Come Walk With Us on the Trans Canada Trail (TCT)

When we headed out onto the trail this morning it felt like a different world than the one we hiked through a few days ago. Our summer gear caught up with us, and with it came our new Radical Design hiking cart , to help us reduce the weight in our packs. So, our expedition has been joined by third member, which effectively turns one of us into a centaur at any given time. The other change was that it was 4°C last night, and only reached a high of 14°C at midday, a full 20°C cooler than it was a few days ago. Pretty much the perfect hiking temperature!   We left Smiths Falls on the Cataraqui Trail , and soon discovered that it is a wonderful trail to hike! It began as a gravel dust trail, and over the course of the day became a grassy two-lane track, and a flat grassy pathway. Most of it was shaded, there were wooden posts with kilometer markers, it was extremely well maintained, and there was no litter anywhere. A pleasure to walk, and there was so much wildlife! ...

We are spending the next couple days here in Smiths Falls, giving a couple online presentations, recuperating, waiting to switch out our winter gear, and replacing our charge cable. It feels a bit like a step backwards to make a stop so early in this year's hike, but we feel it is necessary. When we got in yesterday evening and reconnected to the internet we discovered that the area is under a heat alert, with a humidex of 37°C. Even apart from our other logistical challenges, now is definitely not the time to be hiking hot country roads with heavy winter gear, risking heat stroke. The main street in Smiths Falls is currently under construction, but it is nonetheless easy to see that this is a town with a rich history and a beautiful waterfront. It is situated on the Rideau Canal , within the town there are four sets of locks in three different locations. Together these locks provide a total of 15 meters of lift for watercraft travelling the canal. Much of the ...

We awoke to the sounds of American Robins, Red-winged Blackbirds, and Song Sparrows singing in the surrounding trees at first light. In the tent it was was already hot, and a look outside the tent confirmed a cloudless sky. We packed up as quickly as possible (which isn't nearly as efficient as it could be yet), and decided to head out early to make as much progress as we could before the heat really set in. Armed with new energy and determination we headed in what we hoped was the direction of Perth, where we would try to rejoin the Great Trail . The rising heat and complete lack of shade on the country roads made it tough going from the start, but we soon discovered it was turtle hatching day!   In a very short space of time we found two hatchling turtles! Each one was about the size of a townie, but we think they were two different species - a baby Snapping Turtle and a baby Midland Painted Turtle. We happy to report that both hatchlings were rescued from the ba...