Thanksgiving on the High Falls Loop
Details
Thanksgiving a great 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 this is a challenging trip. The trail can be hard to find/follow in many spots. There are muddy conditions, beaver dams, steep sections, and lots of bushy conditions. There is plenty of room for camping in the rough with no privies or other improvements.
Don't be scared off, I have traveled this route with numerous people and everyone has managed just fine.
REQUIREMENTS:
Physically this is a intermediate difficulty trip, but requires higher level of skills with high expectations of participants.
Due to navigational challenges, everyone must have a navigational quality map in some form, paper (plus compass) or GPS (see notes below on this), and know how to use these. 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 everyone must have a "Blaze Orange"(This is a legally defined color, no other orange will do) hat and/or vest. They are inexpensive and easy to get, Canadian Tire is one place to check.
ITINERARY:
Saturday
10:30 AM, we will meet on/near Victoria Bridge. Parking is just before crossing the bridge.
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 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. - 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
- Finally, the Ganraska club publishes this route in the Ondago app. Download the Wilderness section of the Ganaraska trail for this trip. https://www.igloocreations.com/ondago/app/bundles/GHTAWildernessClubMap3Of8/
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 have enjoyed doing this route several times and look forward to sharing the experience.
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After 10:00 AM October 4th no one will be permitted to join, even if there are open spots.
Thanksgiving on the High Falls Loop