Gould Lake to Frontenac Provincial Park: Rideau Trail Day 07 – 04C to 04F

Date of Walk: Saturday May 11, 2024

Total Distance: 19.85km round trip

Total Time: 5:13:09

This time, we brought Landy out to Gould Lake which felt much better.  We arrived around 9 am with a goal of making it to 04E or 04F before heading back…..I really like Gould Lake. I want to come back here soon and explore some of the non-Rideau Trail trails, including the Mine loop. I was really interested in all the Mica Mines we passed along the way today, most looking very ominous and perhaps haunted. The kind of caves that give me intrusive thoughts at night, but seriously, some really interesting history here. Between 1870 and 1912 Gould Lake played a major role in Mica mining.

Not that we actually saw any, but on this walk I was the most impressed by beavers. See example in the photo above, where a beaver dam is doing great work creating a pond and diverting a small stream of water. We encountered another amazing dam on the way back along the Ridgewalk trail and lots of evidence of current beaver activity along the way overall. The beavers appear to be part of the RTA, with their dams and crossings proving valuable to make the trail more navigable. 

The walk today was fairly challenging with lots of ups and downs with unpredictable rocks and roots underfoot. The trail was fairly well marked and only a couple places did we need to make some minor adjustments to get back on track where we missed a sign or something. Clearly all Bryans fault 😉  . There was actually one part of the walk today I regret not having a good photo of, as I am still a little worried it was a regular part of the trail and what this means when we reach parts that are actually flagged as difficult/dangerous. I will call it the “Death Down” because as we made our way up it, I had a lot of bad thoughts about making my way back down – this felt like an almost vertical climb with very little hand holds and no clear/safe footing. Between 04D and Bedford Road, beyond where there Ridgewalk side trail is…I’m guessing it to be the dark blue (i.e. slowest) part of my GPS map. On the way back down I needed a lot of encouragement and some assistance from Bryan to make it without literally falling off this… ledge. I would probably not willingly make this part of the walk again, and hope there are not many places like this along the way. Send me good vibes!

With lots of spring flowers and leaves emerging, this conservation area was incredibly beautiful, and a great place to spend our Saturday. Next time, we will walk across Frontenac Provincial Park which we really look forward to tacking on the Monday of the upcoming long weekend.