Happy (belated) Thanksgiving!
The weather's been rather fantastic, so we decided to go on a hike on Monday. While seeking to enjoy some autumn colours, we also required a decent challenge. It can be difficult to find a reasonably challenging trail in this part of the country; perusing a certain website with a long list of Ontario trails within a few hours' drive of here, I found only three that were classified as somewhat challenging.
Of course, the definition of "challenging" is subjective, when it comes to walks. I imagine walking along the freeways from here to Toronto presents its own challenges, so I should clarify: a good trail should not be groomed or gravelled or otherwise "built", and it shouldn't be flat for much of the way! This eliminates plenty of walks.
Anyway, of the three trails, one was far too short. We randomly picked one of the remaining two; it is situated in Frontenac Provincial Park, which is just north of Kingston and 2.5 hours southwest of here.
We had contemplated taking the dog, but past experience told us we'd be carrying her for much of the 20km trail. So she got handed off to the neighbour kids.
Although not too far from Toronto or Ottawa, Frontenac Park does not offer car camping and is therefore not overly crowded on an October long weekend. Camping requires hiking or canoeing in and is permitted year-round.
Spying on some canoe campers.
We had tentatively picked the Slide Lake Loop, a 6-8hr trail with plenty of climbing and lots of sun. We realized we might have to revise our plan and pick a different trail, depending how much time we had and how our aged joints felt.
We got there around 10am, and based on what we were told regarding the length and difficulty of the trail, we decided it might be better to do a shorter trail this time. (We know from very recent experience that trying to race against nightfall when you just feel like keeling over and sleeping where you fall is not an enviable scenario.) So the Big Salmon Lake Loop was our new choice. 5-7hrs and not as strenuous (or scenic). We can always go back and do the other trail next year.
Fortunately the bugs were nonexistent at this time of year. I cannot imagine hiking there in late spring; the numerous boggy areas must be insanely buggy for at least a few months.
We did see some other wildlife, although not much. Other than a deer, just lots of squirrels and chipmunks. Oh, and snakes. Like a dozen of them. We've never seen so many snakes before on a walk. It helped that we could hear them in the dry leaves.
I took my big pack, for no better reason that to get some exercise. We put a little over 25 lbs in it, enough to carry all the optional gear/food we could think of but not enough to be burdensome. My pack is a joy to carry when it's not full!
As our plan A trail and our plan B trail overlapped at the start, we could walk a ways before truly deciding which route to take, but several factors led us to take plan B. Our joints weren't feeling 100% at the start; it was 25 degrees out and the harder route was going to be very exposed; and we'd feel too rushed to hang out along the trail on the long route.
Plan B turned out to be almost too easy. Not counting a 1/2-hour side trip to a lookout and two long breaks, we did the trail in 4.5 hours; much of it was rather flat. BUT, we told ourselves, we were there also to enjoy the fall colours and not just to get a workout. And being done by 5pm was rather nice. Obviously when you don't get an early start, time is much more of an issue.
A lookout. The trail may not be all flat, but the larger landscape sure is.
The edge of a lake where we had lunch. It was very smooth and very... blue? (My knowledge of colours is limited to about 3).
The sky is a weird colour. Or is it...?
I was there too! My old man hat looks ridiculous, but then I'm at that age where it matters less how you look and more about protecting your aging scalp. I welcome your derision.
Seriously, Carrie? It's October... IN CANADA!! I can but shake my head.
In some places the leaves were mostly off the trees already. It helps to camouflage what's left of an old truck that's been parked for probably 50 years.
While almost too late in the season, we certainly saw some wonderful colours. And the weather... nothing to complain about!
