A Peterborough Walking Tour for Old but Adventuresome Hikers

[buster]

Trying to capture the adventures of younger years when our bodies easily responded to canoeing, biking, and hiking without any complaints are behind us. But the urge is still there to get out among the trees and under a sky that sometimes drenches, but generally feeds our well being, and we decided to find a circular route that included some of the greener parts of our city. It is to be a continuous, circular, linked route that ends where we started, without retracing except for handling our car drops.

Bill is both younger and fitter than me, and he hiked across England a few years ago. It was his suggestion though that settled our technique. He suggested that we

      START SLOW AND TAPER.

This is not to be a get from point A to point B sort of thing. And if we see an interesting side trail, or a pond, or simply some people to talk to, that distraction will become part of the official experience. The trip is the key, not the destination.

The first day has a name: "Top of the Hill and Beside the River". Soon I'll tell you what it was like, and what we saw.

[ssfc72]

Sounds like a good idea, to get some good execise and see some interesting locales.

[buster]

Top of the Hill and Beside the River

So our first day of this historic journey has been completed, and I say historic because there's a good chance no one ever, in the history of the universe, has made this particular journey on this particular route as one connected trip.

And don't worry about the stops. Even Magellan's crews, as they circumnavigated the globe starting in 1519, made stops. Many readers will not know that Magellan didn't go around the world. He died, and only one of five ships and 18 of 250 men survived the full trip.

Bill and I canoed the entire Trent Severn system about 40 years ago. So this is a miniature re-enactment on old feet.   We completed 'day one' of our walk around Peterborough a few days ago. We're resting today because the length of the walk was maybe a little (insert favourite swear word) longer than the 7.5 k I had estimated and because we're old.
 
So the adventure started by parking Bill's car near The Cabin at Trent on the east side of the river near where Nassau Mills Road crosses Armour. And we crossed the canal bridge to get to the campus east side, and found the foot bridge to the west campus.

To begin we found going through the grounds of Trent was awesome. We had the entire campus all to ourselves and it was beautiful, especially the faux ancient walls. Because I had taken courses in the late 80's I could find a way between buildings and over bright green grass where we never saw anyone else.
But to our dismay we found when we got to the drumlin that global warming had increased its height and steepness! With many rest stops we made it to the crest and it was down hill for awhile, then flat while we walked beside the river in solitude to the train at the zoo where we finally met people, many of them very short and smiling.
 
We did visit the camels and the restrooms before Water Street and after crossing started up the Cumberland bike path, which was much steeper than I remembered it, another example of global warming. Finally  we turned west on the bike trail that goes way past Lindsay if you want to follow it. And it was heavenly drifting slightly downhill in forest. We followed this almost to Hilliard Street.

There is a path totally in the woods that heads north here that is on the side of the Bear Creek Ravine. It pops out at Bathurst where we turned right onto Cabot and dragged ourselves to my house.

The hiking, which seemed to be almost all uphill, took us about 3 hours 45 minutes.
I sat on the couch and had an unexpected nap just sitting there.


Bill and I think our chances of reaching the end are pretty good. (And we both have cell phones if we run into difficulties, unlike Magellan.) But we've trained, and both of us have tough, resilient mental attitudes. Sort of.

[Jason]

Are you using tracking on the phone so you can show us the map afterward? Weirdly, my mind needs visuals, and with the path on the map, I could click on it to see where you walked through on streetview. Or maybe all three of us will have to do it again so I can see it. I don't know the Northend of Peterborough as well so it's hard to visualize (other than the zoo).

[buster]

I'm sorry Jason. We thought a general sketch of the route would be good enough and maybe encourage others to seek their own way. We've now finished 2 days, and basically it starts at the northern edge of Trent (the drumlin),heads to the zoo, and crosses Water St to pick up the Parkway Bike Trail which leads to Jackson Park and beyond to where we turn south and head down into your area of the city.

I know this area pretty well so I can add on side bits which are interesting to us.

We didn't use phones or Internet 'back in the day', so they are not allowed. If we get lost we have to solve the problem without technology, and there are vestiges of wilderness in this wonderful city that can turn you around. (But it's not like some of the places we wandered into years ago agreed.) And we do have phones if absolutely needed, which is improbable.

[ssfc72]

You didn't go for a ride on the zoo minature train?  :-)

Top of the Hill and Beside the River

 walked beside the river in solitude to the train at the zoo where we finally met people, many of them very short and smiling.
 
We did visit the camels and the restrooms before Water Street and after crossing started up the Cumberland bike path, which was much steeper than I remembered it, another example of global warming. Finally  we

[buster]

Bill wrote: "You didn't go for a ride on the zoo miniature train?  :-)"

Of course we did! I didn't include it because it doesn't fit with the serious nature of our endeavour. I didn't want to give the impression that what we are doing is frivolous.

