Not many 79-year-olds are known as the woman who woke a hibernating bear.
Yes, she gave him a good poking with her ski pole – while trying to right herself – just as the bear’s snowy den collapsed below her. Such are the hazards of trail blazing for Catherine McNeice.
For the past 30-plus years, McNeice has had her share of encounters with nature in Parry Sound’s bush country, first while mapping out 25 kilometres of Georgian Nordic Ski Club trails, and more recently, while helping to develop the 6 kilometre Rose Point hiking trail.
It all began with a basic cross-country ski trail linking the McDougall township office on Pineridge Drive to what would become the Georgian Nordic Ski and Canoe Club’s property on Nine Mile Lake Road at Highway 124.
“I joined the club, even before it was formed,” jokes McNeice, who helped found the Georgian Nordic Ski and Canoe Club, nearly 30 years ago. Like most club members, she’s volunteered in a variety of capacities, but her primary interest was always trail development – finding that perfect mix of variety, safety and a certain amount of hills.
It was on such a mission in late March about 10 years ago, while mapping boundaries with fellow trail builders John Jeffrey and Peter Daleman, that she earned her “bear lady” reputation.
“I remember Catherine’s ski pole disappearing into a hole in the snow,” says Daleman, also a founding member of the nordic ski club. “She got up and was complaining a bit, but we carried on. Then, Jon looked back and said: “Well you might as well go tie a ribbon around that one too.”
“We were totally surprised that right behind us was this bear, looking at us, not quite ready to wake up for springtime,” says Daleman, who still laughs recalling the scene. “So when we put a new trail in there, we said let’s call it the Bear Trail – there’s a story attached to it.”
Not surprisingly, the “Bear” isn’t the only area trail to recognize this all-season explorer.
Catherine also has her imprint on the McNeice bridge on the new Rose Point Recreational Trail, located about a kilometre in from Glenn Burney Road. The name recognizes Catherine’s input on the trail committee and the McNeice family legacy, as former owners of the bridge site.
The Rose Point trail takes adventurers along the old J. R. Booth rail bed from Glenn Burney Road to Forest Hill Grocery on James Bay Junction Road South. It’s part of a 230-kilometre multi-use trail being forged to link Killbear to Algonquin Provincial Park, as part of the Park To Park Trail system. It is also an important link in the Ontario Federation of Snowmobile Clubs Trans Ontario Provincial (TOP) trail system.
With the same passion that motivated her to develop the Georgian Nordic ski trails throughout the late 1970s, the 80s and 90s, McNeice began devoting her energies to the Rose Point Trail committee, seven years ago.
Part of the appeal was the proximity of one of the entrances, located beside the farm she and her husband Bill own on McNeice Farm Road, near Glenn Burney. But more than that, she was drawn by the sheer allure of this pristine territory, and imagined how bridgework and resurfacing would open it up to a greater variety of trail users.
“Where else could you go and see so much variety and wildlife?” says McNeice.
Sightings, sounds and signs of moose, deer, beaver and a range of song and marsh birds have prompted her to lead Parry Sound Nature Club Members on this off-road educational trail. The four-season trail follows the Boyne River drainage basin to Georgian Bay, offering colourful fall vistas of overgrown farmland and second growth forest, and sparkling rapids in the spring. It traverses a variety of wetlands, where hikers can often rouse a curious Great Blue Heron.
“The wetlands are on a smaller scale than at the Wye Marsh, but they’re there, if you like wetlands,” McNeice comments.
“The trail has a remarkable diversity,” notes David Aylsworth, a member of the Rose Point Trail Committee, who touts this educational route as an “underused community resource”.
Its historical roots can be attributed to J. R. Booth, who in the late 1800s, built a rail line from Deport Harbour – the deepest freshwater harbour in the world – through to Ottawa; thereby connecting shipping with rail, to create the shortest link between the west and eastern seaboard.
“It pre-dates all of the roads in this area and it’s how the area was opened up,” explains Aylsworth. “It was the only way of moving things.”
Just as the fitness trail was a rail line in town, this was the extension out to Depot Harbour, the connection to that town. Rose Point once boasted a popular summer resort hotel and railway station. Accessible by railway or by boat from Parry Sound, the Rose Point Hotel was a busy hot spot in summer with events and activities. Also a bustling hub in its day, James Bay Junction housed a station on the Ottawa, Arnprior and Parry Sound railway where passengers from Parry Sound came by train to transfer to the OA&PS line to travel east towards Ottawa. James Bay Junction boasted a store, post office and many residences. A mill was operated on the Boyne River, which was an important route for moving logs out to Georgian Bay.
