CRAZY HORSE TRAIL GUIDE Abridged Version: July 2016 This is a short form of our interpretive trail guide for the Crazy Horse Trail. The full version of the guide has a more detailed description of the geology, plants, and animals found along the trail. This version of the guide and a larger version of the trail map are available at carphills.com. INTRODUCTION The Crazy Horse Trail (CHT) is a low impact hiking trail, intended to allow people to experience the natural beauty of the Carp Hills, while having a minimal impact on the environment. The trail has been developed and is maintained by the Friends of the Carp Hills (FCH), a volunteer community group. The trail is on City of Ottawa owned land and is a 6.2 kilometre return hike from the March Road access. As of the spring of 2016 the FCH has developed new side loops to the main trail that add another 2 kilometres to the trail network. You can access the trail from the north side of March Road opposite Huntmar Drive. The trail is moderately strenuous with occasional short climbs and descents over bedrock and uneven footing in some areas. People using the trail should wear appropriate footwear, preferably hiking boots with some ankle support. In the spring, and after periods of heavy rain, the trail will be very wet in places. The FCH has constructed a boardwalk over one of the wettest areas and will be constructing more in other wet areas later in 2016. In the meantime trail users may want to use rubber boots or other waterproof footwear when the trail is wet. The first section of the trail passes close to a snowmobile track and during the winter trail users should be careful of snowmobile traffic. In the winter the trail provides some opportunity for cross-country skiing, but because of the uneven terrain snowshoes are more suitable. Figure 1. Orange Trail Marker The trail is designated by orange markers placed on nearby trees about 2 metres above ground. Side loops are designated by yellow markers. In some areas the trail will be additionally marked by orange tape attached to tree branches. Blue markers indicate the lookouts along the trail that lead to points of interest. TRAIL ETIQUETTE Good practice while on the CHT boils down to two principles, respect and safety. Respect Give plants a chance! The trail passes over sensitive terrain. The plants growing on rocky outcrops are especially vulnerable during dry periods. Please respect the natural environment you are passing through by staying on the trail and not trampling on, picking or removing native plants. You shall not trespass! While the trail is on public land, all of the surrounding land is privately owned. Please respect adjacent landowners by staying on the trail and not trespassing on private property. Visit carphills.com for more information. 1
Down boy (or girl)! Please ensure that your pets are under control, especially when encountering other people or wildlife, and please pick up after your pet while on the trail. Safety Where am I? It is easy to become disoriented on the Carp Hills as the terrain looks the same in many places. By following the trail markers you reduce the risk of becoming lost. If you do lose sight of the markers, retrace your steps to where you last saw a marker and continue from there when you have located the next one. You might also want to carry your cell phone to call for assistance if needed. Ouch! There are Ticks and Poison Ivy along the trail. By staying on the cleared path you lessen the chances of contact with either of these. After you have finished your hike it is a good idea to check yourself and pets for ticks, which may carry the Lyme disease bacteria. Fire! The Carp Hills are very susceptible to forest fires during dry periods. Camp fires are not permitted at any time, and please make sure you extinguish all smoking materials safely. As you may gather from the foregoing, the golden rule of trail etiquette is to stay on the trail! OVERVIEW OF THE TERRAIN The Crazy Horse Trail parallels a 20 metre-wide road allowance leading from the March Road trailhead for about 750 meters, and then continues west for about 3 kilometres over a 200 acre block of land. One of the interesting features of the trail is that it passes through three different types of habitat: a shade tolerant hardwood forest for about the first half kilometre, rocky pine uplands over most of the 200 acre block of land, and a significant wetland complex found in many locations along the trail. Each of these habitats has its own distinctive plant and animal life adapted to its different environment. Much of the reason for these different habitats has to do with the underlying geology of the Carp Hills. Figure 2. Marble is found at the beginning of the trail. The Carp Hills are an escarpment of mainly Precambrian granitic rock, which is part of the Canadian Shield. The geology of the Hills is not uniform throughout their length, however, and different kinds of rock formations can be found at various locations. There is a good example of this along the Crazy Horse Trail, as it passes over two distinct units of rock. The first part of the trail is over a marble unit, which is dark in colour and contains lime or calcium. Because of the lime content of the underlying rock, the soil here is neutral to alkaline, unlike the relatively acidic soil associated with granite bedrock. In addition to being more alkaline, the soil in this area is deeper and wetter, and supports a forest of large shade tolerant trees such as Basswood and Sugar Maple. About a half kilometre along, the trail begins to pass over slightly more elevated and exposed bedrock. At this point you will have left behind the richer soil of the shade tolerant forest and will have entered the second rock formation, a granitic-type rock lighter in colour and visible in the many rock outcrops you will see along the trail. The thinner, drier and more acidic soil associated Visit carphills.com for more information. 2
