Orphan Lake

Sometimes, I think DW still thinks we're young.

In 1995, we decided that we would take a trip where we wouldn't have to spend much money. We had already seen New York City, England, Wales, France, Québec City, and the Maritimes together, which had cost a lot of money for people who were on modest incomes.

Instead of spending money on airfare and hotels, we chose to camp and my best friend, Stuart, who had been visiting family in Ottawa, agreed to drive DW and me to Frontenac Provincial Park on his way back to Guelph. DW and I were going to spend the night in this park and then hike to Kingston over the next few days.

It was about 60 kilometres from our drop-off spot to the city limits, and we travelled between 15 and 20 kilometres a day, following the Rideau Trail over hills, through forests and farm fields, and on county roads. I shared some of the photos from that trek in a Wordless Wednesday post.

In 1995, I was 30 and pretty fit, and walking for several kilometres over rough terrain was no big deal. Also at that time, I enjoyed camping, and sleeping on the ground in a tent was easy.

Thirty-one years later, it's a whole other matter.

They call it a 'moderate' trail. It isn't.

Even when I was younger, I'd call this a challenging trail. Not difficult, as I didn't have to pull myself up or hang onto a rope for dear life.

But it was definitely a workout.

We started our day with a paddle before breakfast. Waking up on our seventh day of our vacation, we saw that the water on Agawa Bay, in Lake Superior, was the calmest we had seen it all week, and we didn't want to miss this opportunity.

We hit the water just as the sun was creeping above the tree line, but almost immediately after reaching this height, it became obscured by light clouds. I have to say, this kind of light was great for videography.

Our goal was to paddle from our campsite to Agawa River, just a couple of kilometers north in the bay. The mouth of the river bends and creates inlets that are shallow but navigable. And they're teeming with wildlife.

As soon as we reached the river, we saw a bald eagle flying overhead and all sorts of birds singing in the morning light. Our Merlin app detected an American kestrel, too, and though we could hear it, we never saw it.

We were only able to paddle as far as about 100 metres past where the Trans-Canada crosses the river, which isn't very far upstream, before the water grew too shallow and a set of rapids prevented us from going further.

We paddled back to camp, which still meant that the total paddle was 11 kilometres, which surprised me. I felt pretty good and felt I could go further.

We had a late breakfast and relaxed at our campsite but we knew that we only had one more full day, and we had things we wanted to do. So after lunch, we decided that we would hike the trail around Orphan Lake.

Though it's an eight-kilometre trail, the park description calls the hike 'moderate.' To me, moderate means there's some uneven trails and there is some climbing and descending, but it's doable.

Nokomis Trail, at Old Woman Bay, is a moderate trail.

Not even one-quarter of the way on this trail, I knew we were on a challenging hike. There were several elevation changes and if you didn't pay attention to where you were stepping, you could seriously hurt yourself.

By the time we reached our first lookout point, where we were high above Orphan Lake and could even see Lake Superior, in the distance, I was soaked in sweat. And we had a long way to go.

At another lookout, which gave you a spectacular view of Lake Superior from about 300 metres above, the breeze was welcoming and helped rejuvenate us. Already, I was halfway through my water bottle and we weren't even at the halfway point, which would require us to get down to the Lake Superior shore.

Way down there.

No, that's not Montreal Island in the lake.

When we eventually reached the shore, we knew that we'd be taking most of the estimated four hours that were required for this hike. At this point, you're committed, as it's the halfway point.

We did more climbing, saw a dramatic waterfall (but couldn't get close enough for decent shots), and saw the far side of Orphan Lake from where we viewed it in what seemed so long ago. We felt energized when we reached the end of the loop and were relieved to get back to the trailhead, more than three-and-a-half hours after we started.

Even when DW and I were young, walking the Rideau Trail, we never took on in our late twenties/early thirties than we had on that day. At 61, I only had enough energy after returning to camp to eat dinner, watch the sun set, and then go to bed.

Before turning in, we established that the next day was going to be a down-day. We were expecting rain overnight, our Paddlefolk friend was leaving in the morning, and we had some recovery to do.

But it wasn't our last day of adventure. Stay tuned.