30 Seconds of Faith - Day 9 - 1 November 2014

Since we have made it so far along the Rideau Trail, it now takes just under an hour to get to our starting point on the Rideau Trail. With the longer drive we make sure to hike long enough to make the drive worthwhile, so we are consistently doing 17km sections. Today's section of the trail took us from the middle of nowhere, west into the town of Smith's Fall. We figured that we even though we would be ending our day on pavement it would be nice to finish in a town.

With the forecast for rain turning into snow, I wasn't sure how the day would unfold, but thankfully there was no precipitation of any kind and in spite of a chilly wind, it was quite a nice day for hiking. The trail started on a gravel road, then turned into a a dirt track, back onto gravel roads and then most of the day was on paved roads. While we were on the dirt track, it was really nice. We were sheltered  from the wind and with most of the leaves gone from the trees we were afforded a good view through the forest. We heard a few gunshots, as it was the first day of the deer hunting season, but they were relatively far away and we were wearing bright orange, so still felt safe. Along the gravel roads, we passed by some pretty farms though and came upon this horse with beautiful pinto colouring.

Walking along the paved roads isn't really our favourite thing to do and the Rideau Trail follows many more kilometeres of pavement than I had anticipated. We try to make the best of it even though it's not particularly pleasant or interesting.

The long, straight, paved road ahead

We stopped for a snack on the patch of grass under this farm's sign. The house wasn't very far away, so I'm sure the people who lived there were wondering what on earth we were doing!

Rolla enjoying lunch - and sporting her bright orange NDP toque :-)

Along the way we saw a sheep farm. Those are the first sheep we've seen along the way!

We've been seeing these hearts and arrows spray painted along some of the paved roads the last few times we've been out.

My friend Lucy rode her bike across Canada this summer and also noticed these same type of spray painted hearts and arrows on roads in Quebec. My guess is that they mark the way for one of those charity bike rides for the Heart & Stroke Foundation or something. It's funny that we're seeing them here in Eastern Ontario and she saw them near the Gaspé Peninsula in Québec!

The Rideau Trail took us right through the town of Smith's Falls where we passed what was once a Hershey's chocolate factory, part of which is now being used by a company called Tweed to grow medical marijuana.

The writing at the bottom of the sign says "Here's to Future Growth"

While walking past this building we were downwind and there was a very strong marijuana smell - there were houses very close by, so I can't imagine what it would be like to live there smelling that all the time!

The last 300 metres of the trail were by far the nicest of the day. There was a narrow path that led us down to the shore of the Rideau Canal.

There was a park with a picnic table (yay!) where we stopped for one last snack and the timing was perfect to see a Via Rail passenger train to go over the railway bridge over the Rideau Canal.

The trail then led us up through the locks, which had a pretty significant drop, so it was impressive to see them empty

Looking back at the railway bridge and along the canal where we had come from

Zuzka at the locks.

Rolla ready to climb up the steep stone stairs.

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Walking along the top of the closed lock was a bit unnerving because it was such a long drop to the bottom of the empty lock below

On the other side of the locks there was a small park and we couldn't tell which way to take, but we knew that Rolla's car was parked just on the other side of the Rideau River, so we went in the direction we thought was right. Sure enough, after crossing the park, we found a narrow trail and a Rideau Trail marker.

The trail is very well marked, but sometimes there are only trail markers after an intersection, thankfully though it is usually quite obvious at the intersection which way to go. This does create a few moments of uncertainty where Rolla and I always remark to each other "do you think is this the right way? Have you seen a trail marker?" But sure enough a few moments later we are always relieved to see a little orange triangle attached to a tree, post or even painted onto a wall. I keep reminding myself that I just need 30 seconds of faith before I question the route we have taken because inevitably a trail marker will appear within 30 seconds. I've been thinking that perhaps having an extra 30 seconds of faith in something, or someone, is a good lesson for life and not just for hiking the Rideau Trail. ... profound thoughts for a blog about hiking! 

Since we were quite chilled when we finished our hike, we stopped at the Tim Horton's in Smith's Falls for some soup and tea to warm us up. We have decided to change from having gatorade at the end each hike to having tea. The cooler weather has arrived!

