Leg One of Confederation Trail

The Confederation Trail
Leg One

We knew we wanted to do some biking on Prince Edward Island but had no idea there was a bike trail that went the entire length of the island (168 miles or 273 km). It is the old rail line turned into bike bath as part of PEI’s rails to trails program. The trail is made of small hard packed gravel not quite smooth enough for a road bike. It has a marker for each km and many shelters, tables, benches and landmarks.

Finding out about the trail at the big ? point (Canadian Information Points are marked by a sign with a big ?) at the end of the Confederation Bridge which brings you on the island was like someone throwing down the gauntlet for Tom. He couldn’t wait to get to our park and get out the bike and do the first leg. His hurry caused him to forget his Camel Back with all his bike gear (pump, patch kits, tools, water, food, money, reading glasses, camera, etc). So when we pulled into the trailhead at KM zero in Tignish on the upper west end of the island, Tom had some trepidation about starting out. But it was too far to go back and his excitement overcame his fear and he kissed Suzy good bye and promised to meet in O’Leary 45 km down the trail. Suzy was anxious as well to explore the many quilt shops between Tignish and O’Leary.

Mostly flat, wide, rambling through forest swamps and fields of potatoes, best describes the Tignish to O’Leary leg. The swamps were perfect places to see moose but where were they. They may be bike phobic moose? The other missing thing along the trail was bicyclists. Where were they? Perfect biking trail, nice sunny Friday afternoon, no wind, and no cyclists in sight. So much for my safety net, guess I will have to walk out if there is a breakdown.

Passing grain elevators being loaded with the seasons harvest provided the best of the many new smells. There was also the musky swamp odors, the smell of turned soil, and the salty sea smell where the trail got near the Atlantic.

The earth here in PEI is RED. Reminds me of the roads in the iron range in Northern Michigan. It is not just from iron tailings though, it’s the color of all the dirt, even in the potato fields. They even dye T-shirts with the dirt and call them PEI dirt shirts. So my bike and body quickly took on a red hue.

Looks like the biggest problem in maintaining the trail is the beavers. In all the swampy areas you can see where they tried to dam up the culvert going under the trail to create a pond. However, the PEI trail guys have become adept at out smarting the wily beaver. They make a cage out of rebar to cover the culvert and the put a 12 inch diameter plastic pipe with holes in it, in the rebar cage. The beavers can’t plug the plastic pipe but they try by covering the rebar cage, to no avail. The beaver frustration level has to be at an all time high here on PEI. Not sure I have ever seen this anti beaver mechanism employed in the states, probably a problem with PETA protests, eh? Next, O’Leary to Summerside.