End of the Trail

I'm stubborn. Just ask my parents. I really hate to give up on things. I read books all the way through even I don't like them. I eat all the leftovers in my fridge (but that's also because I'm cheap and hate to see food go to waste... but that's another story), I always finish a workout no matter how much it hurts. So hiking the Rideau Trail end to end was the perfect project for me. ...and then life got in the way.

I'm moving 4,300 km across the country in 8 weeks which means that my life is a bit busy right now and so I had to call it quits for hiking the Rideau Trail. This was very hard for me to do and I felt like I was letting Rolla down. But she totally understood and supported my decision. This is why we have been friends since for 14 years (oh my goodness, has it been that long?!).

Right as I decided to quite the Rideau Trail I happened to be reading Bill Bryson's book "A Walk in the Woods" about his time hiking the Appalachian trail **Spoiler Alert ** in the end he decides to quite the trail before the end because there are other things in life that are more important. Phew, at least I'm not the only one to quit. It's funny how our hiking the Rideau Trail has been book-ended by, well, books. "Wild" by Cheryl Strayed started this crazy idea and "A Walk in the Woods" helped me to come to terms with finishing it.

So this past Sunday instead of driving south of Ottawa and doing a complex car shuffle, I picked Rolla up early in the morning to avoid the heat (somehow it's July temperatures in September!) and we hiked a loop in Gatineau Park. It was lovely. There was a trail. It was well marked. It wasn't overgrown. We wore shorts. It only took 30 minutes to drive there. We only took one vehicle. But we did see more people on our first 5 minutes on the trail than we did during our entire 173 km on the Rideau Trail. Thankfully the crowds cleared out and we pretty much had the trail to ourselves after that.

A lovely trail. It was like this the whole way :-)

We walked through the forest and enjoyed the views from a lovely bench.  We enjoyed our shinrin-yoku (Japanese for "forest bath:). I read an article a few years back on how in Japan there is the concept of how going out into the forest for a walk has many health benefits, especially regarding improving mental health (combatting depression and promoting relaxation). In the end, I think this is one of the reasons why I love hiking so much. So the fact that we were still able to get out for a short and less strenuous hike was great and I really enjoyed it. I hope to be able to do more of the same in the coming weeks.

We figure that some day, we will finish the Rideau Trail. We were just getting to what is supposed to be the good part. But really, there's no need to rush, because there's much more to life than to finishing a trail. However, the stubborn side of me is much more pleased to think of our hiking being put on hiatus - to be continued sometime - rather than outright quitting an adventure.

Happy trails!

Days of the Dams - Day 13 - 1 August 2015

It seemed like we had only just been hiking when we hit the trail on Saturday. I was looking forward to this day though, because of the changing landscape and the promise of "the trail is better south of Perth" so I was happy to get again. 

This was the first day on the trail that we didn't traverse a farm field. Not a single one! We were really appreciating the nice trail that meandered through the hilly forest. The trail went through cottage country near Big Rideau Lake (alas, we hardly even caught a glimpse of it!).

The entrance to the trail off a gravel road.

We were so happy to be starting off on this lovely little trail.

The trail passed alongside some pretty ponds like this one.

A trail through a forest. It's not even overgrown. So delightful!

It was a beautiful day with beautiful scenery. This is what I had thought the entire trail would be like!

The map descriptions indicated that we would be passing over a few beaver dams which meant that we made sure to wear gaiters because that sounded wet. We wore gaiters both days last weekend but didn't need them at all. However, after our first day out this year with soggy socks, I'm not too keen to go without, even though they are very hot to wear in the high temperatures we've been having. But I was sure glad I had them for the beaver dam crossings on this hike.

I wasn't quite sure what it would be like to cross over a beaver dam. In the all time I've spent in the forest, I don't recall ever crossing one. But I suspected it might be a little precarious to keep your footing amongst the sticks and mud. I was right.

Rolla successfully keeping her balance on the first dam we crossed.

 After watching Rolla's precarious journey across the dam I picked up a stick to help with balancing as I crossed. Rolla said that was cheating, but I sure wasn't apologizing! I've fallen off enough slippery logs into creeks when I was younger, that now I am extra cautious!

Zuzka enjoying the trail. Notice the "Ottawa End to End" badge from the Rideau Trail Association :-)

A hill! This is the steepest hill we've come upon!

 Walking along a gravel road we came around a corner to see this sign. I can't even articulate how unexpected it was!

