Sue Lebrecht - writer, photographer, videographer

http://lebrecht.comCarolinian Forest

August 21, 2003

Carolinian Forest

2003 August 21 – Carolinian Forest

Active Pursuits, Travel Column
Toronto Star Newspaper

The trees in Southwestern Ontario look exotic.

Many are out-of-proportion big with trunks you can’t wrap your arms around. Some, with huge, round heads of foliage, look like giant lollipops. The tuliptree has leaves the size of a huge hand, while the Kentucky Coffeetree has leaves a metre-long. The bark of the blue-beech looks like skin stretched over muscle, while the bark of black cherry resembles burnt corn flakes.

The forests are filled with colourful songbirds and wildflowers in spring. There’s the rhythmic hammering of the pileated woodpecker and the gobble of the wild turkey. The southern flying squirrel launches itself from one treetop to another, gliding at dusk. Swamp-like ponds are reminiscent of Louisiana bayous. The air is rich and steamy; the ferment of life is percolating.

With little imagination, hikers could easily feel transported to southern U.S. Indeed, stand in a grove of pawpaw, with its fruit as big as a fist, and you’ll feel immersed in the tropics. Yet, astonishing as if may seem, the exoticness of the region is natural and homegrown.

Known as the Carolinian Zone, the remarkable ecological region of Southwestern Ontario featuring trees, plants and animals that are more common to South Carolina than to anywhere else in Canada – is due to a temperate climate and long growing season. Cradled between Lake Huron, Lake Ontario and Lake Erie, the Carolinian Zone lies south of a loose hanging line linking Toronto with Grand Bend, and includes tall grass prairie and black oak savannah habitats.

For insight, pick up “Trees of the Carolinian Forest: A guide to species, their ecology and uses” by Gerry Waldron, published by Boston Mills Press. With colour pictures and hand drawings, the book identifies 73 tree species. It also focuses on a tree’s relationship to the ecosystem, the importance of native stock, biodiversity and habitat restoration.

The author, who has over 32 years experience in agricultural research, field biology and environmental planning, holds botany and horticulture degrees, and has been credited with the identification of three species previously unknown to Canada.

For specific places to visit, pick up “The Hike Ontario Guide to Walks In Carolinian Canada” by Brad Cundiff, also published by Boston Mills Press. It features more than three dozen walking routes in provincial parks, conservation areas, on rail-trails, sections of the Bruce Trail, Grand Valley Trail and Elgin Trail. Trail maps, directions, distances, estimated time, descriptions and highlights are included.

Both books will tell you that there’s little natural habitat left of what there originally was. The vast majority of land has been cleared for settlement and agricultural use – some townships have less than one percent of their original cover – and the former rich tapestry has been reduced to isolated fragments.

“Canada has about 4,000 plant species, and half of them are growing in the Carolinian Zone – in 0.5 percent of the nation’s landmass,” said Waldron. “That’s a significant chunk of the nation’s biodiversity.”

What frustrates Waldron is the lack of native trees used in reforestation and restoration plantings. “We have depended on imported exotic species to beautify our landscapes. Nurseries are top heavy with European an Asian species, and up until recently it was difficult to procure native species for restoration.”

It’s Waldron’s hope that his book will help with the propagation of native species, that in your wanderings you’ll find a favorite tree and plant one to enjoy in your yard. “Ultimately, I’d like to see the biodiversity preserved, and I’ve included strategies for that, such as linking natural areas, increasing them in size, and preserving more old growth characteristics.”

http://lebrecht.comRankin River Canoe Route

August 07, 2003

Rankin River Canoe Route

2003 August 7 – Rankin River Canoe Route

Active Pursuits, Travel Column
Toronto Star Newspaper

In 1961 a dam was built on the Rankin River to control the wildly fluctuating water levels of an upstream lake and to restore its wetland habitat for increased wildlife potential. Mission accomplished.