Statistics:

Start Point - Intersection of Burchill and McConnell Roads

End Pont - 12C

Time - 4 hours 

Daily Distance - 17 km

Total Distance - 120 km

Number of dogs that barked at us as we walked past along the road - at least 5

Century Celebration! - Day 8 - 13 October 2014

Thanksgiving Monday seemed like an auspicious day for a hike, so we set out for our 8th day of hiking on the Rideau Trail - wondering what type of adventures the trail would bring us!  We started in the middle of nowhere, parking at the intersection of two gravel roads and immediately headed into the the forest on a disused road (well maybe used by people riding ATVs). It was a lovely fall morning, chilly and clear, with many leaves on ground and some still in the trees. The track was dry (!!) and it was lovely walking.

Carpet of leaves covering the track

Not far along we crossed this pretty creek (we would cross this creek two more times throughout the day. This section of trail did not take a very direct route!)

Creek crossing #1 (thankfully there were bridges each time!)

The trail followed old roads/tracks for about 7 km through beautiful fall forest. Unlike last time, we were prepared for hunting season, wearing bright colours, but we didn't hear a single gunshot although we did see a sign that said "caution active hunting in area". I was sure glad I had a neon orange hat on and a neon yellow and orange vest on covering my pack.

Rolla and Zuzka rockin' the high visibility colours. Safety first! 

The Rideau Trail then led us to a secondary highway where we walked along the shoulder. After only a kilometre or so, we entered Merrickville. The first proper town we've been to along the way!

  Merrickville is a quaint historic town with locks along the Rideau Canal. There was once a mill on the Rideau River adjacent to the Locks, which is now a historic site. The entire Rideau Canal is a Parks Canada National Historic Site and we were delighted to have our morning lunch (we usually eat two small lunches) at this beautiful location at the Merrickville Locks National Historic Site. It was so nice to eat at a proper picnic spot - and such a beautiful one too!

Best lunch location yet!

Parks Canada Adirondack chairs were very much appreciated!

View from the chairs

After our break, we crossed the river and then walked along the actual Rideau Canal locks. I took lots of photos for my Dad :-)

Inspiration for our next adventure? Canoeing the Rideau Canal and portaging the locks...

Rolla walking alongside the Merrickville Locks

Open lock

Looking up at a closed lock

Almost empty lock

 

The following 9.3 km were all along roads. While it was a beautiful day, walking along the side of a paved road with no shoulder, facing oncoming traffic isn't that pleasant. I find it's hard on my knees and hips walking on the pavement and Rolla finds her feet don't appreciate the hard pavement either. I was impressed though that most of the oncoming traffic gave us lots of space and pulled into the other lane. When they did this, I made sure to give them a wave and smile in appreciation. As we have yet to meet any other hikers doing the Rideau Trail, I wonder if the locals are used to seeing hikers along that stretch of road or if we looked out of place! 

We walked under a train bridge and not long after, a train went over it and I managed to catch this photo of it passing. It's kind of hard to see, but there are two engines on the bridge!

About 3 km from the end was another set of locks with a picnic site and this was within a few hundred metres of our 100 km mark, so we took this opportunity for a much needed rest, our second lunch and a celebration of the "century" (100 km) that we had walked! I figured pink champagne was exactly what we would need to mark the occasion, along with some fancy cookies from my favourite bakery.

Pouring the champagne. Rolla couldn't believe I had carried that all day. It was totally worth it :-)

Champagne and leaf-shaped decorated cookies (camouflaged in with real leaves!)

Woohoo, we've walked 100 kms! 1/3 of the way to Kingston!

We finished off the final few kilometres of the day with me guessing that we would arrive in Burritt's Rapids (where we had parked Rolla's car) "just after the next straight section" or "just around the next curve". After a few iterations of this, it was finally true and we came to the car, a bit sore after all the pavement walking but still in good spirits :-)

Statistics:

Start Point - Intersection of Burchill and McConnell Roads
End Pont - 14A
Time - 4 hours 20 minutes
Daily Distance - 17.3 km
Total Distance - 103 km
Number of moquitoes - zero!
Number of woolly bear caterpillars we saw on the side of the road - countless!
Volume of pink champagne drank - 200 ml.

Bang! Bang! - Day 7 - 20 September 2014

This morning we arrived at the trailhead parking lot on Roger Steven's Drive in the Marlborough Forest and couldn't believe our eyes - there were already 3 cars parked there! Just as we arrived a man and his dog came and then just a few minutes down the trail we saw two more people each with dogs. I guess that's where people walk there dogs on Saturday mornings (when it isn't pouring rain).

Cars in the parking lot!

 This is the same parking lot we started at last week and it was completely deserted then. This time we would be walking south towards Burritts Rapids because I couldn't bear the thought of finishing the hike in this mosquito infested parking lot! Although I didn't think to take a photo of it, I would like to note that there was a "no hunting" sign at this trail head.

