Spring is in the Air

Spring Hiking Tips

Even though there is still several feet of snow on the ground and the Goulais River is still frozen solid I am hoping that by the time you read this, hiking season will be here. Get out there and enjoy spring. Just remember that there may be ice and snow in the bush for many more weeks so be prepared. 

I have collected some spring hiking tips here for you to check out. Its always good to refresh your memory on safety issues.

The main rule for spring hiking is to check weather forecasts, know your local climate, and plan for the worst - that way you'll be prepared.

Dress in Layers

Set yourself up for a comfortable hike by dressing in light layers and carrying an extra layer or two with you in case the weather changes. Start with a light wool base layer, a light- to mid-weight insulating layer (depending on weather forecasts), and a weatherproof layer. A layering system gives lots of flexibility for adjusting clothing to suit rapidly changing spring weather. Finally, an extra pair of warm, dry socks is always a good thing to have on-hand, especially in spring, when getting unexpected wet feet is pretty much par for the course.

Wear Appropriate Footwear

Stick to more sensible footwear such as sturdy shoes or boots. Trails often have snow or ice even into late May. Particularly in cooler shadier sections. Try greasing your hiking boots so they’ll shed water efficiently and wear gaiters to help keep stones and muck out of your boots. In early spring when there are still many patches of deep snow consider bringing snowshoes. Ice grippers help when tackling icy patches and are small, light and easy to carry.

If you don't have access to gaiters or waterproof boots, plastic bags make a good cost effective solution to keeping your feet dry in slushy conditions. To make sure they don't have any holes in them, fill the bags up with water prior to the hike. If they don't leak dry them out, fold them up, and stow them in your pack.

Carry Hiking Poles

Hiking poles come in handy on spring hikes. They can be used to probe the depth of a snow or mud deposits, to probe water depth (streams and rivers full of snowmelt may become more dangerous in spring), and for extra stability when navigating hiking on tricky footing. You can get collapsible hiking poles that can be stored away when you don't need them.

Minimize your impact

Stay on established trails, to minimize the impacts. If you encounter a muddy stretch of trail, don’t walk off-trail to avoid it, walk through it. Skirting trails can damage trailside vegetation, which leads to erosion and inavertent widening of the trail and the erosion. 

Be Extra Careful around Water Crossings

Melting snow contributes to swollen streams and adding spring rains coupled with melting snow can be a recipe for raging torrents, hikers are better off avoiding crossing such streams. Use care when approaching swollen creeks and streams. Avoid crossing them if at all possible.

Note that water levels can be higher later in the day, because early-morning snow and ice may melt as the day warms up. This leads to higher water levels. Be aware that spring run-off and high water can also damage or destroy bridges.

If crossing a stream is unavoidable, unfasten the hip and sternum straps from your packs so the pack can be easily dropped in the event of a fall. Using hiking poles or sticks to help maintain balance when crossing.

Spring also brings with it biting insects. Pack a head net. They’re light, inexpensive, and indispensable. If they were the subject of a MasterCard ad, they’d be priceless.

Sometimes I am amazed at how pretty the landscape is along the trail. It’s one thing to assume that it’s going to be nice, after all why would they put the trail there unless there is something to see.  It is another thing to actually see it.

The trio from the last hike, Ron, Chris and I met again in Sault Ste. Marie to head over to Blind River. Andy P. offered to help us with the shuttle, so we met him at the Cataract Falls Parking lot where we had started from on the last hike. This time, I planned on doing the hike from the other end of Lake Duborne back to Cataract Falls, a distance of 14kms on the map. Since the weather forecast was indicating that the rain would hold off until late in the afternoon or early evening, we decided to stick to the plan.

During our drive over to the start point, Andy mentioned that he would be joining us for a short bit as he wanted to do some clipping on a new portion of the Fire Tower Lookout side trail. This was a boon for us as Andy is very knowledgeable about the trail and the area. As we were approaching the parking area, we crossed a bridge over the river connecting the two lakes. There are some pretty falls/rapids there, so we got out there to take some pictures and walked the extra half mile to the parking lot.

After meeting up with Andy, who had driven over to the parking lot, we began our adventure for the day. The trail runs along the entire length of Lake Duborne in this area. It immediately starts to climb up the hill through a hardwood forest populated with lots of oak and maple trees. The leaves had all fallen, covering the wet ground, so we had to be careful of our footing.  Plenty of hidden rocks could easily twist an ankle.

We steadily climbed the hill, from the main trail to the Fire Tower Lookout trail, along a steep section, up to the first viewpoint. Wow, that view was spectacular even with the weather being somewhat gray. You could see both lakes, the river connecting them where we had taken pictures earlier and then the view just kept going on. You could see not only the north shore of Lake Huron but Manitoulin Island in the distance and that was just at the first viewpoint. You continue up on some large rock faces, until you get to a plaque dedicated to Norm Lediett, one of the founding members of the Voyageur Trail. 

