Hike # 15 : Hills and Valleys

Hike # 15:  November 15, 2015 - 18.2 km.

During this hike we once again covered three maps - Caledon East, Glen Haffy and Hockley Valley.

We were blessed with a pristine November day. We started out with layers of sweaters plus hats and gloves, and hour by hour shed our layers until we were just in one layer. The trails through this area are lovely and wide without too many rocks to navigate around. The leafless trees allowed us to see far in the distance surrounding us. There were plenty of ups and downs - we would reach the top only to be lead back down to the bottom. Up, down, repeat.

As we set out I knew it was going to be a tough day for me. I was reminded of the importance of being properly hydrated and eating the right foods the day before for stamina. My legs felt like lead the entire way, but I mustered on, drinking all of my water, and grazing on snacks along the way. Physically my body was not cooperating, but I was able to overcome/endure by focusing on the the trail, the beauty that surrounded me and telling myself that I could do it, one step at a time.

We came out of the trail 0.9 km short of our 300 km goal for this season. We will be hiking again (and celebrating) next weekend. Stay tuned!

I am so bad at taking selfies!

Carpeted forest

Karen, can I have some of your energy today?

Lone apple tree

Apples left on the tree

Grand old Oak

There is a good message in the lower left hand plaque :  "Make Today Matter"

Hike # 14 Hills and Horses

Hike # 14: November 1, 2015: 21.9 kms 

This was Valerie's note to Karen and me about the hike she had planned for us this week:

"We'll start at km 6.5 (Creditview and The Grange) and end at km 28.4 on Escarpment Sideroad, between St. Andrew's Road and Mountainview Road. That will be a total of 21.9 km. It will be a 3-map walk -- 14, 15 and 16. Apparently there will be a lot of hills on this hike -- eek!"

Valerie was right.  It was hilly.  My quads and glutes are reminding me of that today.   It was a hike of constantly changing scenery and weather.  There were steep inclines and declines.  One such decline through the Forks of the Credit was steep enough to have a permanently attached wire rope attached to the face of the escarpment.   We enjoyed sunshine in between periods of rain and wind.

For the first time we came upon a closed section of the trail that had not been marked with a suggested re-route.  If you  have ever hiked 20+ km in a day you will know that backtracking is not something taken lightly.  Thankfully Karen's "nothing is stopping me" personality had her looking for a way through the closed off section.  With just a little slipping and sliding (and Valerie learning the splits) we were back on the blazed trail without having to backtrack.

During the long parts of this hike that were along the road I found myself longing to be back on the trail with it's twists and turns.  For some reason I don't like walking along the road where I can see the trail (road) stretch out far in front of us.  I like not knowing exactly where we are going to end up.  I like the changes in the landscape. From open fields, to narrow trails along a deep valley. Up hills and into dark pine and cedar forest to suddenly come in to another forest of nearly bare maple and beech trees with a carpet of wet decaying leaves.

Unfortunately I do not have many pictures that I am willing to share this time. As we set off on our hike and I proceeded to snap pictures as usual it quickly became obvious to me that something was wrong with my camera settings.  Too impatient (and busy walking) to try and find out what was wrong I continued on and only managed a handful of decent shots. The camera will be going in to Henry's for a checkup.

There are a lot of farms with horses in this area.  Of course we had to say hello

This was at the beginning - not a good picture but I couldn't leave it out.