Date – April 1, 2012
Location – Map 9, Waterdown to Map 10, Mount Nemo
Distance – 12.9 km
Total Trail Distance – 201.9 (692.1 to go)
Hikers – Steve, Simon, Dean, Marlene, Benjamin, Harold and Janette.
Start – 78.6 Fisher Access Trail
End – 91.5 Mount Nemo Conservation Area
Direction – North
Weather – Rain, hail, drizzle and cloud. It’s cold and we’re wearing hats and gloves. Janette is particularly well-prepared.
Details – It’s been raining all night and all morning, and we are wondering if we are crazy to try to hike today. As we drive to the meeting place, there’s hail and more rain.
Steve and Simon meet us at the end point at Mount Nemo Conservation Area, where a sign informs us we must pay to park. We leave our van in the parking lot (after paying, and displaying the parking pass) and take the Caravan to meet Harold and Janette at Fisher Access Trail.
The terrain is terrible – muddy and slippery, and it’s very slow going. We check out the views from the top of Mount Nemo, where signs tell us that we can see Lake Ontario and Toronto, but mostly we see fog.
Janette slips and hurts her wrist – good thing she is wearing an excellent pair of protective pants (the ones Steve says remind him of the tarp he hangs over his campsite).
Some of the adjacent fields are turning green.
A 4-kilometre section of trail is along No.1 Sideroad and Walker’s Line, with very narrow shoulders and speeding vehicles with terrible sightlines. It’s very dangerous. Too bad the area property owners value their privacy and security so much and don’t allow hiker access. There are monster homes along this road, with high fences, security cameras, Dobermans, and electric gates.
Yet there are signs of emerging green from the forest floor and we laugh at a pair of Canada geese nesting on a narrow ledge high up the cliff. In Mount Nemo Conservation Area there are spectacular fissures in the rock, and perilous lookout points.
We are glad we didn’t let the weather dissuade us: another excellent hike.
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