Maintaining the Desire to Walk

MAINTAINING THE DESIRE TO WALK

Wednesday, March 21, 2007 (Napanee Beaver)

Friday, March 23, 2007 (Picton Gazette)

I spoke with someone a few nights ago who apparently follows this column fairly regularly. Until that night, we had never met, and he spoke quite candidly about our first encounter. After reading my columns on my appetite for hiking and early morning walks, he had painted quite a different picture of me than what he saw.

“I fully expected to see someone six feet tall, with legs about four feet in length.”

I can’t remember what else he said, as by this time I was laughing hysterically.

Truth is, I do enjoy hiking and have enjoyed many pleasurable hours hiking in such places as Frontenac Provincial Park. One of my favourite hikes was actually over the roughest and most difficult section of the Park, located on the far east side. To get there required an hour’s kayak paddle before I even commenced the hike. The 13 kilometres over boulders, rock edges, deep ravines and narrow rocky ridges, was only surpassed by a rigorous clamber to the peak of a high ridge where I enjoyed a panoramic view of the Park, and dismissed any question why this park continues to be a favourite among seekers of a wilderness experience. The 160 km of trails, many of which I have hiked, offer a unique blend of rugged terrain offset by areas of old fields where pioneers once eked out a living. One of the truly inspirational sights has to be the sheer numbers of people who visit this park daily. No matter how remote the trail, it is never long before you meet a group of hikers, rambling along in collective happiness and enjoying the outdoor experience.

Another of my favourite locations is Depot Lakes Conservation Area near Verona where nine kilometres of trails take the hiker over a variety of habitat from rugged Canadian Shield country to an old logging road which reminds us of the logging history that once shaped this area. Every two years, I organize a guided interpretive hike along this trail, and it is filled with the maximum 25 people very soon after advertising. Equally popular is Sheffield Conservation Area near Kaladar where a much shorter hike of four kilometres is made more interesting by the expanses of bare rock that leaves the hiker wondering what happened to the trail. It meanders around four lakes and passes by the eastern tip of another before returning to the parking lot. One of the more challenging areas on this route is a fast flowing creek which must be forded, and where legs four feet in length would certainly prove useful here. From there, it is necessary to clamber up a rock face before continuing on and returning to the parking lot.

Some hikes are more routine, like the 50-km Millennium Trail my wife and I and the kids (two dogs) walked last year, from Carrying Place to Picton, both ways. Although claimed by some uninformed walkers to be “boring and monotonous”, to us it was a an exhilarating walk with each stretch presenting fresh views of wildflowers and trail side vistas of farm fields in crop and wetlands alive with wildlife. A walk is more than simply placing one foot ahead of the other; an open mind reveals a phantasmagoria of changing scenes.

With all these wonderful places to walk, we still see those who do everything in their power to avoid it. To witness a truly unbelievable performance, one only needs to drive to a popular supermarket in Picton where physically fit drivers routinely vie for any available handicapped zones closest to the store, then sprint towards the door. One pick up truck even parked there one day, its side doors prominently advertising a well known local business I once watched in amazement as an out of town farm feed truck driver edged his large vehicle at a crazy angle across two rows of parking, effectively using up no fewer than seven parking spaces, while less than 50 feet away the parking lot was bare of cars. Saving time was certainly not a factor as this guy spent considerable time plotting his course of action to ensure that his huge vehicle would fit in the spaces he had been eying. In the length of time it took him to do this, he could have been in the store and actively shopping. Why has walking become such an offensive pastime to some? When did we lose the desire to get from place to place on shank’s mare?

Thankfully, not every person shares a dislike for walking. A series of Monday evening guided hikes that I have offered every year, running from May through August, was fully subscribed this year by the end of January, with the maximum 50 participants. I even added another 10 spaces just to squeeze a few more into the program that is celebrating its 12^th consecutive year. Full day hikes in popular locations like Sheffield, Depot Lakes and Vanderwater Conservation Area at Thomasburg are nearly always filled each year. It is wonderful to see the enthusiasm generated each year by these programs, and so encouraging to see that we have not totally lost our interest in walking, nor our desire to learn about the history, both human and natural, of these areas we visit.

British historian G.M. Trevelyan made a valid point when he admitted, “I have two doctors – my left leg and my right.”