Hike #35 May 5, 2013 Hockley Valley

Hike # 35

Date – May 5, 2013

Location – Map 18 Hockley Valley and Map 19 Mono Centre

Distance – 13.3 km   

Elapsed Time – 4 hours

Total Trail Distance – 405.9 (488.1 to go)

Hikers – Steve, Elza, Jacob, Simon, Robyn, Dean, Marlene, Benjamin, Harold, Janette and Erik

Start – 66.7 Dunby Road, Caledon Hills Section

End – 10.0 First Line EHS, Dufferin Highlands Section

Direction – North

Weather – 20 degrees. Warm and sunny.

The bell calls in the town

Where forebears cleared the shaded land

And brought high daylight down

To shine on field and trodden road.

I hear, but understand

Contrarily, and walk into the woods.

I leave labor and load,

Take up a different story.

I keep an inventory

Of wonders and of uncommercial goods.

--Wendell Berry, 1987

It's Dean's birthday and his birthday wish is to go for a hike. His birthday gift is a 2-litre hydrapac, and there is birthday cake for all at the start.

The shorter distance and a later start mean we have lots of hikers today, including returned university students Jacob and Erik. It's a gloriously warm and sunny day and we are happy to be together and happy to be on the trail. I've received an early Mother's Day gift and am delighted with new hiking poles.

The trees are greening and so is the forest floor, but spring is not as advanced here as it is in Niagara. In fact, in a cliff-side gully we even find a snowdrift! -- the last one of the season, we hope.

But spring is definitely here because there are trilliums-- white, pink and burgundy -- and many other wildflowers and tender shoots. I wish I knew how to identify more of these plants. Elza is looking for fiddleheads, but we don't find any.

Quite a bit of the trail is sand underfoot, and we wonder what pre-historic beach we are crossing.

All in all, it's a wonderful hike.  

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 Chartruese, or French green: Janette's favourite colour!

 

 

 

Hike #34 April 14, 2013 Hockley Valley

Hike # 34

Date – April 14, 2013

Location – Map 18 Hockley Valley

Distance – 15.8 km   (GPS Distance 17.1 km)

Elapsed Time – 5.5 hours

Total Trail Distance – 392.6 km (501.4 to go)

Hikers – Steve, Simon, Dean, Marlene, Benjamin, Madeleine, Harold and Janette

Start – 50.9 Airport Road, Caledon Hills Section

End –  66.7 Dunby Road

Direction – North

Weather – 6 C. Mostly cloudy 

We wake up to glorious sunshine -- something we haven't seen for more than a week -- so we're very glad to be heading out for a hike. By the time we arrive at the trailhead it's overcast, but we don't care: at least it's not raining. 

 

We pick up Madeleine at Square One in Mississauga, and then meet at the end point at 11 a.m. where we drop Harold and Janette's car and then drive two vehicles to the start. With all the rain we've had the past week, we are expecting a fair bit of mud, but we are all surprised at how much snow remains.

After almost two years of very sore feet, I've got new hiking boots (thank you, Mountain Equipment Co-op) and I'm nervous about how they'll perform. Have I traded one set of pressure points and blisters for another?

We are all in good spirits and it's a good hike. Although there is mud and there are some especially slick descents, nobody falls and there are no soakers. 

The forest is still mostly brown and grey, but there are the smallest hints of spring with some brilliant green moss on trees and a few shoots pushing up through the soil. We also see debris from the past week's ice storms, with broken branches and fallen trees littering the trail and the forest floor.

In Hockley Valley Provincial Nature Reserve, where there are many beautiful bridges, there is also evidence of a recent flood, with a section of the trail washed out and silted up. There are several wide, rushing streams. 

In Hockley Valley we meet Bruce Trail Conservancy member Keith McKewen (Dufferin Hi-Land Club, double end-to-ender) who describes the work of the volunteers of the BTC and urges us all to join. He hands out cards to the non-members in our group. 

At the start of the hike Dean had warned us that this would not be a flat one, and it isn't. There are many climbs and descents and in some cases we are hiking along ridges with the land falling away on both sides of us. 

I am pleased to report that this is the first hike IN TWO YEARS that my feet aren't aching. Thank you Mountain Equipment Co-op.

 

This sign is NOT accurate!