At the top, you can see pretty much completely around. The back of the hill faces an impressive cliff that stretches off into the distance.

Andy showed us a different way  back to the main trail, using the new section which took advantage of an existing trail that the cottagers on the lake use.  The trail goes down and around some rocky areas that we carefully made our way down on. The footing was still slippery and often the leaves would mask tricky areas. It did not take long before we reached a level area where the new section branched off the cottager's trail. The blue blazed trail wanders back into the hardwood forest until it meets the main trail. At this point, Andy left us to do his trail maintenance. We thanked him for all his help and headed down the trail.

We were walking along the backside of the ridge, in a valley between the ridge and the cliff face we had seen earlier from above. At one point we came to some house sized rocks and the first ice formations I have seen this year. A few pictures taken and on we went. Shortly afterwards we heard a large crack and smash as another set of ice formations crumbled. We crossed a creek and the trail started to head down. 

Ron, spied a good picture opportunity where we decided to have lunch. We pulled out the maps and checked out our position. We figured that we had about 10km left to go. I was pretty sure that we could set a good pace but even if we were going at 3km/hour that still would be a bit over 3 hours. In mid-November the sun sets pretty early so we decided to get moving and not dawdle too much.

Through the tree trunks, we could just start making out Lower Cranberry Lake, one of the small lakes north of Lake Duborne that we would be skirting. We meandered along the edge of the forest on some outcroppings that offered lots of views of the all the lakes in the area. Once in a while the sun poked out of the clouds but shortly after lunch it disappeared. We crossed a couple of creeks and eventually joined a snowmobile trail which led to an old bush road that led us out of the hills to the shores of Upper Cranberry Lake. The trail follows that paved road around the lake until we were almost directly across from where we first came out of the woods.

Although we had encountered some wet spots previously, the next section of the trail was really really wet and muddy. The trail continues to follow the snowmobile trail at this point which offered easy access to ATVers. Normally, I don’t have an issue with these machines but when the trails are so wet they do a lot of damage and it was no different along this section. From the lake we climbed back up into the hills along this wet multi-use trail until the footpath veered off towards another great viewpoint.

The final few kilometres of our hike were along a cottage road that runs parallel to the shoreline. Many of the cottages were large vacation homes that had obviously been closed for the season. We came upon another section of the pipeline where we realized that we could see the overlook that we had climbed a couple of weeks ago. It didn’t take too long before we rounded the corner to see our vehicle in the parking lot. Good thing because I had pretty much reached the limit of my energy for the day. I was pleasantly surprised that it was only 3:40 when we got to the car, despite the fact that I had slowed down considerably during the last kilometre or two.

Another great hike, one that I will do again in another season.  This will be the last post on hiking until next spring when I start up the Challenge hikes again. I plan on cross country skiing and snowshoeing over the winter months. Who knows, maybe I will post on some of the winter adventures to come.

Challenge Hike #5

Another hike, another change. Despite great hiking weather only one other person joined our 5th challenge hike. We met Ron at the McDs in the Sault at 7am to carpool to the starting point at Cataract Falls. We got to Blind River in plenty of time to take a pit stop at Tim's still get to the falls parking spot in time for our 9am start. Once we arrived, we wondered around the parking area checking out the falls and the small rapids below, hoping that maybe someone else might join us there but to no avail. After 10 or 15 minutes we gathered in front of the Voyageur Trail trailhead sign, which was a bit banged up, to decide what to do. We could do a shorter hike in the direction originally planned but I had forgotten the map, so we really didn't know much about the area. The sign indicated the trail along Cataract Lake and had many viewpoints over the lake. It was a pretty easy decision from there. We decided to hike for 2 hours or so and come back.

So, we crossed over the bridge which spans this part of the Blind River and followed the road until we found where the trail goes into the bush along path where the gas line was buried. Up over the mound we went, talking about who knows what, it must of been interesting because we immediately missed the turn blaze and walked along a very wet and muddy track until someone realized that we could not see a blaze. Back over the wet and muddy track we went until we got to the top of the mound (which is about 20 ft from the road). A good chuckle and back on the trail we went.

The trail climbs up the ridge off the back of a hill that spans the gap between Cataract Lake and Lake Duborne. It didn't take to much time to get to the first lookout trail but it was headed in the opposite direction that had been indicated on the trailhead map. This side trail was relatively well marked with blue blazes so we decided to check it out. Occasionally we had to find blue blazes painted on the rocks, which were a bit slippery with all the rain that we have had over the past few weeks. Neither issue stopped us from getting to the unexpected and excellent viewpoint at the end. This lookout overlooks Lake Duborne and the road which we drove in on as well as the river. Although we could hear the falls, we could not see them despite the leaves having all fallen off but we did see the car in the parking area.