The trail was in very good condition and not far along we went past a nice pond that I think was a constructed wetland. Thank you Ducks Unlimited! Rolla and I had a conversation about how Ducks Unlimited is an interesting organization in that it promotes conversation so that people have animals to hunt. Maybe we should have taken this as a sign that if Ducks Unlimited was doing conservation work in the area, that it would be used for hunting.

The trail was often a double-track gavel road that was in very good condition compared to most that we have hiked upon so far. We heard the "bang bang" of a few gunshots. A sound that has become familiar after hearing it frequently during our last few hikes. I guess we really are out in the rural Ontario! A ways along we came to an intersection and came upon a group of men wearing hunting camouflage and one guy had an orange hat (safety first!). They were hanging around the tailgate of their vehicle and had their gun leaning up against the tailgate (eek! Even though I'm from Alberta, I'm not used to seeing guns around). I was totally shocked to see people hunting here. I thought that a) hunting season didn't start until Oct 1st b) there had been a "no hunting" sign at the trail head. After thinking about this, I think that sign only applied to the small conservation area near the pond.  We were both a little unnerved to be walking through the forest when we knew there were people hunting, but we continued on.

Somewhere along the gravel road we missed the turn off for the Rideau Trail and didn't realise until well after, but after looking at the map we realised we weren't too far off course and decided to continue along the road and then hook up with the Rideau Trail further along. This was the first time we had lost the Rideau Trail and it was totally our fault because we were so busy chatting that we weren't paying attention to the signs. Today was really turning into quite an adventure! Thanks to our excellent navigation skills (when we're paying attention) we caught back up with the trail with no problem.

Farther along there was a lovely section of trail that people had put some time into maintaining and even made their own sign for it!

Somewhere past this section we saw a beautiful big grouse. It ran away before I could get a photo though. Not long after that we heard a whistle and then someone shouted "hunters!" so I shouted back "hikers!". It turns out we were just metres away from a father and son with their dog. The man was rested his rifle against the front of his chest/shoulder, so I figured he looked like Elmer Fudd. Both of them and even their dog had on orange hats! It was very cute.  They were quite friendly so I asked them what they hunting and they said grouse. Go figure! They also said that today was the first day of grouse hunting season. uh-oh. There were going to excited, un-practiced, trigger-happy hunters out there.

Because tomorrow is the Army Run, I had decided to wear my Army Run t-shirt (also because it was supposed to warm and muggy, so I wanted a top that was breathable with long sleeves). The shirt is Canadian Disruptive Camouflage Pattern (CADPAT), and I also happened to be wearing a khaki hat and kahki pants. Needless to say, except for my light blue pack, I blended in well with the forest. I wasn't feeling too safe about this, so I threw my bright yellow rain coat over my pack so that I would be a bit more visible. The trail continued along sections of the double-track gravel road and then it turned off onto a less well used track. I decided that to be even more visible I would turn my shirt inside out because it is white on the inside.

Am I visible?

Not far along this track, pretty much just inside the treed section you can see in the background of the above photo, we heard "crack, crack, crack". Gunshots that were so close that it was a "crack" sound instead of a "bang". I've gotta admit that I, Zuzka, was scared (that doesn't happen very often and I admit it even less often!). I figured it wasn't worth it to walk through the forest and take an unnecessary risk just to stick to the Rideau Trail, when after a quick map check I realised that we could go back to the gravel road and that would take us out of the Marlborough Forest and out of hunting territory. We only had about 5km left in the hike and we would be hitting rural residential area soon. So we re-routed and went back to the safety of the gravel road. However, we soon came upon three young guys clearing empty birdshot casings out of their guns at their truck. There were about 4-5 empty ammo boxes strewn about. I think those guys just about jumped out of their boots they were so surprised to see us come walking along that road! I asked them if they had any luck (since obviously they had taken quite a few shots!) and they said they had seen 5 grouse, but hadn't gotten any. Yikes, I'm so glad that we didn't go through the forest because they obviously weren't very accurate shooters! The gravel access road soon led us to a parking lot on a main gravel road and there we surprised 2 older hunter men who were having a picnic on the tailgate of their truck. Again, I think we scared them walking out of the forest on the gravel access road! They were quite cute and reminded me of my Grandad. I'm pretty sure their wives had made them a nice picnic lunch complete with a thermos of coffee/tea and nice little cups to drink from. aww :-) 

The trail finished off going along an overgrown, wet snowmobile track and then through some fallow farmers fields and then we walked through the hamlet of Burritts Rapids, an historic town on the Rideau River with some locks and finished on the south side of the Rideau River. Burritts Rapids is in the next municipality, we had finally left Ottawa! It has taken us 7 days to walk out of Ottawa. Seeing the results of the amalgamation of the Ottawa and Carleton municipalities first hand really makes me wonder how the City of Ottawa can try to govern and provide services to such disparate, diverse and far-flung residents.