A Coptic Orthodox Christian Monastery near Perth?!! A sign with Arabic and the Rideau Trail marker on the same tree?! Mind blown.

Both of us have spent time in the Middle East and are familiar with the struggles of the Coptic Christians in that region and we were so surprised to see this Coptic monastery in the middle of nowhere south of Perth. The monks there no doubt enjoy the serenity and solitude the lovely landscape and forest provide. Rideau Trail, you continue to surprise us!

We had lunch at a nice shady grassy spot on a hill alongside a gravel road. It was one of the nicest lunch spots we've had (after the bridge over the creek on the day we hiked with Kizza and of course after the Parks Canada red chairs at the locks in Merrickville!). There was a breeze and no bugs, so we actually sat and lingered for a little while, which is unusual. Usually we quickly eat small snacks because we are either eating in mosquito-infested swamp/forest or alongside a busy road. The trail is indeed getting better south of Perth!

We were making good time and we only had a 3.3 km section of trail that would take us to a gravel road in Murhpy's Point Provincial Park and then another 3.4 km section on a trail in the Park. So 6.7 km in total. We would be finished in probably an hour and half which would put us ahead of schedule because we were making such good time.

But, the Rideau Trail always has some unexpected adventures for us.

We crossed that beaver dam. On the couple inches of mud on the right.

This very long beaver dam was extremely difficult to cross. The vegetation grew on a slope of sticks so we couldn't walk though that, so we had to walk along the very narrow edge of mud. The mud was firm at times and at other times gave way and dropped off to deep water. I ended up with my left foot in the water near up to the top of my gaiters. Thankfully though not over top , so I stayed mostly dry. I had forgotten to pick up a walking stick at the start, so after that incident which was about halfway across, I found a stick which made the rest of the crossing better. I passed the stick to Rolla for the last few metres of the crossing and she was very glad to have it because otherwise she would have gone for a swim when the mud slipped away and she teetered precariously, but regained her balance leaning on the stick. I watched the whole thing unfold from the the shore, so I sure glad she didn't take a header into the water!

After this section there were some very helpful cairns with trail markers on sticks in them and other times just cairns to mark they way. They were very nice to have and made following the trail soooo much easier! Thank you to all those who put them there!

I was super grateful every time we spied one of these additional cairns/trail markers.

 Remember that 3.3 km section? That would usually take us way less than an hour to walk? Well about 45 minutes or an hour had gone by and we were still in it. We hadn't hit the gravel road yet. But we must be close, right? 

Wrong. We found ourselves navigating, traversing, cursing, this quaqmire. 

Um, where's the trail? Well we bushwacked, through the reeds and grass on the right. I had spied an orange triangle on the far side of this mess about 500 ft away, so we knew we had to cross it somehow!

We were walking between two ponds. It was pretty. But.

This part of the trail was nearly impassible. Likely the wet spring and summer we've had made the water level higher and didn't help. Maybe there was a trail somewhere underwater? The map description said that was a bridge somewhere. We never found it. But we also never strayed from the triangles more than 30 feet, so I don't know how we missed. So maybe the bridge is under water. It's a mystery that I'm okay with never going to back investigate.

We carried on through some over grown trail and crossed another (damn) dam or two. Oh and that 3.3 km section? Yep, still in it. There were lots of brambles and prickly leaved plants. I had grabbed another stick at one of the dams and kept it with me to use as a "bramble basher" to keep the pricklies out of the way as I walked past.

After a while we were seriously questioning where we were on the map, we thought that perhaps the gravel road had disappeared just like the bridge had and that we were actually beyond the 3.3 km section. But then much to our disappointment we came upon the gravel road. It had taken us forever. Rolla is the official timekeeper, so I forget how long it took us to do this measly 3.3 km, but let's just say it took us much longer than usual and it seemed to me like it took forever!

Zuzka and the Bramble Basher. At the infamous gravel road. I'm smiling, but inside I was grimacing.

We still had another 3.4 km to go and we realized that the trail took a giant loop and came back to the same road only 600 m away. We seriously considered skipping the loop and just walking on the road because we were so angry at the trail, but we decided to stick with it. Thankfully the trail led us to an historic site in the provincial park so it was very well maintained. We then crossed the gravel road 600 m down the road from where we had initially come upon it and then followed another trail until we finished for the day at another historic site. They were both old homesteads. I was beyond caring to go and read the interpretive signs. We had to pay $14 to park at the parking lot by the homestead because it was in the Park. We had to pay the fee last weekend too. So $28 in total for 2 people to walk on well maintained trails for 6 km between last week and this week. So $7 for each of us for each day, that works out to each of us paying $1.16 per km to walk on good trails. Expensive? Yes. Worth it? Yes. It was a good morale boost at the start of last Saturday's hike and at the end of this hike to walk on good trails.