[buster]

A Small Lake, The Ponds, and Trees

We did this section backwards, and so had to drop only one car rather than two. The only time Magellan went backwards was during heavy gales, or so I've heard. We expected about a 6 km uphill/downhill day, and when we finished that felt about right.

In perfect weather we drove to a gem of a natural area in Peterborough and parked in Jackson Park at the north end of Monaghan Rd, and because it was nine AM there were few people.

We set off, thankfully downhill, to cross the bridge and saw a duck apparently sleeping on the two foot high dam that spans Jackson Creek. We soon learned that she wasn't sleeping but watching over her tiny youngsters who where bobbing about in the shallow water beyond the dam. I was surprised to see this domestic scene so close to the bridge and the trail that must carry many pedestrians. (The ducks name was Hilda by the way.)

We circumnavigated the lake and spent some time on the Pagoda Bridge and reminisced about how the past is forgotten by the newer generations of this city. Maybe someday come back and take a look at this site. It surprised me:

https://peterboroughmoviehistory.com/other-writing/jackson-park-amusement-and-heritage-site

We reached the steep trail that takes us out of the park, and the climb reminded me that I don't like going uphill anymore. Uphill equals discomfort at my age, reminding me that not too may years ago I could ride my bicycle up this hill. But that was then.

We arrived at the sign that arches over the trail. It's attractive and says Parkway Trail, but this time we were heading east. On day one we had travelled west on a different part the same trail.

For a huge section of the rest of the walk it was like travelling through an unused golf course - very tidy, wide and green, with attractive trees, but paved. Being a trail is good. Being paved is clean and tidy but maybe a bit too civilized. We were relaxed and talkative, unlike our experience climbing the drumlin, or facing the slow torture of going up Cumberland on day one, the hill that went forever.  Time flew by here, as did the kilometres. It's an easy and attractive stroll.

We passed the two large ponds that are near the trail, not far from Walmart which can be seen like a castle on the heights in the distance.
The second pond is quite attractive, but this second pond is where our route took us north, up a hill again to some more greenbelt, which was also also uphill, until we got on some streets and arrived at R F Downey PS which happens to have a locally known exit from the grounds in the northern fence.

Still heading north and turning left onto Bowen Drive, we reached and walked a narrow bike trail to the west, turned right at its end and came to a park with yet another pond in Roundabout Park, which is named stupidly (in my opinion) not after the pond, but after a local road feature.

I can walk to this bit of water from our house easily and have visited it over the years as it matured into a pond you can hardly see now because the edges have been taken over, according to Bill, by invasive foreign species.

Still, there are a few good vantage points to see the pond's full size and the now larger trees. We also took a short excursion into some ancient cedars near the pond, our last touch with a spot where few humans visit, and after we came back to a paved walkway we travelled a few ordinary streets to get to my house and day 2 was finished.  So we had now covered from the north end of our city at Trent to Jackson Park.

Four days to go.

                   ***************

When I drove Bill back to Jackson Park so he could get his car, a woman asked us how to get to the lake. I explained how to get on the correct path. She spoke with an accent which wasn't French or Canadian English. I assumed, wrongly, she was a visitor. So I bluntly asked,

"Where are you from?"

To which she replied, "Peterborough."

Now I was even more curious. "Where were you raised?"

Her answer was even more unsatisfying. "Europe."

I could not just leave it. "Which country in Europe?"

And when she said Poland I pointed to my hiking friend Bill and told her that Bill's wife is Polish, and he obliged by greeting her in a few words of Polish and they were off and running and talking about her 'old country' which he has visited more than once.

They had no need of me. They seemed happy. So I drove my car out of the park, and headed home.

[buster]

Got a surprise this morning that concerns our 'day 3' route tomorrow!

An older couple, starting in 2018, began walking across Canada from the Atlantic side of Newfoundland. They were following the Trans Canada Trail, which as some of you know, comes right through Peterborough. They are near the Pacific Ocean and will finish their journey within days.

The section we're doing tomorrow is a bit of the Trans Canada they travelled maybe four or five years ago, pulling their little cart with their tent and food.

This is the article, and it has some good pictures:

https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/british-columbia/b-c-couple-trans-canada-trail-9.7290223

[Jason]

We didn't use phones or Internet 'back in the day', so they are not allowed. If we get lost we have to solve the problem without technology, and there are vestiges of wilderness in this wonderful city that can turn you around. (But it's not like some of the places we wandered into years ago agreed.) And we do have phones if absolutely needed, which is improbable.

I don't follow. You had phones or you didn't have phones? If you had smartphones with you with location mode on, your route has been mapped unless you turned off that option in your Google Account. Go into Google Maps and look back to that day. If you use an iPhone, which I doubt, it probably has that feature, too, but it might be off in their case since they're more privacy-oriented.

