Thanksgiving on the High Falls Loop
Details
This trip is now full.
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After 10:00 AM October 1st no one will be permitted to join, even if there are open spots.
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Thanksgiving, the perfect time for a hike. The weather is cool, the bugs are gone, and the leaves are at their finest.
Join me this Thanksgiving as I revisit the High Falls Loop, my favorite trail in Queen Elizabeth Wildlands Park.
This area of the park sees very few visitors but holds some delightful terrain and wildlife.
However...the trail can be hard to find/follow at time and the real path is a bushwhack in some spots. Still I have traveled this route with numerous people an everyone has managed just fine.
REQUIREMENTS:
Physically this is a intermediate difficulty trip, but requires an advanced level of skills with high expectations of participants.
Due to navigational challenges I am going to be upholding some very stringent standards for this trip
- Only people (and couples) who have led their own wilderness trips previously will be permitted.
- Everyone must have a navigational quality map in some form, paper (plus compass) or GPS (see notes below on this).
This is for everyone's safety, I want to ensure that those who may become lost can independently travel and navigate.
Hunting may occur in some areas we pass through. I have never had a issue or close call but I ask everyone to have a "Hunter Orange" hat and/or vest. They are inexpensive and easy to get, Canadian Tire is one place to check.
COVID:
- I will not be checking vaccination status; please assume those who are joining this event might not be vaccinated and could be COVID positive.
- Trips are contingent on the COVID situation and are subject to change or cancellation.
- Please review this COVID survey the evening before the trip: https://covid-19.ontario.ca/self-assessment/ If the assessment does not give you the all clear, please let me know, and do not come.
ITINERARY:
Saturday
10:30 AM, we will meet at the parking lot near Victoria Falls.
https://goo.gl/maps/qGq3aKPT9VxPysKb7
We will hike on the Ganaraska Trail network to
Black Fly River Junction -> Along the Graveyard section of the Ganaraska Trail -> Black Fly Junction -> Hiker's Graveyard -> to an area near the three way junction that used to lead to Sadowa
Sunday
We will continue around the High Falls loop returning to Hiker's Graveyard and continuing a little further to a lovely campsite about half way to Black Fly Junction.
Monday
We will have a somewhat shorter hike back to the cars at Victoria Falls hopefully enriched by the land and company. If we feel like it we can return along the Ragged Rapids Trail.
MAPS:
- You can find good digital maps of the entire route here (download link near the bottom of the page).
https://www.explorethebackcountry.com/qewmap - If you have a paper copy of the map above feel free to bring that.
- I use the digital maps, they work very well with the GPS built into most cell phones.
I use the app from this site, https://www.avenzamaps.com/index.html, and in the app they have a "Store" where you can download the "Queen Elizabeth Wildlands" map for free. - Finally the park is now providing a map which can be used the GPS enabled PDF reader (for example Avenza). https://www.ontarioparks.com/pdf/maps/queenelizabeth2wildlands/qe2-backcountry-hiking-canoe-routes.pdf
MONEY:
I will collect a $10 deposit per person which I will return to those who attend the trip or drop out more than a week in advance. I will also offer refunds to those who have concerns about their COVID status.
I have enjoyed doing this route several times and look forward to sharing the experience.