Treacherous Milk Swamps on Hardy Lake

Most Canadian cottagers dread the arrival of the Labour Day long weekend - the first weekend in September marks the end of summer. There's a great conversation on Wondercafe.ca about how religious service providers improve the tone of their messages this weekend. Everyone with a cottage in Canada feels the sadness autumn brings, and my friends are no exception. On Sunday Sept 2^nd 2007 six companions hiked the 3km trail at Hardy Lake, in the heart of the Muskokas, on a desperate attempt to capture the last warm days of summer. Little did we know how easily summer could capture us...

Hardy Lake is a provincial park with no facilities. Mountain bikes are not allowed, and there is no camping permitted on the 81 hectare park. Canoeing is tolerated, but we didn't have enough watercraft at our cottage to accommodate all of the participants, so we decided on a short hike with the dogs instead.

The Hardy Lake trails begin at the parking lot on Highway 169 about 12 kilometers west of Gravenhurst. Each relaxing route is well shaded and full of beautiful scenery. Most footpaths circumnavigate the lake, although two trails lead almost directly toward Lake Muskoka. There are three trailheads in the parking lot, but only one, at the west end, is obvious. This is the main loop, which has an awful start down an old stretch of blacktop that I understand to be the 'old road to Torrance'. Our crew happily paraded down this broken asphalt concourse which eventually fed into a dirt path and then gave us a beautiful view of the lake through many different varieties of trees and vegetation. Early in the hike we had a taste of the misadventure when our dogs leaped into a muddy drainage ditch for a quick drink of water. They emerged black with an unhealthy, oil grim dripping from their bellies...