Confederation, Mowat, Tony & Gallagher trails

On Tuesday Bruce, Ron and I cleared the trail up to Confederation Lake. Bruce and Ron also eliminated a few of the muddy sections along the lake by cutting rounds, and placing them in the soft spots, in effect creating stepping stones. Other mud holes received the punching treatment where lengths of branches were laid side by side and presto a carpet of sticks now lets you amble across a onetime morass. I ran out of gas about 200 meters short of the cabin and so it's clear sailing to there. Likely we'll start coming up the other side from Fiddlehead in the coming weeks.


The ferns grow taller than some folks in the clearing around the Confederation Lake Cabin. Beat your way through the ferns and enjoy a lunch at the picnic table and a swim at the swimming hole some 60m from the cabin as you continue along the shore line to the point in the picture above just beyond the cabin.

For the first time ever I have figured out (with help) how to put a map on the blog. For those of you through-hikers coming to Mowat Bay from the Shinglemill and wanting to carry on trekking on the SCT (Tony's Trail) you will have to use some of the town's paved streets to get around the private property on the southeast side of Mowat Bay which used to encompass the start of Tony's Trail. The new owner doesn't want hikers crossing his property any more and so we have a deluxe reroute laid out for you. Follow the map up Mowat Ave, left on Cranberry St, left on Tatlow Ave, left on Warner St and right on Grenville Ave up the Telus Road (at your own risk) and onto the access trail down to truncated Tony's Trail. Tony Point and Haywire Bay are just a little farther along that route.



Take good care in locating the entrance of this connector trail off the Telus Road because conscientious vandals keep ripping off our signs and obliterating the entrance with branches from time to time. Three new signs have been installed again and more new orange markers give you the sense that you are on the right path. The entrance lies directly opposite the level pull out at the edge of the cutblock where the road begins to rise again steeply toward the transmitter at the top of Gallagher Hill. Once you are on the trail it's clear sailing with all debris removed as of August 1. Enjoy a wonderful lakeside trail with camping and swimming opportunities along the way...