Prince Edward County, Ontario, Canada
ROCK DUNDER IS A CLIMB TO THE TOP OF THE WORLD August/September, 2013 issue When I attended elementary school back in the 1950s, all of us kids always looked forward to visiting “The Big Stone” on Arbour Day. It was located at the back of a farm not far from the school, and we would spend the afternoon clambering up to the top of this huge erratic, one of several that had been deposited in this field during the days of the Wisconsin Glacier. Some 60 years later, I visited The Big Stone again, only this time, it seemed to have shrunk considerably in size. Certainly I have seen erratics much larger than this two-metre high midget – most notably, the seven metre high Bleasdell Boulder near Frankford, but our Big Stone seemed really big to us as kids at the time. In fact, The Big Stone left such an impression on me as a child, I even included mention of it in my book, “Up Before Five – the Family Farm”. The stone we were now standing on was 84 metres, or 275 feet in height, and I cautiously duck-walked my way out onto the narrow horn that towered above the cavernous space below. In the distance, a greenery of forest tops seemed to go on forever. Just to the north was Jones Falls with its lock station and historic Arch Dam. To the southeast, we could see clearly the distinctive shape of the Thousand Islands Skydeck, even without binoculars. This was one huge rock and we had been walking on this rocky terrain for about an hour. Morton Bay lay nestled below us, and a stone’s throw away, the unmistakable tracing of the Rideau Canal as it made its way to the lock station at Jones Falls. So, what is the origin of the name, Rock Dunder? No one seems to know. The Internet’s Urban Dictionary says that “dunder” is a combination of the words dirty and underwear. Okay. Another makes reference to a person who is utterly useless and incoherent. It goes on to say that the IQ of this person almost always matches, or is close to, that of an average person's shoe size. The dregs from a rum barrel. Another claims it is a word for a drunk. And last, but not least, a polite word for “cutting the cheese”. Hardly flattering definitions – any of them - for such a spectacular property. The igneous feature we wandered about on was beautiful pink granite, more than a billion years old. This is true Canadian Shield, part of that extension known as the Frontenac Arch or Axis. If you follow this backbone of eastern North America far enough, you will come to the Adirondack Mountains. Lake Ontario actually owes its existence to this outlier of the rugged Canadian Shield. As glaciers carved out the basins of what was to become the Great Lakes, these basins filled with water and eventually overflowed in their search for the sea, finding it initially down the Oswego River. As the glaciers continued to retreat and the land rose higher, Lake Ontario found a new exit towards the east, spilling between the giant hills of granite. The numerous hummocks of protruding rock became the Thousand Islands in this now flooded landscape. In geological terms, Rock Dunder is a pluton, a distinctive mass of igneous rock, not unlike Foley Mountain at the nearby village of Westport. In geology, a pluton is a body of intrusive igneous rock, called plutonic rock, that crystallized from magma slowly cooling below the surface of the earth. References say that it took form in the roots of the Grenville Mountains that a billion years ago towered over this part of Laurentia, the ancient geological core that is North America. One can’t help but be overwhelmed by the enormity of Rock Dunder and its dizzying height. Soil is sparse up here and shrubs and trees are stunted and gnarled. In places, as we followed the trail, pitch pine with its tiny clusters of needles growing out the trunks fought for nourishment in the thin soil. Rock Dunder and nearby Jones Falls represent the northernmost stands of this southern tree species in North America. Trees of any kind at the summit are rare enough that only a few can be found where trail arrows have been attached. Elsewhere, blue arrows have been painted on the rocks to guide hikers along the way. Now and again, a thoughtfully placed Inukshuk points the direction. In places, the trail is similar to Kaladar’s Sheffield Conservation Area, a mere four kilometres or so in length, but one which takes a good two hours to complete due to its extreme ruggedness. Unlike Sheffield though, the trail at Rock Dunder is a perpetual climb, broken only by brief stretches of rocky level ground. Forming a loop, the trail descends, passing by two deserted cabins, a reminder of the days when this 230-acre property was a wilderness Boy Scout camp for 40 years. The squared timbered structures are now convenient rest stops for weary hikers. The property was purchased several years ago by the Rideau Waterway Land Trust whose praiseworthy intentions are to preserve this remarkable wilderness area as part of the United Nations designated “Frontenac Arch Biosphere Reserve”. There are two loops in the property’s trail system; the hike from the parking lot to the summit is five kilometres in length and is indeed the most rugged. Another, less challenging trail, is only two kilometres in length. Both reconnect to a one kilometre easy gravelled trail back to the parking lot where there are washrooms, benches and a plaque secured to a backdrop of granite rock recognizing 40 major donors who made the purchase of this property possible. Rock Dunder is located a half hour’s drive north of Kingston, on the southern edge of the village of Morton. Entrance is via Stanley Ash Lane, directly across from the Township of Rideau Lakes welcome billboard. For more information on birding and nature and guided hikes, check out the NatureStuff website at www.naturestuff.net Terry Sprague lives in Prince Edward County and is self-employed as a professional interpretive naturalist.