with this rock supports a different kind of vegetation, mainly conifers such as White Pine, Juniper and White Spruce, and smaller deciduous trees such as Red Oak and Red Maple, which prevail over most of the rest of the trail. The third type of habitat, wetlands, largely results from the impervious nature of the underlying rock. The water on the Hills originates from precipitation, and is usually most abundant in the spring, after snow melt. The bedrock does not allow the water to seep into the ground, and it pools in the low areas between the rocky outcrops. Beavers, which take advantage of these shallow ponds for food and lodging, also play an important role in maintaining them. By building dams to hold water in ponds, the beavers delay the run-off that would occur as the water moves through small streams towards the valleys on either side of the Hills. This combination of impervious bedrock and beaver activity accounts for the presence of wetlands on what otherwise would be dry highlands for much of the year. The presence of wetlands, in turn, greatly adds to the plant and animal diversity found in the Carp Hills. The Province has designated the Carp Hills a Provincially Significant Wetland Complex. Figure 3. Beavers play an important role in maintaining the wetlands in the Carp Hills by building dams that retain water. Beavers, which take advantage of these shallow ponds for food and lodging, also play an important role in maintaining them. By building dams to hold water in the ponds, the beavers delay the run-off that would occur as the water moves through small streams towards the valleys on either side of the Hills. This combination of impervious bedrock and beaver activity accounts for the presence of wetlands on what otherwise would be dry highlands for much of the year. The presence of wetlands, in turn, greatly adds to the plant and animal diversity found in the Carp Hills. TRAIL DESCRIPTION The following numbered paragraphs correspond to the numbered locations on the accompanying map on page 5. 1. As you enter the trail from the March Road you pass through a section of small deciduous trees, and descend a small rocky ridge to the shade forest. The trail then crosses the snowmobile track and continues northwest across a wet area and a small intermittent stream that drains towards the Ottawa River to the east. To make the tail more passable and preserve the terrain, the FCH has built about 60 metres of boardwalk across this section. Figure 4. Boardwalk 2. A couple of hundred metres past the stream, the trail starts to climb slightly over exposed bedrock. You have now entered the second geological zone on which the rest of the trail is located. Visit carphills.com for more information. 3
The trail travels along this section of exposed bedrock for a couple of hundred metres, then descends to a low area next to the snowmobile trail. There is a large wetland on the left or west side of the snowmobile trail, and the Crazy Horse Trail follows along the edge of it. 3. Shortly past the wetland the trail turns to the left, or southwest, over rocky uplands interspersed with wetlands that make up the 200 acre block of City owned land. About 100 metres from where the trail branches off from the snowmobile trail you will come to a rocky clearing. To your left, or the south side of the clearing, there are yellow markers indicating a side loop trail that provides a walk of about a half kilometre, next to a wetland and small pond, and a further loop of about one kilometre over rock barrens. Each of these loops has lookouts marked with blue trail markers that will give you a view of the ponds and an opportunity to see aquatic plant and animal life. The loops lead back to the main trail, slightly to the west of their starting point, where you can continue west to a circuit of a large beaver pond. If you want a shorter walk, you can also turn east at this point, and return to the March Road trailhead. Figure 5. Trail Loop Junction. 4. Continuing west for about 2 kilometres, the trail passes over some old beaver dams, a succession of rocky knolls where the vegetation is sparse, and descends into more wooded areas of small Red Oaks and Red Maples. In the last half kilometre before the pond, the forest changes to mostly White Pines and other conifers. Near the large beaver pond, you will come to the main junction of the Trail, which continues either left or right on a circuit around the pond. The entire loop around the pond is about one kilometre. 5. If you follow the trail to the left of the junction, you will soon come to a small channel. The beavers have not obliged us with a dam here, and the passage over the channel is by a temporary bridge of small trees and branches. The FCH plans to build a small bridge across this channel in the Fall of 2016. In the meantime, if you do not feel comfortable crossing here to continue the loop around the pond, you can return along the trail to the junction and take the right-hand branch, which provides a longer walk around the pond to the opposite side of the small channel. There are a number of pleasant views as you travel around the pond, and the FCH has marked some lookouts along the way where you may be able to see some of the pond life such as beavers and turtles. Figure 6. Trail Around Beaver Pond. Once you have completed the loop around the beaver pond and have returned to the trail junction, you can take the main trail back to the March Road starting point. We hope you have enjoyed your walk along the Crazy Horse Trail, and have had an opportunity to appreciate the beauty and complexity of this special natural environment. We welcome your feedback, and if you have any comments or suggestions about the trail you can leave them on our website, Figure 7. The entire loop around the large beaver pond is about 1 km. (photo. A. Oswald) carphills.com, under the Contact Us link, or on our Facebook page Friends of the Carp Hills. Visit carphills.com for more information. 4
Crazy Horse Trail Map 3 4 2 5 1 Main trail is shown in White on the map, and marked with Orange markers. Side Loops are shown in Yellow on the map, and marked with Yellow markers. Visit carphills.com for more information. 5