The Rideau Trail 2018 End-to-End Hikes: 15. Smiths Falls (Cornelia Court) (12A+) to Rosedale/Wood Roads (12F)

Sun. 19 August: 

The Rideau Trail 2018 End-to-End Hikes: 

15. Smiths Falls (Cornelia Court) (12A+) to Rosedale/Wood Roads (12F)

Note: click on pictures for full size view.

A special highlight of the Rideau Trail is the all too rare occasion where it meets the Rideau Canal, on their very different journeys between Kingston and Ottawa.

Smiths Falls is a spectacular example.  Here the trail meets the canal upstream of the combined lock - deepest lock on the canal - and follows the canal downstream through beautiful riverside parkland to Old Sly’s Locks, before heading off once more on its own course.

This town is also home to the rapidly expanding cannabis producer, Canopy Growth.  As we walked past the facility, impressed by the extent of construction work under way on a Sunday morning, we were reminded of those magical days when this was the Hershey chocolate factory, and hikers would drop in for a free sample.

Long stretches of country roads led us through the farmland of Montague Township.  Here at the junction of Rosedale and Wood Roads, the Central section of the trail ends.  From here on, it should be downhill all the way to Ottawa – perhaps.

Gathering at Cornelia Court

Trail and Canal side-by-side

Le Boat has helped to transform the Rideau Canal experience

Combined Lock - a 26 ft (7.9 m) lift

Crossing the old line of locks in Smiths Falls

Rideau Canal and Lower Reach Park

Old Sly's Locks

Old Sly's opens up

No free samples from this place any more:  the Hershey chocolate factory
is now home of the Tweed (Canopy Growth) marijuana growing operation

An old-fashioned feel to this eastern edge of town

The underpass beneath Smiths Falls' many rail lines

Striding out along Matheson Drive

The fields of Montague Township

Unexpected Mustang procession

And that completes the Central section of the Rideau Trail!