Tag Archives: K&P Trail

Posts from the road

Back on the K&P Trail…AND A WINTER TRAVEL PLAN!

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(Cole Lake, Ontario, Canada)

As the leaves have suddenly become very colourful, we decided to resume our ongoing hike of the K&P Trail between Kingston and Sharbot Lake. Today’s segment started at the (former) village of Cole Lake, which is just north of Godfrey.

One of the roads that crosses the K&P Trail north of Cole Lake

It’s been a while since I’ve posted about the trail (here’s one from 2016, and here’s one from 2014), which follows a rail line that used to run between Kingston and Renfrew. As we complete more of it, we have to drive farther and farther to hike a section that we haven’t done before. Even though the skies were overcast today, I brought my camera to capture the fall colours….if not the blue skies. While we encountered a handful of people on the trail, it was *very* quiet. Almost too quiet: more than once, we were startled by a sudden noise.

View from the K&P Trail, north of Cole Lake

After walking the trail, we took an indirect route home. We passed through Bellrock, where I found a couple of very imposing swans beside the historic Bellrock mill. We also passed through places such as Chippewa (which I had somehow never seen before), Enterprise, Moscow, and Yarker.

K&P Trail near Cole Lake

In these COVID-19 times, travel plans remain almost impossible to execute. However, I recently made arrangements to rent a winterized cottage near Haliburton, Ontario, for a few days this winter We’ve never done that kind of a holiday before: my winter travel usually consists of a ski trip or a big city cultural (usually food!) getaway.

Heading north on the K&P Trail

Renting a cottage within a resort is kind of the ultimate COVID-19 holiday. Help is never far away, if needed, but you also don’t have to worry about crowded indoor spaces. And we are not limited to the cottage: there is a host of outdoor activities both onsite and within a short drive of the resort.

View from the K&P Trail, north of Cole Lake

The big adventure is going to be a half-day of dogsledding! But we also hope to skate on the lake outside the cottage, cross-country ski at the trails across the road, and do some snowshoeing in the Haliburton Highlands…outdoor winter activities that pose a very low health risk even if no COVID-19 vaccine is yet available. There’s even a small downhill skiing area nearby, but I think I’ll focus on other activities for this particular trip.

One of the swans at the Bellrock Mill (Bellrock, Ontario)

In the meantime, we will continue to “train” for our upcoming holiday by regular extended walks in the local area. By the way, Tom the Wild Turkey is *still* living a couple of blocks away: I hope he made it past Thanksgiving without any close calls.

Another swan at the Bellrock Mill (Bellrock, Ontario)

Even when we walk locally, we can still talk about prior trips. I may eventually post some of those ruminations on this blog. Our walks are also a time to think about what will be important when we are able to travel again in the future. So much has changed since 2014, when I started this blog. Not just politically, but also in our motivations for travel. I also hope certain over-touristed places will emerge with a more sustainable model for future travel.

Entering Moscow from the north (Moscow, Ontario)

Hoping to read about Prague? I will return to my 1999 Bavaria and Bohemia trip in my next post!

Posts from the road

Wildlife Encounter on the K&P Trail

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(Godfrey, Ontario, Canada)

While I have not posted for a few weeks, there have certainly been some travel-related developments.

Long-time readers of this blog might recall that I intended to visit Memphis, Tennessee at the beginning of my 2014 year of travel.  However, an unexpected ice storm in Tennessee prevented me from taking my connecting flight from Chicago.  From time to time since then, I have thought about trying to visit Memphis again.

Abandoned farm north of Godfrey
Abandoned farm north of Godfrey

Those efforts intensified recently and I was trying to use some Air France/KLM (“Flying Blue”) frequent flyer points to make the trip for free on one of their associated airlines.  I got as far as selecting the flights but unfortunately a technical issue prevented me from making the booking online. Before calling the customer service line, I noticed that Flying Blue had some promotional offers for international flights from Montreal:  for a very limited time, the number of frequent flyer points required was reduced by 30%!  As a result, I had enough for an overseas trip this fall!