The parking lot was at this historic site. Yay, done!

All in all, it was a great day hiking. Maybe a little bit too much adventure for Rolla, but we survived! I was just happy to be in the forest and for the first time on the trail, we felt like we were really hiking, not walking and not tramping on the side of farm field. The terrain was nice (for the most part!) and the route was well marked (thank goodness!). We figured it was about an 8/10 day. The best day so far, but still room for improvement (ie. not passing over overgrown sketchy beaver dams!)

Statistics:

Start Point - 8C

End Pont - 9 B

Time - 5 hours 

Daily Distance - 17.5  km

Total Distance - 190.6 km

# of beaver dams crossed: at least 3 (maybe 5)
Lesson Learned: Now that the terrain is getting rougher and we might have to cross more beaver dams, next time I'm bring my hiking poles!

Flora and Fauna: Part II - Day 12 - 26 July 2015

This morning we got a early start on the trail because we didn't need to drive all the way from Ottawa. It was humid, but overcast so thankfully not too hot. After taking a wrong turn at the very start of the trail, we found the trail and headed on our way along the edge of a fallow field. Happily though, after not long, we ended up going along the Tay Canal Tow Path. The Tay Canal is connected to the Rideau Canal which allowed waterway access to the town of Perth. The Tow Path followed right alongside the Tay Canal and was used back in the olden days by horses to pull boats along the Tay Canal (I read an info sign to learn all that)

Tay Canal. It was so humid it was almost misty.

Delightful mowed Tow Path. Thanks to the Town of Perth for maintaining the trail!

It was a really nice peaceful walk along this path with easy footing which we much appreciated so that our somewhat sore legs and feet could warm up and get the kinks out! We saw a few blue herons, but they took off before I could get a photo and we also came upon a deer, which also ran off before I could get a photo.

More mowed path alongside a field :-). Normally we would have to walk through the tall grass. 

Along the path we came upon this little snake, Rolla was in front and narrowly avoided stepping on it!

The path then took us right into the town of Perth alongside the canal. We came upon this swing bridge and were very lucky to arrive right when a boat was coming through so we got to see it swinging open. The lockmaster guy told us that it only opens 2 or 3 times a year because not many boats go this way. It was amazing to see, the lockmaster was able to move the bridge all on his own by inserting a specially bent pipe into the bridge and then pushing it around in a circle. I thought I had taken a video of it opening, but guess I pushed the wrong button my camera because I only have a photo. You can kinda see the guy on the bridge and that the bridge has moved a few feet. It was super cool to see this!

The town of Perth was very pretty and quaint. It seemed to be a lot more prosperous than the town of Smiths Falls which was just down the road and which we had walked through during our last hiked. We enjoyed our time at the pub last night it was pretty walk through town today. The trail passed through this picturesque park in downtown Perth

And here you could see the evidence of the torrential rain the night before with giant puddle in the park

This day we were doing the hike north to south so that when we finished, we could just drive north to pick up the other car and be on our way back to Ottawa. That meant however, we had to follow the trail descriptions backwards which is always a challenge. This proved to be very difficult to do in Perth and we ended up losing our way and had to take a bit of a detour to end up back on the Rideau Trail (I had to resort to using google maps on my cell phone to figure out our route). The difficulty with the Rideau Trail maps is that in the towns, the scale is too large on the map to show the street names, so it is difficult to navigate, especially when you have to read the description backwards!

Once we got back on track, we went through really nice recreation grounds that had covered picnic tables!

Rolla enjoying the luxurious picnic tables

Unlike the trails I'm used to hiking that have nice rest stops along the way, the Rideau Trail is often in a mosquito infested swamp or forest or alongside a road, so there aren't often nice places to stop and eat/rest. More often than not we finish our hike sore and tired because we've only taken 1 or 2 quick stops, so we really appreciated this nice stop!

After the trail left town, it went though fields and forest along a well-kept track. Thank you to the Rideau Trail Central Club which is based out of Perth for the trail maintenance! It was so nice not be walking on an overgrown trail!

We saw this deer and two fawns (hiding in the grass behind mamma deer).

We were pretty tired for the hike after our long hike the day before but once we got into it and found our rhythm, it went well. We found that our legs and feet fatigued way more quickly but overall we felt good for day two of hiking.  It was so nice to have a well maintained trail too!

