42 kilometers (approximately 37 km paved and 5 gravel)
Named for Verna McGiffin, naturalist, historian, and geologist noted for her Text Book Tours of Pakenham’s geologically significant sites.
Start at Pakenham’s Five Arch Stone Bridge, but before you go, walk the shoreline at this National Historic Site, watching for the large cephalopod fossils in the smooth river stone.
Your journey takes you over flat farmland, once the bottom of the Champlain Sea. A farmer’s plow unearthed beluga whale bones on these fertile flats in the 1960s. Climbing a hill on the Waba Road, leave the sea behind and head inland. Admire the view from the Campbell Side Road overlooking White Lake and the Lanark Highlands.
Loop back through a rugged rocks-and-trees landscape along Bellamy Road to Cedar Hill, past its quaint church and former country school, then along the Mississippi River.
Stop in Pakenham for a cone at Scoops, goodies at the General Store, or a meal at the Centennial or Watt’s Cooking. Don’t miss the mural depicting Verna and her many passions on the wall at the Royal Bank. Ask a shop owner for the new Walking Tour Map of Pakenham. (Verna’s two-volume history of Pakenham is available in the village library.)
For a printable version of the map click here.
