Haley Station, Ontario

brackish water of Eadys Lake

2,633 miles

Aug 3 - Highway 17 (and my virtual bike) continues southeast from Muskrat Lake along the straight line of small lakes that were once considered an opportune route for building a canal to avoid the hazardous portion of the Ottawa River that was full of non-navigable rapids.  In this place, Ice Age glaciers carved a dot-to-dot guide for a future canal! (See map: Muskrat Lake) 

The region is so distinctive that it is named Whitewater Region.  Samuel de Champlain, the “Father of New France”, explored the area in 1613, and this string of lakes has been collectively named Champlain Trail Lakes.  Samuel de Champlain had already named a large lake for himself, the one between the future Vermont and New York.  These smaller local lakes might have been named for his fellow explorers, but the current names are English, so their naming remains a mystery.  Southeast from Muskrat Lake, the string includes:  Astrolabe Lake (more on this later), Olmstead Lake, Jeffreys Lake, Pumphouse Lake, Eadys Lake, Dump Lake, Galilee Lake, Smiths Lake, Blanchards Lake, Garden Lake, Catharine Lake, and Coldingham Lake.  A network of hiking trails connects several of the lakes.

Champlain's astrolabe

In 1867, a local 14-year-old farmboy, Edward Lee, was helping his father clear trees near Green Lake when he found an old astrolabe, a tool for navigation on land.  Edward sold the astrolabe to a steamboat captain (who never paid the promised $10), who sold it to his boss.  

This astrolabe was determined to be likely the same one that Champlain had lost during his 1613 Ottawa River exploration, and eventually it became the property of the Canadian Museum of Civilization.  Green Lake was renamed Astrolabe Lake.

This will be my last stop in Ontario.  I will leave the Trans-Canada Highway at this point, cutting between Pumphouse Lake and Eadys Lake to go east on Chenaux Road, and across the Ottawa River to Quebec!

info: Wikipedia.com

images:  Google Images

Champlain’s astrolabe:  http://www.historymuseum.ca/cmc/exhibitions/tresors/treasure/222eng.shtml