Challenge Hike#3

Finally, a hike that went as planned. Well, actually not really. It went as recently planned and not as planned a couple of months ago. Since the last hike distance shorter than anticipated, I thought I would like to hike the VTA trail along the southern edge of Elliot Lake from the far end back to Westview Park. 

This would be a total of about 11.5 km, a good distance, I thought.  I made up my mind after confirming with Emily that Pipeline road was passable.

Sunday morning we arrived with minutes to spare and were joined at Westview Park by Emily and three other hardy Elliot Lake hikers. We left one vehicle there and headed around the lake along Pipeline (otherwise known as Gasline) road. The gravel road was easily driveable and we arrived at the starting point with no incidents. After regrouping, we headed down a bush road towards the Elliot Lake Falls. Luckily, Emily had warned us to bring our rubber boots because the road was flooded for about 150 meters or so and easily a foot deep in spots. The water in the beaver pond that runs along the road is very high due to all the rain this summer.

After forging our way through the flooded section we came to the falls. A bridge crosses the waterway below the falls so you get quite a nice view. We met a family of ATVers at the falls who probably were wondering about our boots. They would find out soon enough. We changed out of our rubber boots into our hiking gear before climbing the side of the falls along the portage trail. From there we ascended further to a clearing where I was told there was once a cabin. All traces of the building have disappeared except for the clearing. We got a bit sidetracked off the trail before Emily steered us to the correct trail through the clearing.

The forest in this area is lovely and the Red Briffet Trail leads to a really nice lookout over the end of the lake and the towering cliffs on the other shore.

From there we wondered along the trail until we came to a bridge and a cross country ski shelter where we decided to have lunch.

At this point the trail is part of the cross country ski
trails that are maintain by the trail coalition in Elliot Lake. This partnership of all local trail users is a good example of how joining together can have all sorts of benefits. The trail parallels the shoreline of the lake and there are many access points to campsites, one of which we checked out. It was a really nice spot, with a newly built fire pit, lots of level areas for tents and it was clean, no garbage. Obviously, someone was keeping this site in good shape as these sites along the lake are all unofficial. The trail continues along the ski trail for a couple of kilometers, through a lovely hardwood forest. Many of the maples haves turned a brilliant red and orange. There were signs of forestry throughout with some really large specimens of old trees having been cut down, mostly yellow birch as you can see in the picture with Emily below.

We reached Spine Beach shortly after leaving the ski trail. The remainder of the trail after this park, we had already hiked previously on the last challenge hike. So far, this has been my favourite hike, which may be because the weather has finally cooperated and things went relatively smoothly. Next hikes are going to be in conjunction with some other hike leaders, Susan and Steve. I am looking forward to them.

Challenge Hike #2

Another hike and more changes. Chris and I headed to Elliot Lake at 6:15 for the 2 1/2 hour drive. We arrived with a few minutes to spare and just had enough time to put on our boots when Emily arrived. Since Emily is from the area, she had taken a drive the previous day to check out the access point and discovered that they were fixing a culvert making the drive not very appealing. Emily suggested that we change our end point to Spine beach and if we were looking to hike further we could backtrack. My philosophy is that if someone local suggests a change than who am I to disagree.

We followed Emily to Spine Beach and carpooled back to the Lookout point where we left our vehicle. It was nice to have Emily with us as she was able to point out many points of interest and give us some history of the area. There are a number trails in the area so it is important to follow the correct markers. In the Elliot Lake section of the Voyageur Trail the trail markers are yellow circular signs with an arrows pointing in the direction that the trail heads to. The white markers are used for Elliot Lake trails.

We started hiking directly off the parking area where there is a short side trail to a small lookout structure straight ahead. The Voyageur Trail heads to the right. Shortly after starting we reached the junction to the infamous Lung Buster trail on the left. Continuing on, the trail goes through an open deciduous forest where the leaves were just starting to turn with the occasional blush of orange or red. In a couple of weeks, the fall colours will make hiking a visual feast.

The trail follows along the top of the ridge and offers many viewpoints over the town of Elliot Lake including the construction area where the mall is being rebuilt. For those that don’t know the original mall had a portion of the rooftop parking area collapse into the mall area below, killing two women. We took a few moments at the viewpoint before continuing on.

View of the new mall construction.

Once the trail starts descending, the forest changes to a beautiful hemlock dominated area with lots of big granite rocks coated with moss and greenery all over. This is when I realized that my camera batteries were dead. Thank fully my phone can also take pictures. We climbed our way to the top of the ski hill, checked out the views and there trail starts descending off the ridges and we came to the back of a camp ground which leads to Westview Park. We decided to have an early lunch at a picnic table where we could look out onto the lake.

After lunch we continued on the trail which is located between housing developments and the lake at this point. There are many homeowners who landscape the back of their property down to the trail giving us glimpses of their homes. Often there are footpaths leading to small beaches or access points to the lake. The trail here is boardwalked in a lot of places making the walking easy unless of course the wood is wet. Wet wood can be very slippery.

We walked through wooded areas to beach areas. There are 3 public beaches which the trail crosses. Watch out for signs of goose, as they seem to like these areas as much as the people do. The last beach that we reached was Spine beach where Emily had left her vehicle. We decided to have Emily drive us back to the lookout where our car was and hike around there for a little bit before heading back home.             

After being dropped off, we hiked the trail down to the lake below and tried the Lung buster trail making a loop of just over a kilometer or so. This loop is certainly challenging but made my day when I made it back to the top.

Emily