On the west side of the Bruce Peninsula, about 5 km inland of Lake Huron from the community of Oliphant, Boat Lake, with its flooded woodland and wetland complex is a haven for wildlife.

Paddling quietly along its shore, you’ll see a beaver lodge and a gigantic bald eagle’s nest high up in the bare branches of a tree. Phoebes swoop acrobatically and hover overhead scolding loudly at your intrusion, while a painted turtle pokes its head among the water lilies to see what all the commotion’s about.

There’s no sign of the shy and brilliantly coloured wood ducks that make use of the nesting boxes that have been erected in the shallows, but cormorants strike a pose on tree snags, and terns undistracted by your presence, dive-bomb from the air, head-first into the water for fish.

You hardly need to be a naturalist to find Boat Lake enrapturing, though it does help to have paddling skills to maneuver through the twisting river that follows.

Boat Lake is part of the Rankin River Canoe Route, an 18-km, eight-hour journey through a chain of lakes and rivers between Isaac Lake, near the community of Red Bay, south to Sauble Falls Provincial Park. A shorter 11-km, six-hour alternative is also possible, beginning from the top of Boat Lake off Bruce Road 13.

At its bottom end, Boat Lake filters into the Rankin River; look for a sign indicating its channel. A narrow, winding and slow moving river, the Rankin holds reflections on its surface. A tall mix of evergreens and hardwoods line its banks and small feeder streams trickle into its flow.

Paddling here requires choreography. While curving around endless bends you’ll duck under cedar boughs and veer around saw logs – remnants of timbering years ago – that jut from the surface at odd angles. There’s also minor portaging and canoe lifting around and over fallen trees and broken branches.

About halfway along the river’s length lies the narrow, concrete barrier of the dam. A great spot for a picnic lunch, it has an open, grassy area to the side. The dam too requires a 20-step portage.

Below the dam salmon run thick each autumn. Also on this side, paddlers will encounter two sets of rapids, the second of which – at a blind corner in the river – is a chute for experienced canoeists only. Listen for its rush and pull to the shore on the right-hand side to either find your line in the wash or to walk around it.

At its end, the Rankin flows under a road bridge and unites with the Sauble River; stay right. Ahead, Sauble Falls Provincial Park offers riverside camping. The route ends directly after a second road bridge – just before Sauble Falls. Pull off to the right, and mind your steps; the grassy pullout area is home to frogs and turtles. From it, a short path leads up to Highway 21.

The Rankin is one of three paddling routes outlined in a new brochure put together by a local paddling committee for Grey and Bruce Counties. The other two noted routes are the Saugeen and Beaver rivers.

A variety of area outfitters, including Thorncrest Outfitters, offer rentals and drop-off and pick-up service. For more information, and a copy of the brochure, contact: Bruce County Tourism at 1-800-268-3838 or 519-534-5344, or visit web: www.naturalretreat.com

http://lebrecht.comFlowerpot Island

June 26, 2003

Flowerpot Island

2003 June 26 – Flowerpot Island

Active Pursuits, Travel Column
Toronto Star Newspaper

If you were to follow the Niagara Escarpment north, either on road by vehicle or along the Bruce Trail by foot, you’d eventually end up at Tobermory on the tip of the Bruce Peninsula. Here, roads stop, the approximately 800-km-long footpath of the Bruce Trail comes to an end, and the bodies of Georgian Bay and Lake Huron unite in a vast hue of blue. By every indication, it appears the limestone ridge of the Niagara Escarpment reaches its conclusion here too. But appearances can be deceiving.

The escarpment doesn’t actually stop at land’s end, rather it drops with a cliff that plunges underwater to a depth greater than the height of Niagara Falls. Onwards, submerged, the magnificent gray mane of rock continues northward. About 5 km offshore, however, it breaches the surface with a triangular landmass called Flowerpot Island.

