Challenge Hike #1,

Seven hearty souls braved the city wide power outage and the impending weather to join me on this first hike. Including Chris and I, three more drove in from Sault Ste. Marie in the morning where we were joined by three hikers from the Elliot Lake. The weather had indicated thunderstorms in the afternoon so we decided to get going as soon as possible to try and beat the weather. We left two vehicles at the Westview park and drove to the Stoneridge golf course. The parking area for the trail is located past the golf course at a junction with a decommissioned road.  I asked if someone from the local club would be willing to lead as they were familiar with the trail. Nikki and Gerry volunteered.

We started walking along the old road for less than 100m when we turned left onto the footpath that headed straight up the hill which got our hearts pumping quickly. This leads to the first viewpoint on the Stoneridge Lookout. This impressive ridge gives the golf course its name and overviews not only the greens but you can see out to the highway which leads into town.The well maintained trail follows along the ridge ducking into the woods and occasionally there are trails leading to other vantage points overlooking the surrounding area which are part of the uranium mine lands. This area has grown since the mines were closed, as evidenced by the young trees and bushes. The trail comes out under some power lines as it begins to descend to a bush road. Along this section you need to scramble over large rocks that have been placed to discourage motorized vehicles.  Be careful over the rocks, one of our little group gashed himself enough to have blood flowing. After a quick stop to bandage our injured comrade, we headed down hill on the bush road. This led to a small footbridge over the settling pond drainage creek. It’s a pretty spot with the creek running between large stone walls. The settling ponds in the area are treated to leach the heavy metals out of the water. This water is monitored weekly because it eventually reaches the watershed. The ample wildlife with fish and amphibians speaks to the success of the program.

After crossing the creek we headed straight up again. At this point the clouds were definitely darkening and rolling thunder had started. Once at the top of the hill, we stop to discuss the options to get off the trail if the storms should start earlier than expected. We were not far from a side trail out of the bush but we still needed to climb over one more hill. Shortly afterwards, the rain started. We decided to forego two more lookout spots to hasten our pace. We carefully made our way to what I think is Spillane Lake or maybe Westner Lake, where we started to take the trial out when the rain slowed and a bright patch of sky was revealed. Should we continue our hike or bale? Gerry suggested that instead of hiking up to the Fire tower we take a parallel trail called the Paul Echle Trail. This trail remains along the valley rather than climbing up and it ends at the ski lodge where we hoped we could find shelter and have lunch. This appealed to everyone so we headed back to the lake and continued on the Voyageur Trail until it forked. Its a relatively flat trail with good footing which is beneficial in wet weather. Less than a kilometre along we came out of the bush just above the ski lodge where we saw a number of vehicles parked, indicating the possibility of shelter. As we approached the building, another vehicle drove into the parking lot. It was Jean Guy, from Elliot Lake who came to see if we needed a shuttle. He had gone to the Fire Tower to see if we were there, when the rain had started and thought to check out the ski lodge. We were able have lunch in the lodge and decided to call it a day. 

Thanks to the folks in Elliot Lake our adventure was relatively trouble-free. We got a bit wet but the hike was still a good event. We were able to hike about 7 km along the Voyageur Trail, saw some incredible views and learned about the history of the area.  My thanks to Gerry, Nikki and John. 

Prehike Day

First hike and nothing went as planned! We went up to Elliot Lake on Saturday to scope out the access points and to join in the Voyageur Trail 40^th anniversary celebrations there. Since we got to Elliot Lake a bit early, we decided to check out the road to Pardee Lake. This road is only paved for the first little bit through the golf course. The road started out okay but after it became a dirt road the pot holes and ruts slowed us down considerably. We were in my VW Golf Wagon which is pretty low so I inched the car along until we got to a spot where the water had overflown a beaver dam and was flowing along the road. After checking it out, I decided to push my luck and ford it. Thankfully, I had no problems, but shortly thereafter we came upon truck and trailer stopped on the other side of a huge water hole in the road. Turns out the truck had stopped to chat with an ATVer who was out roaming the area. I asked him about the road conditions further along and he thought we could probable get through but I decided that I would not push my luck any further since the waterhole looked fairly deep. We turned around and headed into town.

The celebrations were well under way when we got to the park with 4 different planed hikes including a family hike, other different level hikes and even some geocaching. Volunteers were manning BBQs which were serving up hotdogs and hamburgers. I was able to chat with hikers from the Coureur de Bois about the condition of the trail where I had planned to start. It was not good news as the trail was also under a considerable amount of water. Plan B is was, which was to change the starting point to the golf course parking area. Gerry, from Elliot Lake, suggested the we extend the other end to Westview park which I thought was a good idea. We sent some last minute emails to the folks in Sault Ste. Marie, to let them know about the change and then we headed to our accommodations for the evening, Dunlop Lake Lodge.

I should have known that it wouldn't be straightforward. When I looked up the directions, they mentioned that the lodge was on Dunlop Lake Rd. What I had not counted on was that there is a new road on the south side of the lake called Dunlop Shores Rd. We got to see all the new construction to the end of the lake which is a considerable drive. At least it was a good day for a drive. Once convinced we were not on the right road, we headed back to the highway and found the correct road. What should have taken 10 to 15 minutes was an hour long expedition.

Dunlop Lake Lodge has 12 rooms and a cabin. There is a restaurant and a bar area with a pool table. The restaurant opens up to a very nice patio overlooking the lake. There is a new set of stairs down to the lake which was closed off for some reason. The room we were in was okay, a little dated but clean. Since this particular room (#3) does not have a TV, I was happy to find out that there was internet access. We walked down to the shoreline via the boat launch driveway. There is a nice setup for an evening fire as well as a dock and a boat launch. I was pleasantly surprised by the quality of the food at the restaurant. It mainly serves up steak and seafood. The presentation was good and the food tasted great.

An ominous sign outside the front of the restaurant indicated that there was going to be a planned power outage the next day.

Planning Stage

When I decided to issue the 200km hike challenge for the Voyageur Trail's 40th anniversary, I thought I would log or journal my experiences. Of course with the social media and current technology, this can be done online and anyone can share in the experience.

So, what is this challenge? It is to hike at least 200km on the Voyageur Trail over the year, beginning August 24th, 2013 to August 23rd, 2014. To facilitate this I am going to lead 15 to 18 hikes that are between 13 and 20km in length. These hikes will begin near Elliot Lake on August 25th, 2013 after the Coureurs de Bois 40th anniversary kickoff celebrations. Currently the plan is to hike from Elliot Lake to Sault Ste. Marie which is over 200kms but if we finish early enough we can tackle some of the hikes along Lake Superior in the summer of 2014.

To plan this, I used the Voyageur Trail guidebook to break down hikes to manageable lengths Since there are some areas with limited access points some hikes will necessarily be long and definitely be challenging. I hope to consult with trail masters in the regions as I have only hiked minimally in this area. I also want to check out any interesting features or lookouts along the way.

Look for my hike agenda in the VTA newsletter and on the website. My hikes are titled Challenge Hike#.