This is roughly where we heard the loud and unexplained noise
This is roughly where we heard the loud and unexplained noise

I had to make a very quick decision – within 3 minutes, I had selected where I was going and when I could fit it into my schedule.   It’s quite exciting to have an adventure take shape so quickly and spontaneously.  You will be reading more about this mystery destination in the very near future!

In the meantime, we recently spent some time back on the K&P Trail.  We are slowly making our way by foot from Kingston to Sharbot Lake on this former railway line:  I first wrote about it in a 2014 post and revisited it in a 2015 post.

the Godfrey Social Club, in "downtown" Godfrey
The Godfrey Social Club, in “downtown” Godfrey

On this occasion, we started just south of the hamlet of Godfrey and, after passing through that crossroads, made our way through some increasingly remote terrain.  At one point, we heard a very loud and sudden noise that sounded like it was about 20 meters away.   At first, my wife thought it sounded like an extremely very large bird taking off from thick underbrush…but we did not see anything flying away and there are certainly no condors in this part of the world.  We decided that something very large must have fallen, just out of view but very close by.

Close-up of the Godfrey Social Club
Close-up of the Godfrey Social Club

On our way back to our car, a cyclist stopped to tell us something:  he was a regular trail user and, in the last week, he had two encounters with a mother bear and her cubs in that very spot.  He said that he made a lot of noise and the bears did not bother him.  Needless to say, we were slightly rattled by realizing that we might have just passed by a protective bear in the wild.  Just in case, we grabbed some large sticks and walked back to Godfrey at a noticeably quicker (and louder) pace!

We decided to chill out with some ice cream at the Godfrey Social Club.  We told ourselves it was just to cool off after walking in the hot sun, but it probably was also a reaction to our unintended close encounter with wildlife.

Posts from the road

Return to the K&P Trail

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(Kingston, Ontario, Canada)

Last year, one of my posts was about hiking on the K&P Trail north of Kingston. This old railway line has been converted to a recreational trail and we are continuing our attempt to hike its entire length.

We’ve managed to cover two more segments of the trial since my previous post.  We have now walked all the way from Kingston to the northern edge of the village of Verona (and back).

View of the K&P Trail from Boyce's Road in Hartington
View of the K&P Trail from Boyce’s Road in Hartington

We had low expectations for the portion leading north from Hartington.  However, after a not-very-tranquil segment near Highway 38, the trail plunged into wilderness.   Following a dramatic rock cut, we began to see all kinds of interesting wildlife.  First up was an active beaver population:  I didn’t act quickly enough to get a photo of a diving beaver, but I then spotted the unmistakable evidence of  very recent beaver activity (see photo at the top of this post).   From then on, our eyes were furiously scanning for signs of wildlife.

Many turtles on a log, as seen from the K&P Trail south of Verona
Many turtles on a log, as seen from the K&P Trail south of Verona

While we didn’t see any other beavers, we did see lots of gnawed trees….and a lot of turtles.  We saw massive lines of turtles sunning themselves on fallen trees.  Once, we even saw an unusual turtle-snake interaction…eventually,  the snake gave up and left the turtle alone.   Although they never got too close, birds of prey were also circling above us with rather unnerving frequency.

Mysterious Christmas tree, north of Hartington
Mysterious Christmas tree, north of Hartington

There was the occasional sign of human  interaction here:  for reasons unknown, somebody decided to put Christmas ornaments on a tree beside the trial.  We almost walked right past the tree without noticing.  Since then, however, we have been speculating about why this happened.  If anybody knows the story (the tree was no more than 30 minutes’ walk north of Hartington), let me know.

Close-up of a pair of turtles
Close-up of a pair of turtles

Our second segment took us from just south of Bellrock Road to just north of the village of Verona.  It was quite hot and we didn’t feel like pushing ourselves too much.  As part of the trail is actually on one of the streets of Verona, it also didn’t have quite the same ruggedness as the previous segment.

