Snakes, Owls, and Ticks: Rideau Trail Day 10 – 06A to 07A

Date of Walk: Sunday June 16, 2024

Total Distance: 18.62 km 

Total Time: 4:24:54

We are back at it after a few weeks off – between a late visit home to see my mother, a temporary back injury for Bryan, the RTA AGM, and a visit from my friend from Edmonton we were not able to get out the last few weeks to continue our trek. That said, we did do a mini-hike (Hike 7 by the looks of it) through Smith’s Falls when my friend was here, checking off some early locks in the event we decide to complete the RTA Locks Endeavor. 

We decided to complete a walk from 6A to 7A today, leaving Landy off the road at 7A, and taking the Jeep back near the Skycroft Access blue trail – it was a half hour drive between these 2 points since you need to basically drive around some large lakes – a gorgeous morning drive with numerous deer and rabbits spotted. 

Shortly past the 6A sign, a large tree had fallen across the trail that we had to go around. I reported this to the RTA via the contact form on their website…the one that worked that is, 3 other forms reported an error yikes. Im certain this will be quickly removed by either RTA or Skycroft making navigating this part back to easy. Not too long into our walk I spotted an owl in a tree not long before we emerged onto the Cataraqui Trail again. After a short walk on the trail, we headed back into the woods. It seems like a 6B trail sign should have been somewhere around there, but we did not see/find this sign, ruining my recent streak of photographing at all marker signs *sad face*. We did snap photos at 6C, 6D, and 7A at least – may you enjoy the silly moods we had on this morning.

A highlight of today was our walk through Bedford Mills where we found picturesque views and camera shy turtles – at least 4 of them. These dudes were chilling on logs/rocks in the water and upon seeing me see them and try to photo, disappeared into the water. Definitely peak turtle viewing even though I have no proof!

Leaving Bedford Mills we went back into the woods to McAndrews Road. I think we both agreed the last 1-1.5km of this walk was the hardest point of the day! Lots of ankle challenging rocks and roots etc. Maybe we were just tired by then, and it was starting to get hot. Stay Tuned to see how far our walks end up being when it is 25C or more this summer (eep!).

Overall a great journey today. There were a few places where trail signage was stressfully absent/difficult to find, but by keeping one person “in place” while the other explored around we weren’t “lost” for long. Very excited to have completed the first 6 maps the RTA provides! Next time, we walk to Westport 🙂

About the ticks….when we got home we found a couple of ticks on Bryan, not fully embedded at least/easily removed. Last time Bryan had a couple ticks as well *shudder*. Cue me feeling like ticks were everywhere for the rest of the day, but I didnt find any on me and did all the laundry from our hike with obsessive furor as well. We continue to use Deep Woods OFF! and keep Tick Removers in several places….make sure to check for ticks!!!