[Jason]

This is the article, and it has some good pictures:

https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/british-columbia/b-c-couple-trans-canada-trail-9.7290223

Fascinating article! When I was a young pup, me and a friend talked about cycling across Canada. Walking seems too slow to me, but the hills are probably easier to walk. Where I used to go to the cottage in Eastern Ontario, Combermere (Madawaska River) is Shield country and the hills have beautiful sights to see but the hills are killer on a bike. Another friend and I talked about backpacking through Europe. So many regrets, but you give me hope that someday I can do some of it maybe.

[Jason]

In deep shame, I admit I haven't been to Jackson Park in many years, at least a decade, probably two, other than in passing it outside. Does it look anything like it did in the 2000s? I mean, have they changed any parts of it. I remember the Pagoda bridge. In grade 9, my geography class went to the park for orienteering. I learned that I really suck at it. No sense of direction whatsoever!

[buster]

"I don't follow. You had phones or you didn't have phones? "

We have phones for emergencies, but not for finding our way. We have to find our way using the position of the sun, our instincts, or our luck, or a paper map we have, just as we did 40 years ago.

[ssfc72]

Thanks Buster, for the excellent post and Link, about your latest walk.
When I was going through high school, we lived near Jackson Park. First on Highland Rd then on McCrea Dr, when I was going to Sir Sandford Fleming college.
I walked past and through a bit of Jackson park on my way to the college, which at that time was on Bonaccord St.
 

A Small Lake, The Ponds, and Trees

We did this section backwards, and so had to drop only one car rather than two. The only time Magellan went backwards was during heavy gales, or so I've heard. We expected about a 6 km uphill/downhill day, and when we finished that felt about right.



They had no need of me. They seemed happy. So I drove my car out of the park, and headed home.

[buster]

A Day with Trees, a Wide Creek, and Few Houses

Planning the end of day 3 depended on where we intended to start day 4. Day 4's route was contentious. But everything had to be decided before we dropped a car. It was a near thing, but there were no scuffles. (At our age we can't fight, so we scuffle. That ways no one gets hurt.) The route has finally been decided, so we can continue our hike.

We first had to drop a car near the end of our projected day 3, and that was a challenge in itself. As a culture, in expensive areas, we tend to avoid, wisely in my opinion, a simple grid. Roads curve and twist and finding your way is a hit or miss sort of thing. But we found the school parking lot and managed, with some heated discussion, the route out and to the Jackson Park parking lot.

We parked and headed down to the same bridge where we had seen the mother duck caring for her little ones, but instead of turning east back to my house, we headed west for what I suspect was the best part of the entire 6 day hike we planned on doing. And the reason is simple.

There were zero houses, zero roads, and no car traffic. It was all trees, path, creek, and sky. We passed also some of the most beautiful young women (for us anyone under 60) living in Peterborough, most with dogs big enough to bit you in half, or small and nasty enough to gnaw through your leg. But even those in their twenties were friendly and smiled and said hi to these ancient beings sharing the path with them. (When they directed their gaze at Bill he went all sort of gooey, and it was really embarrassing. But he has all kinds of other good qualities.)

Anyway, the trail, an ancient rail line, follows Jackson Creek most of the time, and there were always interesting things to look at. I also found out that many years ago, when we were were callow youths in our 30's, Bill had, with friends and kayaks, run Jackson Creek during the spring floods, a good but harrowing experience. He was amazing messing about in boats, and taught me most of the things I know about canoeing.

(And people who can canoe together, will be friends forever.)

So we walked west, sometimes under a tunnel of trees, and we saw the creek running along side us going east, and there were no bugs and not many birds. The lack of bugs sounds good, but it isn't. The whole ecosystem needs these little creatures, some for the simple task of fertilizing our fruit trees.

For those who know the trail we walked to the bridge where you can see Lily Lake, so on this third day we completed the route from our most northerly point, the drumlin at Trent, to our most westerly point, Lily Lake. Now it was time to head south.

We doubled back to the Jackson Creek Meadow Bridge and followed a steeply rising path that took us to civilization on Parkhill Rd. Our selection of paths unfortunately has climbed every possible hill in the direction we were going. When you walk or bike you realize what a hilly city this is.

Bill led us east on Parkhill until we came to a paved path going directly south through trees and grass. Our surroundings gradually changed to large brick houses on large lots with expensive cars on wide driveways. It looked very much like a movie set for the extremely affluent. Even the dogs (being walked by young, lovely ladies) seemed to be richer than we two are, for we looked a tad ratty, but in a handsome and debonair way.

And these lovely ladies spoke to us. They probably assumed that anyone who could find his or her way through the maze of twisting, turning streets must live here, or had been here for days trying to find a way out.

For me the last part of the trip was uncomfortable because the leg that didn't have the hip replacement was hurting. Bill sat me down on a school bench and we ate our oranges and cookies. He is a good partner. Refreshed we headed to the car and drove back to my car in the Jackson Park lot and declared the first half of the trip was complete with this 6.5 k day.

On day four we hope to do some of the Crawford Rail Trail, if we can reach it.