We finished midday and then drove back to Ottawa. Happy but tired after a good weekend of hiking with a few unexpected adventures!  It was nice to see some animals and flowers along the trail, which the first we had really seen.  I'm looking forward to see how the landscape changes as we head further south.

Happy trails!

Statistics:

Start Point -11A

End Pont - 10B

Time - 4 hours 

Daily Distance - 14 km

Total Distance - 173.1 km (we think we might be halfway! There are 19 maps and we've completed almost 11.  I've read that the trail is 305 km not counting the blue side trails or 387 km with the side trails, but I'm not quite certain if those totals are correct. Time will tell!)
Lesson Learned: Be more diligent at route planning when we go through a town next time, especially if we're going "backwards" from the trail description! 

Flora and Fauna: Part I - Day 11 - 25 July 2015

After a less than enjoyable experience our last day on the trail, we hoped that this weekend the Rideau Trail would redeem itself. It had lots of opportunity, since we would be hiking two days in a row. Our route started at 9B in Murhpy's Point Provincial Park and then went to 10B. This would leave a gap between 10B and 11A (where we had started our last hike) that we would do the next day because it was closer to Ottawa, so it would be a shorter drive home. Since we're getting farther away and because we were staying the night in Perth, the logistics of car pick-up and drop-offs were complicated and confusing, but we figured it out!

We dropped a car at 10B and drove south to Murphy's Point Provincial Park. The Rideau Trail goes through the Park, so you need a Park Pass to park in the parking lot. I had carefully chosen our route to take us to the Southern edge of the Park where the trail parking lot was. I figured there would be a park office on the southern entrance to the park where we could buy a pass. Wrong! We ended up having to drive all the way north through the park and then went to the park store to buy a pass only to be told that the store didn't sell park passes, only the campground registration office did. So we had to drive further to the campground to buy a park pass. We were not impressed. But eventually with pass in hand we returned to the parking lot, ready to hit the trail.

We were wearing long sleeves and long pants due our past experiences with overgrown trails. I was happy we were properly attired when I saw this sign in the trailhead parking lot!

I sure don't want to contract Lyme Disease!

Rideau Trail sign in Murhpy's Point Provincial Park. Look at that lovely trail!

We were delighted to be hiking on a real trail (not overgrown!) and there was a cool breeze and no bugs for the first while. It was wonderful! The Rideau Trail had already redeemed itself!

The trail went through a lovely forest

Before we knew it, we left the Provincial Park and entered private land and were greeted by this sign!

Good thing it wasn't fall time!

The next section of trail was through some really nice land with rolling hills and rock outcroppings. The geography was very different here than anywhere farther north on the Rideau Trail. We very much enjoyed the cool breeze and interesting terrain. However, it was relatively slow going because the trail twisted and turned, but wasn't actually an obvious trail (the lovely mowed grass trail ended part way through the Provincial Park), so we spent a lot of time trying to find the next orange triangle marker every time we entered or exited a clearing or stand of trees.

After a few kilometres we passed over a stile and entered the Mica Mines Conservation Area.

This is a stile, used to climb over a fence. We often pass over at least 5 of these each day. 

The picture doesn't show it very well, but this was typical topography of the area, with a small hill. This was the first time we saw hills on the trail! I think this is because we are starting to enter the Frontenac Arch area which is section of the granite Canadian Shield that protrudes in the area (see, I did learn something in undergrad geology class!). It was so nice to be walking through different terrain (ie. not swamp!)

Hill! And close by was a granite outcropping

 We continued through this pretty landscape and saw some pretty flowers (a first for our hike!)

Yes, it's a thistle, but it was very pretty!

Then we came upon these little friends up in a tree.

Mama porcupine on the trunk of the tree (centre) and baby on the branch (left)

The baby was on guard making cute little squealing sounds and raising its quills

Due to our late start and the rain that had started falling we decided to take the final section of the trail on the road rather than on the trail (through a swamp, but the trail description said there was a boardwalk. I didn't trust it). We followed blue arrows for the first time (blue arrows mark side trails from the main Rideau Trail).

Blue Arrow!

It was raining lightly which was pleasant because it was a pretty hot day (the cool breeze has stopped hours before). However, the final section on the road felt long (but I'm sure the trail, likely wet, muddy and overgrown would have felt even longer!)

It's hard to stay motivated walking along a gravel road for almost 10 km. We ended up counting telephone poles to pass the time

But we did see some pretty cows along the way!

