Waskahegan Trail Association

Trappers Lake is surrounded by a flat area of water-loving grasses, covering an area that is probably wider than the lake itself. Five years ago, the water was not even visible. But the drought has been over for years and the lake is filled with waterfowl.

But when we get as much rain as we did in the last few weeks, the water floods over the trail. As a result, when we hiked the trail last week, we came close to losing our squeamishness about walking in pools of water up to our ankles.

Fortunately, the weather was warm and sunny, and we were able to cheer each other on as we hopped and splashed.

We took the ladder at the high fence into Elk Island Park. and watched a deer browse nonchalantly at the edge of the beaver pond as we ate our lunch.

We returned to our cars and drove on to the Ross Creek section for different walk. This trail, which is only 1.5 km long, stays high and dry above the creek as it runs along a stand of larches and into dark, mossy woods.

Thanks go to the two trail maintenance work parties who cleared and signed these sections and to Lee for scouting the trail and leading the hike. You can find more pictures on .

Last Sunday we honoured Stan Skirrow with a late afternoon hike and celebration. For those of you who didn’t know Stan, he was the member with the vision and dedication that really got the Waskahegan Trail going. When Stan passed away last December, we decided pretty quickly that we would do something special around Stan’s Bench on the Mix-Cloverlawn section of trail early in the summer hiking season.

We picked the Sunday closest to Summer Solstice and invited the Skirrow family to participate.

We climbed up the hill to the narrow ridge and crowded around Stan’s Bench for a toast and sharing of stories.

From there we walked over to the landowners’ beautifully-landscaped lawn for conversation and home-baked refreshments. The landowners had known Stan for 30 years and have been generous friends of the trail.

After the group photo, 28 people joined in for the hike, including five members of the Skirrow family. The Skirrow sons remember working with their dad building shelters on the trail.

The hike was a short one—only 5 km—but that allowed us more time than usual to linger and visit in the late day sun.

Thanks go to Oscar for leading hike, to the trail maintenance work party who got it into shape, and to the landowners whose generosity made this event even more special.

You can find all the pictures on Flickr.