“There’s a history lesson right here, as you walk under the CN and CP lines,” says Aylsworth. “The history and geography lesson is that if you are going to build a national railway, it’s got to go through Toronto and then it’s got to go north around Georgian Bay to head west. And both of them are right there on that land. It was (Sir John A.) McDonald’s dream and it was instrumental in bringing Canada together.”
Despite challenging pockets of large round rocks, the route can still be enjoyed by snowmobilers, ATV enthusiasts, hikers, dogs off-leash and backcountry Nordic skiers. Trail repairs and resurfacing begun in the fall and expected to be completed this spring, are expected to bring the century-old roadbed up to a standard suitable for running and mountain biking. A full spectrum of users can then choose to combine nature, history, geography, fitness and adventure on a loop linking James Bay Junction Road to old Highway 69 and back to town.
“The Rose Point Trail is at a critical junction right now,” says Aylsworth. “It’s just about to have the last of its major impediments removed for large-scale use. In other words, the bridges are sound, and everything is about to be resurfaced and it’s about to become an important resource. So now the committee has to scramble to make sure there is adequate parking and signage.”
With the exception of a tricky narrow stretch, the trail has been graded, compacted, resurfaced with a seven centimeter base of crushed ‘A’ gravel and then compacted again.
“We tried to make it more pedestrian and bicycle friendly,” explains Michelle Hendry, director of public works department with Seguin Township, who enjoys the trail on a regular basis.
“We’re basically after a surface that will be good for strollers, wheelchairs and bicycles,” says Councillor Bruce Gibbon, who represents the township of Seguin on the Rose Point Trail Committee. “For able-bodied people it wasn’t too bad for walking. I’m an able-bodied cyclist and I’d do it as a short cut, but it was a tough ride. We use the trail a lot, my wife and I. It’s a beautiful trail. It has three river crossings of the Boyne which drains Otter and Oastler lakes; and has three whitewater areas that are visible from the trail.”
The committee’s long-term vision is to connect this trail with Parry Sound’s Rotary Algonquin Regiment fitness trails. Snowmobilers already use that route as a link from the Seguin Trail to the fitness trail, as it’s part of the North South C TOP system. Connecting the Rose Point Trail and the town trails would make a route of about 15 kilometres, which Gibbon describes as “very attractive to cyclists, hikers, and tourists.”
“When you have one trail and connect it to another, one plus one is the equivalent of three – the sum is greater than the parts,” explains Gibbon. “Connected trails will become destination trails. People will drive quite a distance to use them, while they are less likely to, if there’s a little bit of a trail here and another bit of a trail there.”
The intention is to get people out using the Rose Point Trail.
“It’s basically a linear park that is available for public use,” he says. “It’s basically wilderness, yet it’s right close to town with good access. It’s a beautiful asset. It’s easy walking because it’s basically flat.”
Resurfacing completion plans this spring include a small 3-seasons parking area adjacent to the James Bay Junction crossing, catering primarily to hikers. Signage at each access point, identifying the trail and its usage, is also slated for spring.
“At this stage of its development it’s got significant grants to upgrade and resurface it,” says Aylsworth, describing federal/provincial Recreational Infrastructure Canada (RINC) funding. “And it’s just about to blossom forth.”
It won’t be soon enough for Aylsworth, who thinks it’s a trail worth sharing
McNeice looks forward to watching people in scooters venturing out on it and local students exploring its natural wonders as part of the Georgian Bay Biosphere Reserve’s Lessons in a Backpack program.
“I like hiking and I love the outdoors and I prefer other people enjoy them too,” says McNeice, who follows her trail-building passion from one season to the next.
“But it all takes time,” McNeice says. “You don’t do these trails overnight. It’s just like the ski club trails. They’re there because people have worked hard over many years, one step at a time.
“Rome wasn’t built in a day and neither were these trails,” she adds. “They take time and people interested and pushing for them.”
Trail builder on and off the snow
Catherine McNeice, never one to be discouraged by unseasonable weather, is enjoying a January hike wearing hiking boots instead of her x-country skis.
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