Northeast of Tobermory, the island is an amazing microcosm of escarpment highlights. It has cliffs, caves, old growth cedars, rare ferns, orchids, and of course its namesake rock formations the “flowerpots”.

Shuttle to the island from Tobermory is offered by glass-bottom tour boat operators. Two main companies offer shipwreck viewing with an optional island stopover. Cost is approximately $20 (less for seniors and children).

Welcoming and user-friendly, the island is part of Fathom Five National Marine Park, a mostly underwater park protecting shoals and shipwrecks. At its docking site, interpretive signs and free brochures provide an island overview. Wheelchair accessible boardwalk leads to an outhouse and to the trails. During July and August, guided tours are offered twice a week by park interpreters. Also, half-a-dozen campsites are available on a first-come, first-serve basis.

The most exciting of trails is a 3-km loop that runs along the eastern shore and returns through the interior. Crowned in cedar, the island is rimmed by gray limestone in the form of boulders, cliffs, and flat slabs that extend into turquoise-coloured water.

At the flowerpots you’ll probably use a lot of film no matter how many times you’ve seen their picture already. The rock stacks are shapely formations of layered rock with tops wider than their bases.

“The cap rock is made of fossilized coral and is harder, denser and more resistant to erosion than its lower part which is composed of fossilized sea floor,” explains Ethan Meleg, a park naturalist for Fathom Five National Marine Park.

A staircase brings visitors up to a cave where interpretive signs explain that it was carved by wave action about 10,000 years ago when water levels were much higher.

Notice the small, twisted cedars clinging to the cliff walls. The tenacious, eastern white cedar manages to grow in the most unfathomable spots and are the oldest trees east of the Rockies. One tree on the island was dated as 1,860 years old.

“The cliff face is one of the most ecologically pristine places in the country,” said Meleg. “The trees have never been logged, browsed by deer, and they’ve escaped forest fire.”

Meleg also points out a rare fern on the rock wall. One could unwittingly brush against the tiny jewel and destroy it.

“The biggest challenge that we face in parks today is finding a balance so that ecological integrity can be preserved while people can visit and have a great experience,” said Meleg.

At the northernmost point of the trail, hikers reach a pretty red and white lighthouse and adjacent homestead. The historic station is maintained by the volunteer group of Friends of Fathom Five (www.castlebluff.com).

Beyond the lighthouse, the Niagara Escarpment carries on northward submerged again. It next appears on Manitoulin Island. But that’s a whole other story.

The admission fee to Flowerpot Island is $4.50 for adults, less for seniors and children; contact Fathom Five National Marine Park at 519-596-2233, www.parkscanada.gc.ca. For more information on Tobermory and Bruce County, contact 1-800 268-3838, www.naturalretreat.com.

http://lebrecht.comMinesing Swamp

May 15, 2003

Minesing Swamp

2003 May 15 – Minesing Swamp

Active Pursuits, Travel Column
Toronto Star Newspaper

Southern Ontario’s largest wetland, the Minesing Swamp, is playfully referred to as the Northern Everglades, and as Ontario’s Everglades.

While not home to alligators but to great blue herons, turtles and orchids – oh my – the Minesing Swamp, west of Barrie, is a 6,000-hectare, internationally significant complex of swamps, marshes, bogs and fens.

From the outside, from bordering roads, the Minesing doesn’t look terribly impressive. There are bulrushes, cattails and rivers and creeks that flow amidst grassy embankments towards far off dead trees. At a glance, the sopping landmass is the kind of Florida real estate you wouldn’t want to be suckered into buying.

But follow one of its rivers or creeks with a paddle and you’ll enter a fantastical world.

Pick Willow Creek, and let its gentle, meandering channel transport you into a vast graveyard of silver maples. Topless trunks at half-mast and others mere stumps, the former giants jut solemnly from watery muck. Belying their last leg, they form eerie and mesmerizing silhouettes.

