Date – October 22, 2011
Location – Map 13, Credit Valley
Distance – 14.6 km (longest hike yet)
Total Trail Distance – 136.1 km (757.9 to go)
Hikers – Steve, Simon, Dean, Marlene, Benjamin and Madeleine
Start – 23.8 Fifth Line, Halton Hills
End – 38.4 Walking Fern Side Trail, Terra Cotta
Direction – North
Weather – Cool and grey.
Details – This is our first attempt at hiking two days back-to-back and at introducing camping into the adventure. However, it’s easy camping. We leave Niagara Saturday morning around 9 a.m. with the tent trailer in tow, and make our first stop at Mountain Equipment Co-op in Burlington to buy hiking socks. We’re prepared to spend about $20 a pair, but a chat with a very helpful and informative staff person reveals we can get equivalent socks for only $7! This is great!
We arrive at Leslie Hill around 11:30. Steve and Simon are already there. Simon has gone for a walk down to the Credit River and Steve is reading a novel in the van. We are also greeted by Sean and Roxy. Neal arrives with Madeleine, who has taken the train from Kitchener to Georgetown. In Georgetown, she walks to “The Way We Were” to visit Annette, and then Neal meets her and brings her to Leslie Hill.
We set up our tent trailers in the turn-around and run power via a series of extension cords from Pete and Pat’s house (thank you Pete and Pat, hope you enjoyed your vacation). We have lunch and then we’re ready to start.
Neal provides shuttle service to our start point, and on the way we are buzzed several times by a crazy man on a motorcycle – it’s Sean!
We have a wonderful hike – much of which is in low-lying land made dry and passable by extensive bridges and boardwalks (thank you Caledon Hills Club members!) The terrain is quite different here – less rocky, more farmland. We enjoy the stone fences and the last of the fall colours. Ben and Simon explore some of the crevasses and holes along the ridge in Silver Creek Conservation Area.
Madeleine thinks the hike is too long.
When we arrive back at Leslie Hill, Lori, Bruce, Nathan and Jonathan have arrived and Annette and Ron are home from work. We enjoy a delicious dinner of grilled chicken, corn on the cob and Chudleigh’s apple pie and apple blossoms (thank you Annette and Ron!) and a roaring bonfire in the back yard. After some good food and good company, we bid farewell to Madeleine, who is going back to Waterloo with Lori and Bruce. We head for the trailers, where the electric space heaters are making a valiant effort to keep us warm. The weather forecast is for overnight temperatures around zero.
No comments:
Post a Comment