25th Hike - The Beautiful Hills of Mulmer

 So technically, we made it to the Township of Mulmer when we went through the Boyne Valley Provincial Park. However, in the park there was mostly forest so we did not get a true view of the Hills of Mulmer (we would have if we went up Murphy's Pinnacle). On this hike, we definitely were able to see and appreciate the beauty of this area. From looking at the map, I would say we are in for a treat on some of the hikes coming up.

We parked at the north end of our days hike, at the end of the 2nd Line E. The road ends in a little cove of trees where you can park your car. From here you can take the Oliver Creek Side Trail which follows .... you guessed it, Oliver Creek.

 We met up with the Bruce Trail and started south.

After a bit of hiking, we met up with the 2nd Line E. and followed the road for a piece.

 Once past the 8 Sideroad, we continued on the 2nd Line E., where it became nothing more than a track which then became a trail. This led to a great conversation about living off the grid and whether we ever could really do that (the answer was no :) ).

After the houses, we found this gem at the side of the trail. It makes one wonder how it got there, how old it might be and how long it will last. (Matthew 6:19 "Do not lay up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy and where thieves break in and steal.")

The trail then led us to Bruce Trail Conservancy managed lands. We caught some glimpses of the view to the east, across the Boyne Valley.

This piece included a large piece on the edge of fields. It was a bit easier hiking, but the poor dogs were getting so hot that every chance they had, they tried to find shade. I think they were the happiest when we went down a large gully and found a beautiful little stream that fed into the Boyne River. As we were descending the gully, we heard a large splash and when we got to the bottom we found large, wet deer prints. We didn't see it, but we certainly knew it was there ahead of us, and not too long before us, because the prints would have dried out in that heat fairly quickly. 

After climbing back up the gully, we found this fence, and the 1st Line E. After we crossed the road, we were back in the Boyne Valley Provincial Park. The last little piece before getting to the place where we ended up last time was quite a challenging piece. By the time we finally hit the Boyne Valley Side Trail, we were pretty tired. So we decided to take the side trail to the road and walk that little piece back on the road to meet up again at the edge of the park.

This was a good decision, as we were able to once again walk the valley and to enjoy its quiet, emerald beauty. 
Once back on the trail, we followed it back, seeing the beauty of the escarpment in reverse.

Which was fantastic as we were able to look a bit better at the one place close to the 2nd Line E and 8 Sideroad. It seems they dammed the creek and had a wonderful pond, complete with seating.

Finally, we followed the road back to the car. The statistics for the hike are: 12.1 kms., 3 hours and 19 minutes, 350 meters average ascending and descending (446m asl highest, 354m asl lowest) and an average of 4 km/h.