Mon.
14 May:
The
Rideau Trail 2018 End-to-End Hikes:
6A.
Maple Leaf Road (05D) to Upper Rock Lake Blue Side Trail Junction (05F)
Note: click on pictures for full size view.
The Trillium Trail.
Today’s display of newly opened trilliums was
breathtaking. It was trilliums which
outshone every other wildflower, both beside the Cataraqui Trail and also along
the woodland paths further into today’s hike.
This was a catch-up hike for the End-to-End series, so
for anyone following this story, this is last Saturday’s hike – or the first half
of it. I will complete the other half
later this week.
Beautiful spring sunshine, cool breeze at my
back. Walking just doesn’t get any
better than this.
For those interested in logistics, I had hidden my
bike beside the Opinicon Road at the trailhead for the Upper Rock Lake blue
trail. It was only 6.8 km back to the
car. The road was like a roller-coaster –
a steep one – so it took some extra effort – well worth it.
We have a long way to go before we can celebrate, but by
the end of today I was ten kilometres further along the trail.
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| Trilliums in full bloom |
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| Cataraqui Trail at Maple Leaf Road |
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| Swamp crossing |
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| Beautiful walking (or biking) Trail |
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| Cooling breeze at my back |
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| MacGillivray Road - one of the few biffies along the Rideau Trail |
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| 55 km from Smiths Falls on the Cataraqui Trail |
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| Culvert beside the trail |
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| A rare bench - looking out to Stonehouse Lake |
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| You really DO have to look out for falling rocks here |
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| Tent caterpillars all over the trees |
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Just to prove that it was The Passionate Hiker on this trip -
so I can claim my end-to-end badge when I'm done! |
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| Here the Rideau Trail leaves the Cataraqui Trail |
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| Into rugged Shield country |
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Strangely bare forest floor. Which way to go?
There is one RT sign - can you spot it? |
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| More typical of the route |
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| High viewpoint looking back down to the Carataqui Trail |
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| Lots of ups and downs |
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End of today's hike: junction with the
Upper Rock Lake blue side trail |
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Upper Rock Lake and my transport back to the car |
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Today's stats for the E2E portion only
(to junction of main trail and blue side trail) |
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