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.