23rd Hike - Mystery!

We only had time for a short hike today, so we decided to do the piece on Escarpment Sideroad between Highway 10 and Willoughby Road. We started at the corner where Willoughby Road and Escarpment Sideroad meet. Again (as with a couple of hikes ago) we weren't sure the weather would cooperate. However, after a little bit of light rain, everything cleared away and the sun peeked out.

A view of Brampton from the top of the escarpment.

The trail here started in the bush, and was really quite interesting. It seemed like we went through several different ecosystems on our way. From meadow to woods to bush, up hills and down gullies, it was quite fascinating to see this all in one short hike.

And, the flowers were blooming!

Okay, the last two aren't exactly flowers, but they were still very pretty!
We kept catching glimpses of the beautiful view from the escarpment.

We emerged from the woods back onto Escarpment Sideroad, towards Highway 10.

We were reminded once again, that the Lord owns the cattle on a thousand hills (Ps. 50:10).

And then.....mystery! Who really owns the mansion on Escarpment Sideroad???? Is it Elton John??? Apparently it isn't, but the gates were pretty mysterious as to who lives on the other side!

And then, there was our own burning bush. Clarence swore he saw this tree burning, puffing smoke, but I couldn't see anything! However, once we went past it, I could sure smell it! It turns out that the tree was touching the hydro wires and it actually was burning a bit!

Then we came to the tunnel under Highway 10. We drive this highway all the time, and until lately, we had no idea that there was a tunnel under the highway. And it came with it's own flock of birds who had made nests in it.

Looking at the East end of the tunnel.

Looking at the West end of the tunnel, with birds!

We then followed the Escarpment Sideroad back to our car.

22nd Hike - Another Map Done!

This hike connected the one from last fall in Glenn Haffy Conservation Area with the one I took that went onto Airport Road. We started out at Coolihan's Sideroad and Glen Haffy Road.

The path was quite straight, although it had some serious hills! We met the trailhead for the Palgrave Side Trail, a 10 kilometer trail that leads to the Palgrave Conservation Area.

To stay on the Bruce Trail, we had to hike it on over the fence. We figured out later that there was a little shortcut that you could use to get around it.....

From here we went into a serious gully. It is apparently known as "The Dingle" and was an Irish settlement back in the day. The word "Dingle" means “a wooded or deep gulch which was shadowed from the sun”, and there was a school here that was called the Dingle School that closed in 1950.  If we would have followed the trail that went straight, I am quite sure that we would have seen its ruins.

 Soon enough we came to a stream, and found something we have not yet seen on the Bruce Trail. A stream without a bridge to cross it!

 There were plenty of beautiful flowers budding, too!

We followed the trail back onto Innis Lake Road. Here we were able to see some beautiful homes.

When we got to the spot where I had parked the car last time, we turned around and did it all over again :) Here are some shots of some other things we saw.

And just like that.....another map was completed! That's 3 done, 39 to go!