Rideau River. The first time we've seen it!

Historic Community Hall in Burritts Rapids

Burritts Rapids was established by Col Stephen Burritt and his family in 1793. I like to think that this was his house!

Swing bridge over the canal, so if a tall boat comes along it swings (rather than raises) out of the way. Built in 1897.

We finished the hike just on the other side of the bridge and as has become tradition enjoyed cold gatorade in the parking lot.

Statistics:
Start Point - 15B
End Point - 14A
Time - 3 hours 45 minutes
Daily Distance -  15.3 km
Total Distance - 85.7 km
Number of hunting rifles we saw - 4
Number of guns that looked more like a military C7 than a hunting rifle - 1
Lesson learned: Always check the start dates of various animal hunting seasons

What Rain? - Day 6 - 6 September 2014

After a week off hiking, we had been anticipating this hike all week long and as always seems to be the case, the Rideau Trail didn't disappoint in giving us an adventure! To be fair, it wasn't the trail this time, rather the weather. Friday evening there was a massive thunderstorm in Ottawa, but the forecast for Saturday was still nice, +20 and sunny. Except I woke up to the sound of pouring rain in morning. So it would turn out to be a gaiters kinda day!

Rolla and I met at the parking lot of a mini-golf where we had started our hike last time. We had asked the owner if we could park there and he was more than happy to let us . He was friendly and very interested in our hike. Last time he told us that the route would be impassible, and today I told him that he was right. We made it through, but it wasn't a great route. Today he told us that the area we would be hiking through would be drier. So we parked and drove south down to a trailhead parking lot in Marlborough Forest. We would be hiking north through the Marlborough Forest for much of the hike today.

As soon as we got out of my car, into the rain, the mosquitoes swarmed in. Mozzies in September?!

You can see the rain, but you can't see the bugs!

You'll notice that both of us are wearing yellow jackets. Rolla's husband calls her jacket "Old Yeller" since she's had it for years and mine is "New Yeller" since I've had for only a couple of years. Old and New Yeller did their jobs today and kept the rain off us. It was so humid and warm though that soon we were both sweating underneath our hats, jackets and rain pants.

The trail wound through the dense forest and of course there were some water-covered sections. We were surrounded by water; trekking through the large puddles below and the rain came down pretty hard for a while from above!

We have seen many, many frogs along the trail. As you walk alongside the puddles they jump into water with a "plop!" and swim away. Here is one little frog that we saw along a drier section of the trail.

The trail through the Marlborough Forest changed into a rock/gravel road which was really good walking. However it was really, really pouring rain! Thankfully the rain started to let up and we even saw a patch of blue sky!

Blue sky!

Even with the rain it was lovely walking through the forest. Walking through the trees, it felt like my "forest batteries" were recharged. I find if I don't get out into the forest regularly I just feel "off".  It's so nice to be out in the peace and calm of the forest. Both us felt that we had missed hiking the last weekend and we were both happy to be out getting some fresh air and exercise. Thankfully after a few hours the weather turned in our favour and it stopped raining. Yay!

Today's hike had us crossing an active rail line and we even heard a train blowing its whistle when we were about a 1km away. Rolla was brave enough to stand on the tracks for a picture!

Note Rolla's brand-new gaiters which were well used today.

We had been walking in dense forest from the start of the trail until the railway crossing and then once we crossed the tracks there were a few houses. I was surprised to see houses because it felt like we were out in the middle of nowhere! The trail went along the road for a bit and then turned north onto a "farm track". I've become suspicious of when the trail is described as a "track" because it seems to mean that it's not so much a trail at all! In this case, there was a herd of cattle hanging out on the track. At first the cows looked cute poking their heads through the fence and they were scared and ran away from us. Then as we went closer, they started mooing menacingly and ALL of them turned towards us to stare us down and wouldn't move. I missed not having Kizza with us as she grew up on a cattle ranch and was telling us how she's somewhat of a "cow whisperer" (my words not hers!) We certainly could have used her skills!

It's a fairly odd feeling having a herd of cows staring you down.

