6th & 7th Hike - Old Stomping Grounds

For the 6th and 7th hikes on the Trail, I went to my old stomping grounds in Hockley Valley. I got a new app for my phone called "Trails". It plots where you've hiked based on GPS, also tracking elevations, distance and speed.

For the first hike I went from the 3rd line, following the Glen Cross Side Trail. It met up with the Bruce Trail for a while, then I left it at the Isabel East Side Trail and reconnected with the Glen Cross Side Trail to get me back to the car.

This new app shows the average speed, duration, elevation and pace.  It's quite fun to have these little tidbits of information. :)

This second set is from today's hike. Starting at the Danby Road parking lot. I followed the Bruce Trail through some lovely meadows. 

      
Along the hike here was a reforestation project. I found the dates interesting :).

As always, there is a lot of beauty in God's creation:

On the drive home, there was a beautiful view of the other side of the valley.  In a couple of weeks, this is going to be aflame with colour.

5th Hike - What Were We Thinking?

Seriously....it's 28°C here with a humidex of 35°C. So it's hot and humid! (We Canadians are probably wishing we lived in an igloo today!)  Today's hike included 410m up and 410m down in 7kms. That's a whole lot of stairs and climbing.

We left the 5th Line EHS parking lot using the same side trail as we used yesterday. About 3/4 of the way up the "pinnacle" I realized that I hadn't turned on my new app that I wanted to try...sigh. Oh well, lesson learned! I knew from looking at the topographical map that this would be a tough one, but I thought it was tough coming back, not going to Airport Road. Surprise! I need to learn to read the maps better :).

       

          

By the time we reached Airport Road, the poor dogs were sweltering. Usually we meet up with a creek, or at least a puddle, but there was absolutely no water for them on this piece of the trail. We had to improvise. (I think we will be looking for a collapsible bowl for the backpack, again, lesson learned!)

We found some beautiful creatures along the way.

And we saw a pretty amazing tree (hope I don't ruin anyone's scavenger hunt):

A couple of fun photos:

And one of the best sights after a long, hot hike. :)

4th Hike - Lovin' This!

What an amazing place we live! Today we went once again to Hockley Valley. I am constantly amazed at how beautiful this place is. We found the parking lot on 5th Line EHS, just off the Hockley Road, followed the Hemlock Ridge Side Trail until it hooked up with the Bruce Trail again. From here we went south to where we ended at the 4th Line EHS on the 2nd hike. It was quite a rigorous trip this time around, a lot of elevation differences, made all the more difficult by the hot and humid weather here today.

 

If a tree falls in the forest....

Down....

....and back up!

Back to the 4th Line EHS.

      

The poor dogs were so overheated and tired, so we took a side trip down the other part of 5th Line so they could take a dip in the Nottawasaga River.

Till next time! God bless!