Back in the Saddle: Biking the K&P Trail

On Monday, July 13, we finally got back out on our bicycles - a full FOUR MONTHS since our last long bike ride in Clearwater, Florida.  This ride was a 20 mile tour of the Frontenac portion of the K&P Trail, from our campground in Kingston, to Harrowsmith Junction, where the trail meets the Cataraqui Trail that leads west from the Rideau Canal.

Here we are at the trailhead:

The trail is a well-maintained rails-to-trails route, with a cinder surface (punctuated only occasionally with wildflowers that seem to have popped up a few feet in the wrong direction from their peers):

The trail follows the old rail bed that alternately soars over deep hollows or cuts through rough limestone bedrock:

This is farming country, and we often saw picturesque farmsteads, whose fields and livestock shared the landscape with our trail:

One of the more interesting features we encountered was Millhaven Creek, which drains much of Frontenac County and flows down toward Kingston.  In many places, the tannin-colored water runs 3 meters deep:

Crossing a bridge, we spotted one little denizen sunning himself along the creek:

Here was our destination - Harrowsmith Junction:

We had hoped the old railway station would still be standing and we could eat our lunch there, but at its site were only an historic marker and park bench.  So we bicycled back to the junction of the K&P Trail and the Cataraqui Trail, and munched our sandwiches in the shade of a tall tree:

Kathy was in charge of desert, and she delivered masterfully on her challenge.  Here, she is picking black raspberries for our delight:

  

Beautiful, sweet little things!

Our trail was marked by orange, flag-shaped blazes, often adorned with wildflower blossoms:

Speaking of wildflowers, we spied over a dozen different varieties of flowers, of which these are only a sample:

These daylilies probably were not so wild, but there was no homestead evident nearby:

The Rideau Trail is a 387-kilometre (240 mile) hiking trail in Ontario that links Kingston with Ottawa. Crossing both public and private lands, the trail was created and opened in 1971. It is named for the Rideau Canal which also connects Ottawa and Kingston, although the two only occasionally connect. The trail crosses terrain ranging from the placid farmland of the Ottawa River and St. Lawrence River valleys to the rugged Canadian Shield in Frontenac Provincial Park. It welcomes hikers, snowshoers and cross-country skiers.

Here, the Rideau Trail crossed the K&P Trail, and we spotted this stile over a farm's fence, with a sign that advises the trail is entering private lands, and that the hiker enters at his or her own risk:

The weather this day was perfect, warm and sunny, but not too hot, and we returned to our campground invigorated and not too parched.  We agreed there would be more of this as soon as we can arrange it!