Rock cut north of Hartington
Rock cut north of Hartington

However, one of the advantages of traveling through a village is that you can take refuge from the hot weather.  After finishing our walk, we stopped in at a local trail-side restaurant called “Martha’s Place” (which we used to know as the “Bravo Restaurant”).  Pulled pork appeared in several different forms on the menu, so I figured that it must be a specialty.  I enjoyed the pulled pork sandwich very much, even though it was one of the messiest things I have ever eaten.  There was sauce everywhere:  I nearly got some in my eyes.

View of Hardwood Creek from the K&P Trail, just south of Verona
View of Hardwood Creek from the K&P Trail, just south of Verona

While Verona is nowhere near the size of the “real” Verona (which is coming up soon in one of my Travel Flashbacks!) in Italy, it is also the last major settlement on the currently developed portion of the K&P Trail.  Everything from this point forward will be much more remote.

Stay tuned for more Travel Flashbacks, local travel stories, and our exciting international trip in July!  We’re really going off the beaten path for this one…I’ll have some hints for you as the trip gets closer.

Posts from Base Camp

Walking through history on the K&P Trail (and another “Big Reveal”)

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(Kingston, Ontario, Canada)

The K&P Trail follows the railbed of the old Kingston & Pembroke Railway.  Informally known as the “Kick & Push” Railway, this rail route from Kingston to Renfrew (it never reached Pembroke) played an important role in opening up the hinterland north of Kingston in the late 19th and early 20th centuries.  It then declined until the tracks were removed in the 1980s, with passenger service ending some time before that.

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Part of a bridge (from 1927) on the K&P Trail, just north of Kingston

Extensive local efforts have now resulted in the redevelopment of parts of the railbed for recreational purposes: walking and biking in the warmer months, skiing and snowmobiling in the winter months.  While I never had the chance to ride the actual railway, I have always been interested in this relic from a bygone age.  One reason is that we often rented a cottage on Eagle Lake in the 1970s and the drive to the cottage closely mirrored the K&P route.  However, I’m generally intrigued by small local railways:  I’ve always enjoyed riding the tiny but still-in-service rail line from Spiez to Zweisimmen in the valley of my Swiss ancestors.

View from the K&P Trail
View from the K&P Trail

With the K&P Trail now open for walking from Kingston to just north of Verona, it is possible to get a feel for what riding the actual K&P might have been like.  My wife and I are gradually walking the line:  we have already walked from Kingston to Hartington (and back).  It can get a little warm during the summer months but it’s much more enjoyable now that the weather has cooled off a little bit.  As a bonus, the trail is never very challenging because railway lines were built as level as possible.

A rare lengthy incline on the K&P Trail
A rare lengthy incline on the K&P Trail

For our most recent hike on the K&P Trail, we revisited a (relatively) steeper section just north of the urban portion of Kingston.   All of the photos in today’s post are from the portion just east of the intersection of Bur Brook Road and Cordukes Road.

When we start walking north from Hartington to Verona, we will see the transition from a primarily farming environment to the rocks and lakes of the Canadian Shield.  It must have been extraordinarily difficult to build the railway through the rocky sections using the technology of the 1800s; in fact, many workers died in the process.

View of a nearby farm from the K&P Trail
View of a nearby farm from the K&P Trail

Once we’ve finished the K&P Trail, we will probably try to see some of the Cataraqui Trail too.  It also follows a former rail line:  it is currently developed for walking between Strathcona (near Napanee) and Smiths Falls.  Because most of the Cataraqui Trail is relatively far from our home in Kingston, we might travel it by bike or (in winter) on cross-country skis.

Another view from the K&P Trail
Another view from the K&P Trail

And the “Big Reveal”?  Although I wrote this blog entry in Kingston, I will probably have already arrived in Costa Rica (via Panama) by the time you read this.  Upon arrival in San Jose, I will be joining a group tour focusing on the natural highlights of Costa Rica.  As always with group tours, it is unclear whether I will have the opportunity to blog in “real time”.  If I don’t have that opportunity, I will definitely report on the Costa Rican adventure once I’m back in Canada!