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Mistakes were made: Rideau Trail Day 20 – 14C to 14E

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Date of Walk: Saturday November 30, 2024

Total Distance: 13.97km

Total Time: 2:46:58

We took the month of November “off” after our last walk to try and avoid the rifle part of deer hunting season, which we thought (confirmed) was November 4-17 (WMU64A), with some extra days for muzzle loading guns December 1-8. We knew there was still bow hunting allowed at this point, but figured that was less of a risk. Anyhow, on this walk we realized that many people are still shooting rifles at this time point, with multiple gunshots heard. We encounterd a group of 4 well armed hunters who informed us (incorrectly, but we didn’t argue!) that rifles are allowed in the forest all year, and that there are “always” people hunting with guns in the area.  Definitely NOT enthusiastic about future/farther walks through this area, but appreciate the candid nature of the people we met who told us outright that they hunt there all the time/anytime and have never been given any trouble for it. 

Since we only have the one car now for the winter, we went in and out on this trip with a couple small detours. Most of this walk is on wide, well marked paths/roads, and was very flat. Definitely a “wet” area with some large puddles to walk around as things were not yet frozen. Not much to write home about on this trek – the random circular path to the Earth station shack was the main highlight, but there wasn’t really much to see there. I suspect it will be awhile before we come back (Update – our next walk was taken in mid-January, following a minor back injury for Bryan, and our general fear of being shot, plus a deep freeze), but still glad to be making progress on the trail overall. 

If you want a safe walk, we do not recommend anything in the Marlboro Forest based on the information we received from hunters, this is just not a safe area and hiking is never worth getting shot!

We ended up at The Goose and Gridiron in Merrickville for lunch, but somehow did not take photos. We both had burgers, Bryan with sweet potato fries, me with regular. Decent burger, good fries, nothing amazing. I’m getting too picky about burgers and fries in some ways, but I think it is ok to have higher standards for such a simple item. 

read more about our rideau trail adventure

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