Hiking in Calabogie and Griffith Uplands

This past weekend, June 13th and 14th (2015), I went on a great hiking excursion to Calabogie (Ontario) with my Meetup group.

It was a GREAT weekend! The organizer limited participants, and was selective as he didn't want to have injuries or other issues. In the end, there were only six of us for the Saturday hikes and overnight, which was cozy and intimate, easy to get to know everyone. And the "everyone" were all healthy hikers in their 40's (and one in her 30's).

Now, I will say, I did have some bad luck. Almost like the Fates were out to get me :). More on that later!

Calabogie Little Pine Path

Along Little Pine Path

Anyway - the meeting point for the group was Calabogie Peaks Resort, on Barret Chute Rd., just off of Calabogie road. From there, we drove about three kilometres west of Calabogie Peaks resort (on Calabogie road!). There, we parked at a small parking area on the shoulder of the road. It IS the official parking, but easy to miss if there are no cars there. Keep an eye out - there is a slightly more obvious parking, then, about 200 metres past that, a smaller area. Both are on your right. (See the pdf map here at http://www.greatermadawaska.com/doc/Tourism/MANITOUMAP.pdf)




We parked in the smaller of the parking areas, crossed the road, and headed off on a short 3 km hike on the Little Pine Path. If you look at the map, we took the blue dotted trail, which is a narrow, real hiking trail, to several scenic points along the way, finally getting to Eagle's Nest. From there, we came back on the old logging road (the black dotted road). So, we didn't do the whole set of trails, as this was just a pretty little warm-up hike in preparation for Griffith Uplands!

Griffith Uplands
After our enjoyable little hike, we headed west to do our second (real) hike of the day at the Griffith Uplands trail.

I cannot give directions, as I followed in a convoy, and we made a pit stop at the organizer's cabin by the river (gorgeous!). But look at the map and directions provided by Madawaska here at http://www.greatermadawaska.com/doc/Tourism/Griffith.pdf.

Basically, take highway 41 to the village of Griffith. At the bridge, turn onto Highland Creek Road. Also near the bridge, and where you will turn onto Highland Creek, there is a general store and a little picnic area - this is a good signpost! From our direction, the store was on our right, Highland Creek Road on our left.

Go a short ways on Highland Creek, and keep an eye out for a pretty obvious parking lot. There is a trail map posted there, but I suggest you print up the one attached on the PDF which I linked to above, as this trail is NOT well marked, especially if you are used to more frequented and better maintained trails.

From the parking lot, head into the long grasses on the trail just to the left of the map board. You will do less than a kilometre in marshy flat land, then you will get to a logging road. Go across the logging road and back into the woods.

Follow the blue markings all the way; these are sometimes ribbons on the trees, and sometimes a vertical stripe of blue paint. And they are often easy to miss if you are not paying attention!

This trails is excellent, though, and worth the effort. It is physically challenging, topographically interesting, and offers lovely scenery. It's also not overly trafficked - we were the only peeps out there on a gorgeous Saturday afternoon. A nice change from Gatineau park!

Post-Hike and Bad Luck
I mentioned earlier that I had some bad luck. It started on Friday night, around midnight. I was sleeping, and hoping to be well-rested and invigorated for the two days of hiking. No such luck - my period started, sending horrid cramps and nausea through my system, waking me up and keeping me awake well into the wee hours. So, I had almost no sleep before tackling my day.

Of course, I was also low on Midol, the only thing that helps. And, I had to get on the road, drive through the country on quiet roads through towns I didn't know, so found no where to stop to get Midol on route.

Then, about to start the first hike, my butt was wet...my water bladder was leaking like a faucet. Apparently, I had not screwed it closed properly!

Then, I forgot to refill the damn thing before hike number two - the hot, challenging 10 km hike at Griffith Uplands. Already dehydrated, full of menstrual pain, and now, no water!  Grr.

After the hike, though, we stopped at the general store (which also sells beer and wine and booze, by the way). And, found, thankfully, Midol!!! I quickly popped two extra strength tablets.

Back at the cabin, we all relaxed, got re-hydrated and chatted. A few of us went for dip in the river (too cold for me, I took a hot shower!). Then I pitched my tent.

I put it in a gorgeous spot right by the water!

And, bad luck again - as I was carrying some stuff to the tent, barefoot, I slipped and totally stubbed two toes on my left foot. It hurt like hell, but no worse than a normal stubbed toe. It wasn't until pain woke me in the night that I thought it might be a bad stubbed toe, and not until I got a good look at the bruising in the morning that I realized it was TWO toes!

Oh, and I didn't even mention that, at night, after dinner, a wine glass fell on and broke on the big toe of my other foot!

Anyway, the bruised stubbed toes were very, very painful when crammed into my hiking boots. I didn't think I'd manage a 13 km hike on Sunday, so I bid farewell to my new companions, and began my long drive home.

After this weekend, I was physically tired and mentally relaxed. Vigorous exercise, good company, and sleeping outdoors in nature. A perfect combination. I felt so good, even my bad luck didn't annoy me!