Vanderwater Exploration

 Due to a road trip to Belleville saw a opportunity on November 14th to ride and explore some where new in Eastern Ontario.  Just north of Belleville is the  Vanderwater Conservation Area near the town of Thomasburg.

Tried looking up any info through Google but there isn't much info on the area. So the only option is to explore. The map online may or may not be accurate but gave a rough idea of the some of the supposed tracks.

It was chilly in the parking lot at the trailhead. Paved road way may or may not be a good sign.

Just after starting spotted local wildlife. A Porcupine busy eating grass and didn't even flinch when I went by so close.

The trails are more double track the singletrack which is more like what we rode 20 years ago.

But looking to the sides of the double track you can see the potential of the area if it was decided to add more trail.

A wee bit of leaf covered downhill.

Future off the grid housing?

Found a little technical singletrack on the way back to the truck.

About an hour and a half  of riding later with the sun setting it was time to pack it in. Vanderwater is nothing  exciting if your looking for singletrack. But still it was a exploration of a new area which is always good.

Gananoque Provincial Wildlife Area

Last February heard about a potential new riding area near Kingston called Gananoque Provincial Wildlife Area.  And noted it for a future exploration in the the year.

Once during the summer coming back from riding in Brockville stopped to take a look. But after looking at it, it was over grown and hard to see the track. So when the oppurtunity arose on November 4th to go ride there I took it.

Trail Head

The trail head is a gate and a park where you can affair. And while there was a big effort to clean it up  earlier in the year the reality is it is minimally maintained. And unlike many I don't shy away from minimal maintenance trails as they are fun in their own way. And exploring is always a good thing. Especially when the system has no known maps.

Initial impression

After getting gear on headed into the system expecting a bit of navigation skills being needed. And initially was what I expected from minimal maintenance but it was a illusion. After a bit of guess the route progress became a combo of ride a bit and dismount to hike and carry bike over/through stuff.

Moss Carpet

Had a nice throw back near the beginning to riding on moss. Throw back to the days of riding in BC. Unfortunately it went from this to something more akin to a navigation exercise or masturbating with a cheese grater. Mildly amusing but mostly painful.

Welcome To Hell

And after a half hour of head bashing fighting through this crap came out onto a quad track. So changed plans and tried to see where the quad track led.  Which was to a swamp and a beaver dam.

After doing a cyclocross like carry along the edge of the beaver dam. Followed the quad track for 10 more minutes. And in the end it was a dead end and a waste of effort...dead end. So back tracked and tried another quad track....

And after a bit of mud had to back track again. So followed the quad track back to the track that paralleled the 401. And headed back to the car with the end result of 2 hours of effort to go no where.

So while there could be potential for winter back country XC skiing. I will not visit it again. It is a waste of time during the riding season to go as it is al ot of energy to go no where.