I’M BACK AGAIN. This is the most I’ve blogged in awhile, eh? I also have two other posts on the back burner so stay tuned for those.
I’ve had the AllTrails app downloaded on my iPhone for a while now. We were using it here and there but I’ve decided that we need to explore our local trails more often so the app has moved up in priority. We tend to gravitate to the same woodland rambles (Jack Pine Trail, Lime Kiln et al.) but there are many more we need to hit up!
Enter: Sheila McKee Nature Trail.
I actually had this one bookmarked already. I tend to do this when I hear about a pretty trail in the Ottawa area but then I promptly forget about it. So when Mark suggested we go for a walk in the woods “to that trail with the little waterfall” something tweaked in my memory.
Sheila McKee Nature Trail is a 25-minute drive from where we are, past the Marshes golf course and through Kanata North to Dunrobin. We spied turkey vultures and raptors and lots of geese hunkered down in flooded fields. It is a pretty drive.
Be warned, however, that if you ask your GPS to direct you to Sheila McKee Nature Trail you may actually end up at Sheila McKee Park. This is not where the trail starts. You need to drive a minute or two further down the road. The trail has its own little parking lot. Look for the brown sign… although AllTrails will show you where you are in relation to the trail, so there’s that option as well.
The waterfalls at Sheila McKee, as far as I can tell, are created by streams of water dripping from the side of the small escarpment that runs along the waterfront (sorry, I don’t have the geographical/topographical lingo here). It must depend on the season but it seems the falls are just a very steady drip that freezes dramatically in the winter months, as opposed to a cascade of water one would normally associate with waterFALLS, hence the term. ;) I would love to know for sure so if you’ve witnessed cascading water, I hope you let me know.
This is the path down to the Ottawa River:
… and then there are stairs. (Apparently these are deadly in the winter.)
What no one seems to have mentioned in any post that I’ve read about Sheila McKee Nature Trail is the incredible number of skipping stones on the shore. There were countless flat rocks… everywhere. I have never seen so many. When I exclaimed about it, Mark dryly suggested they’ve had a few thousand years to get that way. (THANK YOU MARK, for pointing out EROSION.) :D
We have decided that the next time we come it will be in the summer with a picnic lunch and a flask of something cold and delicious.
At just over 2K it’s not a long trail, but sometimes that’s all ya need. I also appreciated the fact that it is dog-friendly.
I do recommend it! If you’re not convinced, here are a couple other posts about Sheila McKee Nature Trail.
- Here’s the listing on AllTrails. There’s lots of user feedback so give it a browse.
- Here’s another good post on adventurereport.ca.
Related to this: I am very keen to start a summer collection of mushroom and fungi photos with the help of my Seek app. I have yet to find a better freebie app that can ID area plant life. Let me know if you know of a better one! I wonder how many mushrooms I can find this year? (I hope 50+. That’s my goal.)
