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.
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| The long, straight, paved road ahead |
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| Rolla enjoying lunch - and sporting her bright orange NDP toque :-) |
We've been seeing these hearts and arrows spray painted along some of the paved roads the last few times we've been out.
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.
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| 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
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| Looking back at the railway bridge and along the canal where we had come from |
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| Zuzka at the locks. |
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| 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