Rather than tangle with the cows, we detoured along the fence of their pasture that went parallel with the track about 100 ft east until we passed the herd. Then we climbed the fence, cut through the brush east back to meet up with the track. The cows had scattered into the forest and we could still hear them mooing for some time but we didn't seem any more. Phew, we escaped having a cow incident!

Farther along the the track opened up into a field with an old homestead. The rain had stopped and there was a breeze keep the bugs away so we stopped for lunch. It had been too rainy and too buggy up until then to even stop for a snack. After hiking non-stop for a few hours our legs were happy for the rest.
 

Long sleeves. Long pants.

After checking the map we realised we only had about 1 km left on the track and then the remaining 8 km of the day would be along roads. The weather was really nice for the rest of the hike, but the time passes more slowly walking along a road than on a trail and we can really feel the effect of walking on hard asphalt on our feet and knees. Plus, but the last couple kilometres we were pretty tired, so they felt much longer than the first few kilometres at the start of the day.

We did make it back to the mini-golf parking lot and were delighted to have cold gatorade waiting for us in the car. We went inside to let the mini-golf owner know that we had arrived back safely . He was happy to see us and told us that he had been thinking about us when it was pouring rain earlier in the morning. He asked whether we had hidden under a tree for shelter during the rain and looked very surprised when we said that no, we just continued walking along in the rain! As we left he gave us each a lollipop sucker that he usually gives for getting a  hole-in-one. He said that even though we didn't get a hole-in-one, we still deserved a sucker! I meant to get a picture of him, but I forgot, which is too bad because he was such a nice man. We'll miss not seeing him at the beginning and end our hikes. But it's a great feeling that we're progressing farther and farther south towards Kingston with each day we go out hiking.

Statistics:
Start Point - 15B
End Point - 16C
Time - 4.5 hours
Daily Distance - 17.7 km
Total Distance - 70.4 km
Liquorice flavoured suckers mistaken for grape flavoured suckers - 2
Rusted out car wrecks in the middle of nowhere alongside the trail - 1

Lessons Learned - Day 5 - August 2014

The map shows today's route as having many long, straight stretches. I thought that meant it would be a lot of walking along roads. The map description mentions the trail going along a "track" in a few sections. It also mentions that one section of the trail is on a  "road allowance" (<-- what is that?) and that it may be "overgrown in muddy in places". ...if only it had just been mud!

We had a guest star hiking with us today, my friend Kizza joined us for the day and little did she (or any of us!) know what we were getting in to! It all started off nicely walking along a gravel road and we made really good time.

We shepherded this turtle into the ditch as it had picked a dangerous spot in the middle of the road to sun itself.

Then the trail turned on to the "road allowance" that started off with this sign

"unopen"? aka "closed"?

Not far along was this bridge made specifically for the Rideau Trail users :-)

But then we came upon lengthy sections of the trail that were completely under water.

We didn't find much mud, but we did find lots of water!

 I felt bad because I had told Kizza that we would be walking on roads so she wore her running shoes and had to hike through this "puddle" that was probably about 2 kms long in running shoes - but she didn't complain once!  Thankfully the trail dried up after a few kilometres of wet and we turned on to a snowmobile trail. I learned that in the summer, snowmobile trails are covered in long grass, which we were completely unprepared for, only wearing shorts.

Kizza breaking trail through the grass.

Other sections of the trail were also quite overgrown.

Yep, that's the trail. Can't you see it?!

Walking though long grass and brush for hours really thrashes your legs. Especially when you're allergic to grass and every time it scrapes against you, you get red welts that swell and sting. 

Kizza, Rolla, Zuzka.  Guess who's allergic to grass?!

The trail did have some really nice views today though and it is always nice to be out hiking in the forest, even if the conditions are less than ideal. We had a really good time out today and it certainly was an adventure! My lessons learned are:

1. Just because the trail is straight on the map, it doesn't mean it will be easy-walking on a road. 

2. Wear long pants and long sleeves to protect arms and legs

3. Don't hike in the afternoon, it's too hot. 

4. Read the trail description on the map while planning the route. 

5. My hiking buddies are awesome! Neither Rolla or Kizza complained at all today!

 

We finished off the hike enjoying some cold gatorade that I had left in a cooler in my car. We certainly deserved it after the hike we had! We've now hiked over 50 kms. Only 250 to go until Kingston!

Trail Marker on a beautiful snag. I always think back to learning how important these are to ecosystems in ecology class. Click the link for more info :-)

Statistics:

Start Point - 16C

End Point - 17D

Daily Distance - 15 Km

Total Distance - 52.7 Km