From Ray Road, the trail heads north in a very slight curve until it passes under the Trans Canada Trail. It's an impressive crossing here, with the Trans Canada passing overhead and a curving trail off to the right up to the higher trail.

A little farther on over the fence on the right (east) side is a tumble-down log cabin. 1.8 km north of Ray Road is County Road 38, known as the Crookston Road.

Just off to the right on the north side of Crookston Road  is an old quarry; it's worth a short side trip. You'll see this quarry from the trail, spilling its contents into the marshy Rawdon Creek. A walk into the site reveals an old trailer, what may have been a weighing station and masses of rock strewn about. Here you can see the result of past quarrying practices: move in, destroy the landscape, make money, then move out leaving the landscape scarred and bits of machinery rotting into the ground. It's a story told and retold across the land. This quarry in Crookston is nothing compared to some locations.  In Deloro on the shores of the West Moira River not far to the west of Crookston, environmental desecration of unimaginable kind continues to pollute the area and points south down the river. At that spot, governments dumped unwanted waste from Eldorado, an old Port Hope uranium refining plant. (I'll be crossing by that old plant on the Lake Ontario Waterfront Trail). Before that, in Deloro, a few families made their fortunes in gold mining, followed by the refining of a number of ores from far and wide, which they smelted there, making them into materials suitable for marketing. Many Deloro workers  died from health-related problems contracted while on the job.Then the owners took their money and left the place in the mess it is today. Their descendants still benefit from that wealth.  The federal and provincial governments were left to clean up the mess.  One company, Deloro Stellite,  which has its roots here, was once the Deloro Smelting and Refining Company. It has now mutated into an international conglomerate. Its owners now live far from the pollution. Corporate name and number shuffling have removed them from association with their original company.

Just north of Crookston Road, a little wooden bridge crosses Rawdon Creek and a marsh spreads out before you on the left. In March when I walked the trail there's a sense that this was a more active area in times past. The quarry to the left has taken over a bit of the marsh, which runs northward close to the trail, opening up at White Lake. There's lots of ice spilling onto the trail and I'm not sure how passable it would be in warmer spring weather. Someone has chopped all the branches from the trees lining the trail, which gives it a strange symmetry. At less than 2 km from Crookston Road, the trail reaches the lake.

There's a road heading back to highway #62 here. It's likely private. It's a worthwhile taking a short deviation here to the highway where the White Lake Pioneer Cemetery hides in a pine wood beside Highway #62. The cemetery is neglected now, with tumble-down stones. Most of the people here died in the 1800s or early 1900s. The photographs tell the best story.

Continuing north along the west edge of White Lake, you'll shortly come upon a private dock leading to the water. It gives a nice central view of the little lake. A couple of houses will be on your left and you can hear the highway running close by.

 It was quite wet the spring day I walked it, with little streams running from the west into the lake and long series of ponds dotting some sections. Fortunately for walkers, there's a thin ridge of higher ground along both sides of the trail most of the time.

Along the north edge of White Lake, large stones have been put into the trail to build it up. The stones would make tough biking and would be no fun for me at least, although I suppose there are some masochist bikers out there who would like it.

 I spent some time watching the new life here — little minnows and insects — swimming in the clear ponds on either side of the trail. Ice still lingers in spots. In fact, I tentatively tried a spot of ice on White Lake. On March 27, the ice was still strong enough that I imagine I could still walk to the middle of the lake (although it would be foolish to do so).

As I watched the burgeoning life in a little pond, I heard an ATV approaching relatively slowly through the myriad ponds on the trail. After it past, all the little streams and ponds on the east side were clouded with a gush of trail sand and mud that poured from the trail. The trail edges have also been scarred here with a recent chopping of trees and tree branches. I thought back to my recent walk on the Lower Trent Trail, which does not allow motorized vehicles. Tree branches stretch into the trail on both sides and you have to sometimes duck or push them aside. Here, such a natural setting would impede the speed of vehicles, so it's not tolerated. Pity.

Still, machines aside, this is a fine section of trail. White Lake subsides into marsh on the right, while fields appear on the left. At one point I came upon two deer casually walking toward me on the trail. I stepped off the trail and up a little hill to hide and came upon a whole flock of wild turkeys near a wet spot in a big field. By the time I left them, the deer had disappeared.

On the left side, there are plenty of spots to picnic, under some excellent stands of pine. There's a mix of pine and cedar along the right-hand side. At one point the marsh on the right opens up to a wide expanse; later in the year I imagine it will be a hive of activity for insects, birds, small mammals and aquatic beasts. I imagine Snake Lake, a small lake (and possibly this second lake is the reference to two lakes in the trail's name) is hiding somewhere in these reeds.

At Quin-Mo-lac Road, the terrain opens to more marsh for about 400 metres before closing in to a hardwood forest. To the north of the trail a road heads west that services some of the cottages on Moira Lake. The trail here winds a bit and the forest surrounding is very peaceful — if you visit when ATVs are not present. The machines have made a mess of the trail. At points it was unwalkable the ruts were so deep. Four ATVs passed me in the space of an hour on this stretch., travelling relatively slowly because of the ruts and puddles.

As the trail curves to the west, cottages appear on the right. The first cottages are served by the aforementioned road. The trail rides high on the ridge with the cottages below. Then at a certain point, where two large modern cottage-houses sit close together, the road ends. On the other side of the westernmost house, another road feeds in from the west, serving the remaining cottages dotting the shoreline.

Some of the older cottages are quite picturesque. Many were not yet opened on the day I walked this section. In fact, the putrid smell of garbage was wafting across the trail at a point where a cottager was burning some nasty waste. The acrid smell of plastic sifted placidly up into the ozone. Ah, the joys of the open road!

About 2 kilometres from Quin-Mo-lac Road, you'll cross Highway #62. On your left, on the east side of the highway, is a flat open area. That's where the Two Loons restaurant used to be operated by the present federal Member of Parliament for the area. Now all that remains are a few block of cement and an election sign from the fall of 2008. The highway was scheduled to be straightened out at this section. I'm not sure if plans for that are going ahead or not. There's lots of parking here if you use this as a launching point.

Across the highway, more cottages are situated, this time on your left, facing the eastern section of Moira Lake. A wooden bridge spans the water that connects the two parts of the lake and you can now get a closeup of the northern shore of the smaller western section of the lake. A grotesquely large and ostentatious house squats on the north shore polluting the view.

A deviation to the highway might be in order before you cross the bridge. Check out the little island connected to the shore by a thin walk bridge. The cottages are positively crammed onto the island, with little walkways between buildings.

Five minutes or so after the bridge you will arrive at North Shore Lane.

Rating:  Easy. (Some serious pond dodging in the wet seasons.)

 

Walked: June 4, 5, 12, 2009