We live in the midst of the Beaver River wetlands. Beaver River carries runoff from a chain of hills through a network of swamps and wetlands. Starting near Uxbridge, it flows to Lake Simcoe where it enters the Severn Waterway which drains into Georgian Bay. The river is very slow flowing and meandering and has a width varying from 1.5 to 13 meters (5 to 42½ feet). It is shallow, the majority of it is less than a meter (39 inches) in depth. It has a wide floodplain which contains marshland, swamp areas and lowland forests. With the exception of transecting roads, the floodplain is unbroken.
The Beaver River Wetland Trail borders the western boundary of our property. The flat (usually) dry trail runs along a portion of an abandoned railway bed. Accessible year-round, it offers a scenic and peaceful path that merges with the Trans Canada Trail to the south, and passes by Sunderland to the north. During the winter the trail is groomed by the Ontario Federation of Snowmobile Clubs, which generously shares the track with courteous pedestrians.
The Trans Canada Trail is the world's longest network of trails. When completed, the Trail will stretch 22,000 km from the Atlantic to the Pacific to the Arctic Oceans, linking 1000 communities and 33 million Canadian. Today more than 15,500 km of trail have been developed. Millions of Canadians and international visitors are using the Trail to hike, cycle, ski, horseback ride, canoe and snowmobile.
Founded in 1822, Sunderland is a small agricultural community located approximately 100 km (60 miles) northeast of Toronto, Ontario, Canada. Sunderland is a thriving community of small business that focus primarily on the needs of the surrounding rural families. Sunderland hosts the annual Maple Syrup Festival in April and the annual Sunderland Agricultural Fall Fair in September, the latter of which has been held annually since the 1850s. The town has changed very little in the last century.
