On Friday and Saturday Darlene and I enjoyed a wonderful time in Huntsville, Ontario. During the daytime Darlene attended a conference of the Ontario Music Educators Association (OMEA) and I ventured around Arrowhead Provincial Park. In the evening we stayed at The Painter's Inn, a Bed & Breakfast about ten minutes outside of Huntsville. The B&B was affordable, clean and nicely decorated. Since there were no other guests that night we were upgraded to the largest room, complete with an ensuite bathroom and queen sized bed. Our breakfast in the morning was more than we expected. We awoke to full hot breakfast of bacon, eggs, toast, tea and fresh fruit.
Some people would hate the idea of having to kill two full days in Huntsville while their wife went to a music conference. Well, I'm a bit of an introvert and love spending time alone outdoors. So instead of trying to shop or hang out in the local coffee shop I decided to spend my two days hiking the trails at Arrowhead Provincial Park. One would think that finding trails at a Provincial Park would be rather easy, but since this was the off-season for the park there were no trail maps to be found anywhere. I had a map of the region and it covered the Arrowhead park well, but it didn't have any trails on it. Since, I had the whole day to myself, what's a little more adventure finding out where all the trails go. Day 1 I walked down the park road until I came to a sign that said 'Stubbs Falls'. At that point I knew where I was headed. I really didn't care if Stubbs Falls ended up being only 2 inches high, it sounded more exciting than the first hiking trail sign I saw, which said 'Homesteaders Trail'. I've seen signs like that before, basically it means stay away, there's really nothing too exciting here, except maybe an old wagon road and some trees and meadows. If you want something more adventurous you have pick trails that are have some hydrological action ' aka waterfalls or rapids or possibly even fish. Stubbs Falls was a neat trail with a cascading rapids at the end and a nice bridge over it. I enjoyed walking by the river so much that I continued on a narrow beaten path along the river for another few kilometers until I hit the Big East River. At which point I followed the Big East and headed back to my vehicle, completing a nice scenic loop with some trail hiking, a waterfalls, a nice river and some minor bushwhacking.
>> stay tuned for part II