Closer still, the dead, bleached white trees have nests. In rotted cavities and in woodpecker holes, in every conceivable nook and even on improbable tops of fully exposed snags, nests are everywhere.

Flocks of birds fill the air with wing and song. Swallows swoop acrobatically in front of your canoe. Turtles line fallen logs, soaking in the sun, while the chorus of frogs is as deafening as a highway.

Then, where Willow Creek meets the Nottawasaga River, you’ll enter Carolinian forest with living trees of Hackberry, Black Maple, Blue Beech and other exotic species typical of southern United States. Protruding from mounds, shallows and embankments, they hang heavily over the water with bright leaves.

The Minesing Swamp, with its seasonally flooded and permanently flooded land, is designated as a Wetland of International Importance under the RAMSAR Convention on Wetlands. A world class designation, it puts the Minesing on par with Florida’s Everglades, Georgia’s Okefenokee Swamp and Ontario’s Point Pelee National Park.

With its diverse habitats, the Minesing Swamp statistically is home to 400 species of plants of which 11 are provincially rare and one nationally rare, 221 bird species of which 135 nest on site, 23 species of mammals, 30 species of fish and numerous reptiles and amphibians. We’re talking muskrats, minks, otters and opossums, bats, newts, frogs and butterflies, songbirds, ducks, raptors, sand hill cranes, swans and owls.

Naturalists marvel at the Swamp’s remarkable microclimates that uphold not just Carolinian forest but tundra plants typical of the Hudson Bay lowlands.

“We’re looking into the possibility of having the Minesing Swamp also designated under UNESCO as a world biosphere reverse,” said Byron Wesson, the director of land management for the Nottawasaga Valley Conservation Authority (NVCA).

The highest of dead standing trees support the 5th largest blue heron colony in the province. Forest of dense cedar and black spruce on the southern fringe provides a deer “yard” in which 300 to 400 deer find refuge in winter. Pockets of particular growing conditions support populations of rare orchids.

“One orchid found last summer, was a one-of-a-kind – a cross between a purple and white prairie fringed orchid that was pink,” said Wesson.

A colourful poster map of the swamp, produced by the Friends of Minesing Swamp, outlines four canoe launch sites, wetland information, plus area highlights, including historic Fort Willow and the Trans Canada and Ganaraska trails. The map is available free at a variety of outdoor shops in Barrie and also from the NVCA office.

For paddling, spring is best while the water level still provides clearance over submerged logs. Even so, there are spots where paddlers may have to get out and walk their boat. Note well, however, that routes through the swamp are not marked and getting lost is possible.

Guided hiking, canoeing, skiing and snowshoeing tours are offered by “Friends” monthly except in June, July and August, with fees going towards ongoing management. The non-profit group of volunteers works to preserve the integrity of the Swamp.

“One of the biggest challenges we’re facing is the increased numbers of visitors and the impact they’re having,” said Wesson, who is also a past president of “Friends”.

To assist with the rehabilitation of heavily used areas and to educate visitors on the importance of low-pact activities, user-fees are coming into effect at the end of May. Expect to pay $20 for a yearly pass and $5 for a day pass.

For more information, phone NVCA at 705-424-1479 or visit web site: http://www.nvca.on.ca.

http://lebrecht.comBlue Mountain Nordic Centre

February 20, 2003

Blue Mountain Nordic Centre

2003 February 20 – Blue Mountain Nordic Centre

Active Pursuits, Travel Column
Toronto Star Newspaper

The opening of a new cross-country ski centre in Ontario is a highly unusual occurrence.

With today’s changing weather patterns, unreliable snowfall and dwindling participation, the provincial cross-country ski scene over the past decade has rather been punctuated with stories of hardships, uncertain futures and even closures.

Yet despite the odds, a new venue has opened in our midst. And if ever there was a place with promise for success, the new Blue Mountain Nordic Centre is it.

