The Passionate Hiker: END OF THE LINE

END OF THE LINE

Well, it's all right, riding around in the breeze

Well, it's all right, if you live the life you please

Well, it's all right, even if the sun don't shine

Well, it's all right, we're going to the end of the line

Song by Traveling Wilburys ‧ 1988

Songwriters: George Harrison / Bob Dylan / Jeff Lynne / Roy K. Orbison / Thomas Earl Petty

Today I completed the final section of the Ottawa Valley Recreational Trail/Algonquin Trail, north of Chalk River.

I have now biked the whole length of the trail from Sturgess Road, north of Smiths Falls, to Bissett Creek (which is about 50 km short of Mattawa), a distance of 247 km. And since every trip was out and back, I’ve actually biked the trail twice!

It’s possible that Bissett Creek will remain the end of the trail for a while. The rail bridge which crosses the busy Highway 17 is not in good shape, and the funding apparently isn’t there to fix it. Beyond the bridge there are still fifty three kilometres of line before you reach Mattawa. So in the meantime, this is where the OVRT ends.

This little chart shows the main milestones along the route. Thanks to the amazing work of the various counties and municipalities along the trail, the surface is stone dust the whole way, ideal for cyclists.

The most spectacular features are all the river crossings: you cross over the Mississippi River three times (Carleton Place, Almonte, Pakenham), the Madawaska at Arnprior, the Bonnechere at Renfrew, Muskrat River at Pembroke, the Petawawa River at Petawawa (perhaps the most spectacular of them all), and, further north, Mackey Creek, an arm of the flooded Ottawa River. In three sections, you follow the edge of the Ottawa River itself, first between Arnprior and Renfrew, then through Pembroke, and finally at the northern end of the trail, north of Mackey Creek.

The further north you go, the fewer cyclists you meet. North of Petawawa, all the way north to Bissett Creek, I met just three cyclists, all local residents. This is ATV country, yet on a typical weekday, there are not many of them on the trail. And with one exception of a speeding motorbike, every ATV we met slowed right down and exchanged friendly greetings. Many thanks to the ATV riders, who would not have been expecting cyclists on the trail. Most of the time I felt like a cycling pioneer in an almost empty world.

I hope this article will encourage more cyclists to explore the northern sections of this trail. It needs to be discovered.