed us to pick up the pace. Nevertheless, we stopped to admire a group of Shetland ponies which came to the gate to greet us. And so day two quickly passed, and we had already travelled twenty two kilometres.

It was an even earlier start on the Sunday for our final stretch of 13.6 kilometres. Heavy snowfall was forecast. The snow was soon falling steadily as we raced to complete the first unappetising few kilometres beside Highway 43 – thankfully fairly quiet this early on a Sunday. The fields and woodland were almost totally flat – a change from the previous day – but there was plenty to see: wild turkeys nesting in the trees, plump robins busy feeding on the berries, footprints in the snow: deer, hares, other less common wildlife. The previous day someone had seen a fisher darting silently across the trail behind us.

Arriving on the banks of the Tay Canal, we felt that we were almost home, but this stretch of trail is longer than you might think. By the time we arrived in Perth, we were glad to rest as our resident photographer captured our group posing in front of Town Hall on a quiet, snowy street.

And then it was all over. We arrived at Conlon Farm where several kids were enjoying the new snowfall. A pet dog whizzed down the slide. We weren’t the only people enjoying the Canadian winter experience. Unlike the kids, however, some of us ended up in the local pub for a well-earned refreshment!

This had been an energetic weekend, but there is plenty more ahead of us when we tackle the final stretch of trail later this month. And the enthusiasm just keeps growing. These end-to-enders are a special breed.