Situated on the Niagara Escarpment at the Collingwood Scenic Caves Nature Preserve, the centre lies in the snowbelt of the lake effect of Georgian Bay. When I visited last week, the accumulation of white on the base lodge rooftop was ski pole high.

Neighbouring Blue Mountain, which is getting a major facelift from Intrawest, the centre has a growing audience and drawing card of 1.3 million winter enthusiasts.

“I envisioned having cross-country skiing on the property when I purchased Scenic Caves 10 years ago,” said owner Rob Thorburn, an avid nordic skier himself. “I’ve been conceptualizing with the Niagara Escarpment Commission and the Town of the Blue Mountains and also working with the Ministry of Natural Resources in Grey County, and it’s taken four years to find the right mix.”

The “mix” that Thorburn is talking about, is development and operational designs with consideration to environmental sensitivities and sustainability. After all, the Niagara Escarpment has been designated a UNESCO World Biosphere Reserve for its precious ecosystem.

Open daily, the centre has 16 km of trackset trails with an adjacent groomed lane for skate-skiing. The trails for the Scenic Caves are not part of the system and the caves themselves are strictly off-limits. The base lodge is heated by a fireplace, and an outdoor toilet is warmed by an electrical heater. Ski equipment and also snowshoe rentals are offered on-site.

“We cater prominently to classic-style skiing, to those who want to go into the forest and feel alone,” said Thorburn who also consulted with cross-country ski experts in Canada and the United States. “Trails are spread out. They’re not built for speed but for mood and the feeling you get in the woods.”

The 400-acre property is covered in hardwood forest. From the base lodge, which is perched about three-quarters of the way up the escarpment, beginner trails wind across the slope through a former farmer’s field with apple trees, hawthorns and young maples, while intermediate routes climb beyond it, into a mature forest with 200-year-old oaks and maples.

Looking down between the trees and also from a lookout point on the top of the escarpment, is a view of Georgian Bay – its curving shoreline and steel blue horizon.

Already the centre is seeing 300 to 400 visitors every weekend day. “People are overjoyed with the experience – look at the comments in the guest book,” said Thorburn.

The centre’s 30 pairs of snowshoe rentals are also getting a lot of use – even though designated snowshoe trails have yet to be opened. For now, people are using snowshoes on the groomed skate-skiing lane, and also up a steep ungroomed service road to the lookout.

The development of more trails, for both cross-country skiing and snowshoeing, is in the works, but Thorburn’s plans extend beyond trails.

“Over the next year-and-a-half, I’ll be spending $1 million to also build a 126-metre-long suspension bridge over a forested valley, and also a boardwalk in the tree tops as part of an eco-adventure tour,” he explained, as he showed me the works-in-progress.

“I think I’m the luckiest guy in the world to live where I’m living and do what I’m doing,” said Thorburn, 63, who tends to view the world with eyes of appreciation after having successfully battled the onslaught of epilepsy and cancer a decade ago.

Trading stress for the outdoor life, Thorburn left the world of Bay Street and bought Scenic Caves Nature Preserve in 1993. What was a faltering business at the time, Thorburn rejuvenated into one of the top privately-owned attractions in Central Ontario.

“This is so much better than Bay Street,” said Thorburn. “I feel I’m helping people. They come here and I see them releasing their tension. They come out cleansed.”

Nordic trail passes for adults on weekends are $10, and snowshoe rates are $9. Prices are less on weekdays, and for youth and children.

Directions: In the west end of Collingwood, where First Street (Hwy. 26) turns north (there’s a Pizza Pizza on the corner), continue west on Mountain Road. At the next set of lights, continue 1.3 km past the intersection, turn left on Mountain Drive and follow signs to Scenic Caves. Tel: 705-446-0256. Web: www.sceniccaves.com

http://lebrecht.comChico Racing Mountain Bike Events

July 20, 2002

Chico Racing Mountain Bike Events

2002 July 20 – Chico Racing Mountain Bike Events

Active Pursuits, Travel Column
Toronto Star Newspaper

Singletrack trails for mountain biking were non-existent in Ontario in 1994 when Chico Racing debuted with its first mountain bike event. The course was set up on doubletrack trail used by logging trunks and maintenance vehicles in Durham Forest and 240 participants showed up.