After taking some pictures and admiring the view, we headed back to the main trail. The trail contined to follow the ridge along Cataract Lake, through a maple forest. Since fall is coming to an end, all the trees were leaf-less, making the forest open and offering lots of glimpses of the lake. Soon we began to see a building across the lake from where we were hiking. We didn't know at the time what it was but it seem to be quite a sturdy structure for the remote side of the lake. At the next lookout we got a good look at the lake and the building which at this point we could tell it was some kind of generating station.

After hiking for another hour or so we came to the a road where another blue side trail heads towards the small hydro electric dam. Since we had been hiking over 2 hours and it was close to lunch time, we decided to walk down the road to the dam and have lunch there. This half kilometre road runs along side the lake shore and gives a great view of the lake and the generating station. We explored the area around the fenced off generating station and up the hill to the lake above where there are some makeshift camps and some cabins along the shore.

 After a lovely lunch we started heading back. I was a bit worried as a slip at the top of the hill had twisted my ankle. I suggested that we walk out to the road where the main trail meets the side trail and see how the ankle reacted. During the little walk, I realized that it only hurt when we were going down hill and figured that if I was extra careful that all would be well. Fortunately the trail is relatively level along the ridge. With a bit of care, we made it out fine. I was surprised that our trip back was still only about 2 hours but of course we had not taken the side trail on the way back.

We did have one interesting tangent on our trip back. We managed to find an old route down an embankment and we were already at the steep section when we realized that we had not been up this way. Obviously, this must of been rerouted at some point as once we reached the bottom of the steep drop we could no longer see any blazes. Rather than head back up we decided to see where it would bring us. We were close to the river and the road at this point and confident that it would not be too difficult to find our way back. This led us to our final discovery for the day. An interesting cave made by some naturally stacked rock and the cliff face.

It didn't take long before the old trail met up with the reroute and we were back at the parking area before we knew it. A few more pictures of Cataract Falls and then a drive back to the Sault, arriving just as the daylight was disappearing. We will have to keep this in mind for the next two hikes as the days are getting shorter very quickly now. Oh, and the ankle is fine.

Challenge Hike # 4

There is something about hiking in the fall that makes any hike wonderful. It could be the various colours that stand out against the dark green of the conifers or maybe it’s the crunch of fallen leaves beneath our feet as we march along, it could even be that woodsy smell, fresh and invigorating. I really do love hiking in the fall, even if it has to rain on us most of the time.

Yesterday was the fourth Challenge Hike and we changed it up a bit and joined Susan on her hike from Melwel road. This is a lovely bit of trail that follows the Mississagi River from Red Rock lake to Iron Bridge. Seven hearty souls from the Sault met four other hearty souls from Elliot Lake on a morning that promised rain. We met at Melwel road and made our way to where the trail first meets the road and dropped of the majority of the hikers. All the vehicles were driven to the end point, with one bringing the drivers back.

In the meantime, the hikers started slowly along the trail as there were quite a few black flies buzzing us at the beginning; unfortunately this is when the rain began. It was a nice soft rain but we had the some of the guys’ rain wear with us. Needless to say, they were a bit damp when they caught up to us. Once everyone got caught up and changed into the appropriate rain gear, Susan set a good pace figuring we might as well hike.

The trail meanders on and off the bush road that parallels the river. We were able to approach the river shortly after starting by way of a side road leading down to a beach. As we got closer a bald eagle flew off giving us a glimpse of its bright white tail feathers.  There is a fish migration at this time of the year where the eagles congregate on the Mississagi River as well as other birds the feed on the plentiful fish.

We eventually found ourselves in a lovely hemlock forest along the shores of Warnock Lake where we decided to have a break for lunch. The rain started letting up for the last little bit and ended completely during our break. You could hear the traffic from the highway and occasionaly see the vehicles travelling through a small break in the foliage at the end of the lake but otherwise you would believe you were miles from anywhere.

After lunch we climb back up the side of the hill the lake sits under to a lookout over the back. This is where the colours were most apparent to me. A sea of red, orange, gold and dark green greeted us as we climb up the short track. A couple of pictures and on we went.

The next little bit presented us with some challenges as the trail dropped down to a fast flowing creek which had just enough water in it to stop us from walking or jumping across. A few hikers went up stream to find a better crossing, which I found out later is where the trail actually goes. Chris had brought his high rubber boots which allowed him to cross with no problem. The rest of us tackled a small tree that grew sideways out of the bank over the creek. Each of us climbed onto one of the branches and was able to avoid the water that way. Chris, in the rubber boots stood safety in case anyone had any problems.

This was the last of the challenges for the day but not the last of interesting stuff to see. There were remarkable buildings, unusual mushrooms, majestic pines and turkey vultures along the way.

After another 45 minutes of walking along a well-worn track we made it back to the vehicles with no incidents other than a few admiring views of the colours along the way. We split up again once we got the end. We ended our hike with our friends from Elliot Lake heading home and the rest of us piling into the van to head back to the Sault after picking up the other vehicle on the way.

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                                                                                                       

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.