New Trail Opens!

Just when you think you know just about everything about the trails in an area, you discover something that makes you feel as if you know nothing at all.

That was my reaction in late July when I read a report in the Renfrew Mercury newspaper about the opening of an extensive trail network in Calabogie, northeast of Ottawa in the Township of Greater Madawaska. I had heard nothing about this trail system before that announcement, despite being in the area on a number of occasions and having spoken to tourism officials about wanting to know about hiking and biking trails.

Fortunately, my lack of knowledge was soon corrected, and thanks to the directions in the newspaper article, I was able, within a week, to visit and hike the new Manitou Mountain Trail. And it is a beauty!

A more detailed description of my route is for the book, but I can tell you that the new trail provides access to the top of Dickson Mountain, above the Calabogie Peaks Resort, and provides several other look-offs with broad views of the surrounding countryside.

However, this network of wilderness footpaths are not for the beginner, unless accompanied by someone more experienced, and a map is essential for this trek. Manitou Mountain and its connecting trails are a hike for an entire day, not 1-2 hours.

For those who do not wish to wait until next April, and the release of Hiking Trails of Ottawa, to explore this trails, you can find information about Manitou Mountain at: www.somuchmore.ca/Manitoumtncopy.html.

Enjoy!

Gatineau Park

Any book about Ottawa's outdoors must prominently feature Gatineau Park. This huge block of public protected space, shaped like a spear-head thrusting into the urban core of the National Capital area, has been the city's playground for many decades.

In fact, one of the problems I had with choosing trails to include in HTO was how to limit myself to only 10 listings in Gatineau Park. It contains so many possibilities, more kilometres of trails within its boundaries, both managed and informal, than exist near most North American cities. Gatineau park is so popular, and so well-known to Ottawa residents, that whatever selection I made was certain, I believed, to fail to include many people's favourite route and cause dissatisfaction.

In some respects the knowledge that most people would almost certainly be upset no matter what I decided made choosing easier. After all, if it was unlikely that anyone else would be pleased, I only needed to worry about satisfying myself!

Accordingly, I selected serveral shorter, but popular trails for novices and visitors. The Lauriault Trail seemed an obvious choice, as did Lac Pink and King Mountain.

Another short route that I included, Luskville Falls, I rated as a difficulty level of "3" because of the steep climb. Other, longer, intermediate walks are Herridge Hut, starting from P16 near Wakefield, and the Skyline Trail, beginning from the Chelsea picnic area.

Two routes I selected earned an advanced difficulty rating of "4": the challenging Sentier des Loup and less well-known Trail 56. And garnering the top difficulty rating of "5" are the long and climbing Lusk Caves trail, starting from Lac Philippe, and the physically and navigationally challenging route to Western Hut from the shores of Lac Meech.

I attempted to select routes that went to lakes and waterfalls, viewing areas and woodlands, and I tried to enter the park from a wide variety of directions. As I said earlier, there are any number of choices that could have been made. I hope that I included your favourite trail. If not, hopefully there is one that you do not know and are interested to try. Maybe you will discover an area of the park that you have overlooked.

Degree of Difficulty

All the trails profiled in Hiking Trails of Ottawa are assigned a numerical rating from 1-5 that indicates my evaluation of their degree of difficulty. A trail with a rating of "1" indicates it as being suitable for all fitness and experience levels. A route with a "5" is recommended only for experienced and very fit outdoor people.

These ratings are given based upon considerations of length, elevation change, condition of treadway, and signage. The base rating is founded on distance. Any trail up to 5-km is considered to be level "1", unless other characteristics, such as a steep climb, might increase its rating. Similarly, a trail from 5-10-km will be rated "2", a route 10-15-km long will be rated "3", 15-20-km rated "4", and anything longer than 20-km will automatically receive a "5" ranking.

If the terrain over which the trail passes is rocky or difficult, or there is significant elevation change, the rating will be increased by one or even two levels. On the other hand, on level, paved or crushed stone covered routes such as rail-trails or National Capital Pathways, the rating may be decreased by one level.

Level 4 and 5 hikes include an indication of what qualifies them for a higher rating. And any route, regardless of distance, where anything more than basic navigation skills are required, will automatically receive a "4" rating.

Novices, or those wanting a family walk, should choose level "1" and "2" ranked hikes initially, and work up to higher rated routes as they gain experience.