Spicebush Trail at Rondeau Provincial Park

Let’s go to Rondeau Provincial Park in Southern Ontario today for another edition of My Visual Running Tours!

I spent a week of my holidays this summer camping at this beautiful park.

You can go there for a day trip if you’d like. Just make sure to pack a lunch, plan to go swimming, and spend an entire day there. After all, you’ll want to get your money’s worth out of the day-use fee they will charge you at the gate.

Today, let’s explore the Spicebush Trail.

It is one of the shorter hiking trails at Rondeau and a good place to start on a nice leisurely stroll through the woods.

They had these signs at the start of every trail, and I must admit, it made me a bit nervous.

Poison Ivy is a three-leafed plant that you definitely do not want to come into contact with.

I know what it looks like and I kept my eye out for it. I didn’t see any along this trail. I’m sure the staff here maintain the trails so that it wouldn’t be an issue unless you were to stray from the main path.

The trail “winds through a southern hardwood forest.” (Ontario Trails Website)

You can see how accessible this trail is. Every boardwalk or bridge has low railings so that someone in a wheelchair could easily manage this trail with little or no assistance.

We didn’t have any trouble with the “potentially hazardous insects” the sign warned us about either.

Nonetheless, it is important to check yourself after a trail run to see if any ticks have attached themselves to you. If you don’t remove a tick promptly, you can end up with Lyme Disease.

For more information about ticks, go to The Public Health Agency of Canada’s website.

I hope I didn’t scare any of you away from hiking or running the beautiful trails we have here. You just need to take some precaution. Use insect repellent, wear long pants, and check yourself afterwards, and you have nothing to worry about.

Photography by Dana Kathryn

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8 responses to “Spicebush Trail at Rondeau Provincial Park”

  1. Hi Chase .. beautiful park and area .. love the walks and camping sites you can get to.

    We forget about Lyme Disease .. as ticks aren't a serious problem here (yet – perhaps with climate change they will be) .. but the photo you show here of Poison Ivy .. doesn't to me look like that .. see Wikipedia ..

    Maybe I'm wrong! Cheers Hilary

  2. Hi Hilary,

    Spicebush is a particular plant that grows here in Canada. You can find out more about it on Wikipedia too – http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lindera_benzoin

    Poison Ivy can look different but the picture I showed is the most common form of it here in Ontario.

    It only has three leaves on the entire plant. That's mostly how I recognize it. I get scared of all three-leafed plants. Crazy, eh?

  3. Thanks Chase .. I'll go look at Wiki about the Spice bush now ..

    Thanks too about the Poison Ivy – only three leaves on the whole plant – amazes me .. and I can quite understand why you get scared of three-leafed plants .. crazy – well not really .. but a bit stupid if you went to the land of the three leaf-clover! Ireland…

    Cheers Hilary

  4. What an interesting post! I loved the mossy benches and railings on the bridge (I cherish the few spots of moss I manage to grow in the rainy season, but we're too dry here) and I saw my first picture of poison ivy! Now I know what to avoid!

    Husband got bitten by a tick once when we we in a game reserve – he was sick for months, but luckily it cleared up eventually.

    Judy, South Africa

  5. Hi Judy,

    That is scary. I don't know anyone who has ever suffered from a tick-related disease or infection.

    I've only ever had one tick attach itself to me but I discovered it quite quickly. Apparently they won't harm you unless they go undetected for about 24 hours.

    I'm glad to hear your hubby recovered.

    Thanks for visiting! Hope to see you around here again soon!

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