“We had two rental port-o-potties and a tent we borrowed from a friend,” said Adam Ruppel, who started up the company with his brother Sean. “We ran it by the seat of our pants, but it went smoothly. Riders had low expectations at the time.”

Today, Chico Racing – Ontario’s largest mountain bike event organizer – carefully orchestrates its events with radios, a high-tech sound system, and chip timing system. Its annual 24-hour Summer Solstice relay race, which filled to capacity this year with 1900 riders and nearly 3,000 spectators, engages 25 paid staff plus100 volunteers.

However, the biggest difference between then and now is that the race course is set on singletrack – the narrow, winding type of trail that’s become as core to mountain biking as wind is to sailing.

What sets Chico Racing apart from most mountain bike event organizers is that it builds and maintains the trails it uses. And, Chico Racing is credited for constructing some the best singletrack trails in southern Ontario.

It’s no coincidence that the trails at Durham Forest, Ganaraska Forest, Dagmar Resort and Albion Hills Conservation Area ride with the same flavor. All were built by Chico Racing. While advancing the sport of mountain biking, the company has left a wondrous playground in its wake – along with a benchmark for trail building.

“We’ve never received money to build trails, but the events we run pay for the hundreds of hours that go into trail construction,” said Adam. “We looked at venues that didn’t have great mountain biking but had the potential for great mountain biking. With permission, we built up the infrastructure of trails at those venues. We got our event, the venues got the trails. It was a win-win reciprocal relationship. That’s become our blueprint.” Trails designed by Chico Racing are appreciated most for their flow and transition. They rollercoaster with a good balance between technical and physical challenge. Tough steeps are followed by flats. There are twists and turns and swoopy, undulations. There are plank bridges, rock piles and log obstacles. Routes trace ridges, weave among trunks, and dive in and out of gullies.

Sean Ruppel is the master behind the workmanship. “A lot of people build tighter singletrack that we do,” he said. “We design it to be technical with fast sections so a decent rider can maneuver through with speed.”

On Sean’s well-marked courses, “easy-out” options are included. These are points where technically advanced riders can tackle a rock pile or an exceptionally tight and twisty segment, while the less technically adept riders can take a longer, easier bypass that will cost them a few extra seconds.

“Every course has to be designed differently depending on the event, but I try to make courses exciting for the hardcore rider while also allowing intermediates to get through without having to dismount their bikes,” said Sean. “If you can build a course that riders of all ability levels like, then you’re doing a good job.”

In addition to its Summer Solstice event, Chico Racing organizes an Enduro Cup Series, which is a grass roots recreational racing event, and a weekly race series at both Albion Hills and Dagmar. This year the company is also running the full Ontario Cup race series, which consists of five events plus the championships and a downhill component.

“I wanted to have a job in the cycling industry and saw that mountain bike events weren’t organized at the level they could be,” said Adam who was on the national mountain bike team and ranked 5th in Canada and the best in Ontario in 1994.

“We thought it would be a part-time business that would allow us to survive and still ride and hang out with the people in the industry that we love.” In reality Chico Racing has been a full time job for the brothers for the past four years.

In the off-season there’s building and repairing trail, getting sponsors, choosing venues, doing promotions, getting each event insured. In season, there are myriad event details from making sure signage is up, to hiring ski patrollers with first aid training, to organizing volunteers and ensuring riders are registered.

“People see we’re constantly trying to improve the events,” said Adam. “We’re in for the long term. The worst that can happen to us is to have a bad event – even if it’s the smallest event of the season.”

Chico Racing, phone 905-852-0381, web site: www.chicoracing.com