The bugs are out! Frontenac Provincial Park: Rideau Trail Day 08 – 04F to 05D

Date of Walk: Monday May 20, 2024

Total Distance: 16.32km 

Total Time: 4:17:07

We have hit the point where we didn’t want to backtrack as much so have started bringing 2 cars. We left Landy in a good spot off the road at 05D after asking the RTA Facebook group about parking here, and purchased a day pass for Frontenac Park for an excellent long weekend walk in the woods. It was set to be a very hot day with lots of sun, in semi-feast season for blackflies and mosquitoes – we brought lots of SPF and deep woods OFF.  We also brought our poles after our Gould Lake adventure and they definitely came in handy in a few places.  Frontenac Park is a beautiful place where you are quickly surrounded by the not-silence of the forest. We heard many different types of birds, toads, and frogs along the way, and not much else – we did hear one barking dog and did finally come across 3 other groups of people:  one group of 4 hiking out after camping in the park all weekend (got a great sock recommendation from them!), a couple of other day trekkers, and a group of people out for a shorter walk closer to Perth Road. Bryan was the good wildlife eye today, pointing out a large snake to me and spotting the deer that we were then able to photograph (there were 3 of them, but the third was very camo and out of frame). Some kind of bird of prey did us a solid by circling overhead while we were on Flagpole Hill which was a nice touch. 

The last part of this walk when you leave Hidden Valley Road onto private property is not marked very well, and is clearly a less-travelled part of the trail. We made a couple of wrong turns and had to look around to find signs pointing the way more than once even when we hadn’t made a wrong turn. Unusual given how clear/obvious the trail has been to this part, but no big deal because it is easy to backtrack where needed here. Looks like next time we have a big chunk on the Cataraqui Trail which will be an easy start to the day.

The RTA infrastructure along this walk is excellent – their strategic bridges are a great help to anyone on these trails and it is crazy to imagine a group of people carrying all these materials in so deep in the woods! The ladder bridge thingies when you cross onto/off of private land are excellent – stable, good hand holds, easy to turn around/haul things over. Thank you so much to everyone involved in these, from donors to builders, to those who maintain them over time.