To the naked eye, there is not much happening in the Bonnechere River valley in February. There are no birds chirping, no skitter-scatter of squirrel’s feet on the underbrush. It’s just quiet. I don’t see any herons looking for their next meal or fish swimming in the quiet pools off on the side. It’s that special cold-quiet that happens when the temperature drops to zero, that cold-quiet where the insides of your nostrils freeze, and your eyes burn from the wind.
February, in my opinion, is the worst month in Ontario. This February has been particularly grey. Thought the lack of sun doesn’t stop me for going outside a getting a good hike in, in fact it really helps my mood to get out and get going. For those who don’t know, the Bonnechere River valley is located in the heart of Ontario. It flows from Algonquin Provincial Park, north of the town Renfrew and to the Ottawa River. The origin of the river’s name is uncertain, but it has obvious French roots. Honestly, I’m not even sure how a direct translation would occur, bonne typically means good, fair, or pretty. Chère means darling. Darling pretty River? Doesn’t quite flow in English, but that’s okay.
I did not know this about the river, but the Bonnechere River has five chutes. Chutes or timber slides are a device for moving timber past rapids and waterfalls. Apparently, their use peaked I the 18th and 19th century here in Canada. The reason these were created was due to the fact that rapids and waterfalls would damage the wood that they were transporting on the river. Also, there could potentially be log jams. I for one would not want to deal with heavy, wet logs stuck in rapids. So that’s why these timber chutes were constructed. They were thin water filled bypasses that would run parallel to a river. Sometimes they would even attract tourists!
I had no idea about the use of chutes, but one thing this blog hopes to do is to showcase Ontario’s outdoors. But it’s also about the people I’ll meet along the way. Whether you’re a local resident or just visiting the area, I invite you to keep reading, who knows what we’ll learn along the way.