Not sure if they were highland steer, but they did have hair in their eyes

At the very end of the hike it started to rain hard, so we ended up getting pretty wet!

Gators kept the bottom of my pants dry, but the rest of me was soaked!

We drove back to Perth (where we stayed for the night), got cleaned up, dried off and went to a lovely pub for supper and watched a spectacular thunder and lightening rainstorm. It went on for about 2 hours, with pouring rain, huge lightening and loud thunder. We were sooo happy to be inside enjoying a pint and not camping! (we had considered the idea of camping at Murhpy's Point, but decided that a real bed and shower would be nicer!)

It was a really nice day out hiking. The Rideau Trail definitely redeemed itself even though there was lots of road walking at the end (but the final few kms of that was our decision). With all the rain we were hoping that the trail wouldn't be too wet for the next day of hiking.

Statistics:

Start Point -9B

End Pont - 10B

Time - about 5 hours

Daily Distance - 18.9 km

Total Distance - 159.1 km
Lesson Learned: Even the best Rolla and Zuzka plans can fall through (arg, Murphy's Point Provincial Park) and you can start hiking an hour later than planned!

Back At It! Day 10 - 11 July 2015

Our 2015 hiking season started off later than anticipated in part due to our busy schedules and also because of the wet spring we had. I knew that the trail would be water-logged in the spring, so I was hoping that it would be drier in July.  In spite of our late start, the plan is to do the remainder of the trail, all the way to Kingston this year. 

We started early in the morning since the temperature was supposed to reach 30 degrees Celsius in the afternoon. We walked a section of the trail that was more or less west to east, leading us into the town of Smiths Falls. This is the Kingston to Ottawa direction of the trail and the trail description are written this way, so it's way easier to navigate hiking this way. It proved to be a good decision because the trail was difficult to find in a number of sections.

Start of the 2015 hiking season

We set off along a dirt road, which quickly turned into an overgrown track. As usual. Look below.

Rolla on the "Trail"

If it were not for the orange triangle trail markers nailed to trees and posts, we would never find our way. The trails are quite often overgrown so that you have to walk through tall grass. For only the 2nd time we lost our way on (the first time was in Marlborough Forest when we didn't turn where we were supposed to). This time though was different, because we crossed on a stile over a fence and then couldn't find a trail marker anywhere to indicate the direction we should travel and of course there was no actual trail to follow. After about 10 minutes of wandering around the area we eventually saw a trail marker and continued on our way. A little frustrated, but I wasn't ever concerned because we knew exactly where we were, we just couldn't determine which way to go!

I was thinking that the Rideau Trail should actually be called the "Rideau Route" because there definitely is a route that you follow, but we haven't been on many actual trails through the woods and the rest of the route makes use of roads and highways.

Early on in the day we had to walk through a very wet swamp. The water was so deep it went over both our boots so walked the rest of the day with very wet socks and boots. 

The section of the trail that we did today consisted of overgrown tracks and walking along highway 43.

Hwy 43. It was actually really busy with lots of traffic.

The bugs were really bad in the bush and it was slow going due to the poor trail condition, so we were actually happy to get out on the highway where there was a breeze and a wide, smooth gravel shoulder to walk on. It is nice for the sections of bush and highway to be broken up because it offers a change of pace.

After another section of bush and then more walking on the road we made it to Smiths Falls. After going through residential neighbourhoods the trail went along the Rideau Canal following a lovely park.

Rideau Canal in Smiths Falls

 

We finished our hike in the parking lot where we had finished our hiking last fall. It's a parking lot at the town's recreation grounds with soccer and baseball fields and also docks into the canal. There is also a needle drop box. This was our point of reference as we had remembered seeing it there last year. Who knew Smiths Falls had such an IV drug use problem?!

Today was our first hike of the year we hiked our longest distance yet. The last 5 kms were pretty painful and it was very hot, but I'm glad we got it done! As usual, the cool drinks we had kept in a cooler in the car were very refreshing and we were able to dangle our feet in the water off the dock which was heavenly! Thankfully in spite of our wet socks and boots we faired pretty well. Rolla's feet were pretty painful at the end though and the muscles in my hips and lower back were sore and fatigued at the end, but overall not bad all things considered.

Statistics:

Start Point -11A

End Pont - 12C

Time - 5 hours 

Daily Distance - 20.2

Total Distance - 140.2 km
Lesson Learned: Pack an extra pair of socks in case your boots get flooded early on in the day!