Hey friends! I am trying to make more of an effort to write more blog posts for Time in the Valley. I have no excuse for the lack of posts in recent months. (Side note, have you seen the blog post that I wrote about the Pop-Up Container Market in Petawawa?). I have been focusing more on creating quality content for the Time in the Valley Instagram account. Regardless, I am making a commitment to you, a member of the Time in the Valley community, that there will be more blog posts coming to you this summer.
Without further adieu, I present to you –
Renfrew County ATV Trails
I should preface this with, these trails are intended for use primarily by ATVs and if you encounter an ATV along the trail, they should be given the right-of-way.
A map of the ATV trails in Renfrew County can be found here.
Recently, two friends and I went for a hike on trail 106. If we were to take the trail to the end, it would take us to Round Lake Road from Tramore Road. We made it just shy of the turn of for trail 102, which is about 1.5km from Round Lake Road. The total distance of our hike was 13.44km.
Needless to say, we ended up turning around a bit earlier than we had anticipated due to the thick curtain of mosquitoes. Regardless of how much bug spray we used, there was nothing that was deterring these relentless suckers. My husband not only packed my day pack for me, which I will get to in a bit, he also packed me a bug net hood. I wore the bug net for basically the entire hike. While I didn’t think I would use it, I was definitely thankful that I had the net. I absolutely recommend bringing a bug net hood, especially this time of year until about August.
The hike
The trail itself was by no means a beginner trail. The majority of the first half of the hike was uphill. The total elevation we gained was 221m. Once we turned around it also seemed like we were still going uphill – like that analogy that everyone’s dad told when they were kids ‘I walked to school uphill both ways in my father’s pyjamas.’ On the trail, there are also lots of loose rocks, which adds to the challenge when you’re walking downhill.
One of my favourite sections of the trail is a flat part, but it’s made exciting by the water covering the trail. I get a rush by trying to figure out where to step to not get wet paws! This trail also has lots of wildlife, which I’m assuming has to do with the fact that it is not a heavily used trail.
When we were hiking back to the trailhead, we were in a bit of a (brief) stand-off with a grouse. This beast came flying out of the bush and stood in front of us on the trail with its feathers all ruffled as if to scoff at us for being too loud along the trail. It definitely scared the heck out of me and I ducked behind one of my friends as if she were my human shield (thanks Hillary for saving my life haha). It was an experience, to say the least!
Have you hiked on any of the ATV trails in Renfrew County? Let me know if the comments below!
Want to get in on one of my hikes? Join my mailing list to be kept up to date on all the details. Join here.
What’s in my Pack?
Now, I want to do a little feature on what the heck was in my day pack. My sweet husband, my feller, went full-tilt and packed my daysack for me. It ended up weighing about 20lbs, which the majority of the weight was water. I had 3 litres of water and 1 litre of coconut water. The worst is not having enough water and then ending up with a dehydration headache that takes a couple of days to remedy.
In my day pack I had the following items:
- Water;
- Coconut water;
- Bug spray;
- Sunscreen;
- Flashlight;
- Headlamp;
- Spare batteries;
- Portable charger for my phone;
- Four pouches of baby food (my favourite carb source during activities);
- Kind bars;
- Knife in a sheath;
- Portable hand saw;
- Warm jacket;
- Rain jacket;
- Flip flops;
- Wallet;
- Face mask (because pandemic); and
- BBQ lighter (we couldn’t find matches or a smaller lighter, so I brought a BBQ lighter on the hike).
The other thing I was missing was a small first aid kit, but one of my friends had one so we were all set. The whole reason behind why I brought the majority of those items was so that we could survive overnight had we become lost or had something happened. Thankfully, that did not happen, but I sure am glad that I was prepared. My pack felt heavy on my body at first, but once I got the straps all adjusted it felt comfortable and sat nicely on my back (let’s be honest though, my body today feels like I went on an arduous hike with 20lbs on my back, ha ha).
Is there anything else you would pack in your day pack? Let me know in the comments below!!