Seaton Hiking Trail

My  friend Justin and I went for a short hike on Friday. As usual I had the day off and was perusing Facebook when he PM'd me. So I drove over to his place and we hopped into his convertible and headed to the Seaton Hiking Trail in Pickering.

The Seaton Hiking Trail runs 13 kilometres from Rossland Road in the south to Highway 7 in the north. Justin discovered it while driving out there one day.

It was 1:20 in the afternoon when we got there. Instead of starting at one end of the trail or the other, we started at Whitevale Park a bit north of the middle. There's a small parking lot there off Whitevale Road, east of the Scarborough-Pickering Townline.

From the parking lot we crossed the bridge over the West Duffins Creek and headed north. The trail is quite well marked making it hard to get lost. There were a number of side trails you could take. But, as long as you made your way back to the main trail, you'd be fine.

In total we were out for two hours. We didn't actually go that far turning around at Highway 407, about 2.5 kilometres from our starting point. Of course we brought our cameras, so that slowed our pace somewhat.

Even though the trees were bare of leaves it still was good to get out for one last walk before the weather turned blustery. That day we were blessed with blue skies and unseasonably warm temperatures of 15C+. So nice.

Hilton Falls Hike

On  Saturday I decided to head out to Hilton Falls conservation area to try and catch the fall colours. It was a lovely day. Warm and sunny with blue skies.

As usual, the traffic was terrible. Normally I have to deal with it during the week when I make deliveries. But, on the weekend too? Even though the weather was great someone decided to get in an accident on the 401 westbound at Mavis Road closing all but one lane.

Before reaching that point I hopped on the 403 and took it west to Erin Mills. After getting off there I headed back up to the 401 and resumed my journey. Exiting the 401 at Highway 25 in Milton, I arrived at the park around 11:00 a.m.. Not too bad all things considered.

After paying my $6.75 to get in, I got a map, parked and headed out to the trails. My main objective was to get a shot of the fall colours behind the Hilton Falls Reservoir. One of my Facebook friends, Steve, had posted a picture from there and I thought it looked nice.

The reservoir was encircled by the Red Oak Trail. Easy enough, I thought, I'll just take the trail around it and get some great shots. Of course, things weren't so straightforward.

My first view of the reservoir was along one of the park roads. As I walked along it I noticed the reservoir was set deep in a pit surrounded by large rocks. As I looked around the circumference I didn't see any access points where you could go down and take a shot like the one my friend took.

I decided to take the Red Oak Trail anyway. After doubling back along the park road, I headed into the forested area. I was going to go clockwise along the trail. Part way through I noticed a side trail that went a bit closer to the reservoir, so I took it hoping it would leaded me to some sort of hidden path down.

By day's end I pretty much ended up bushwhacking my way through dense foliage and up and down steep, rocky embankments trying to get that perfect shot. It was insane. It took so much effort to get through it.

The day wasn't all crazy though. I did do a normal hike along another trail there. This one was called the Hilton Falls Trail and it took you to, of all things, Hilton Falls.

I have to say, the falls were a bit disappointing. It was probably due to the fact it was autumn and the creek leading to it was barely a trickle. So it was more like a dripping faucet than anything else.

The foliage was so-so. The leaves that had turned were mostly yellow. Not too much orange or red unfortunately. I'll probably try again next weekend. Hopefully I'll have more success then.

Hockley Valley Fall Hike

Gabe and I went hiking at Hockey Valley last Saturday. The parking lot is located just north of Orangeville on Hockley Road by 2nd Line East (close to Hockley Valley Resort). It's about an hour northwest of Toronto.

Our plan for the day was to get some fresh air and see the fall colours. Unfortunately I think we were about a week past peak for the region we were in. What can you do?

The previous weekend was perfect for hiking. Besides the colours being great, the weather was amazing. It was 20+ C with clear, blue skies.

This Saturday wasn't so hot (both literally and figuratively speaking). The predicted high was 5C with scattered snow flurries. Not great. Not great at all.

The skies weren't too bad when we started driving towards the park. But as we neared it the clouds filled in. Things didn't look promising.

When we actually arrived and got out of Gabe's new Mazda 3 the snow was coming down quite a bit. Undeterred we headed up the trail determined to get a decent hike in.

Even though it was annoying to walk through, the accumulating snow that dusted the ground coupled with the orange leaves that still lingered on the trees made for unique shots.

We were out for a bit over 4 hours covering around 10 kilometres. Throughout that time the weather changed a fair amount. From grey, overcast, flurry-producing clouds to bright, blue almost completely clear skies and everything in between.

Overall the hike was good. The scenery and rolling hills were really nice. The only problem I had was with me. The previous night was our first night at hockey. My already sore back was made much worse. That added to my bum right knee really slowed me down. Especially on the last third of our outing. Old age. Sigh.

Torrance Barrens Dark-Sky Preserve

My friends and I went hiking at Torrance Barrens Dark-Sky Preserve near Gravenhurst last Saturday. Three of us actually planned on camping overnight so we could take star photos.

All through the week we monitored the weather conditions to see if they would be ideal. It turned out there wouldn't be any rain, but as for clear skies... that was another story.

We took two cars up. Gabe drove Roger and Pasty and their neighbour (I can't remember his name). I drove Peter and Emily. We were the three that originally planned on staying overnight.

We met at 10:00 and headed up to Barrie for lunch. Just off the 400 at Dunlop Street there's a restaurant called Big Chris BBQ Smokehouse that Peter heard about.

We went in and the seven of us split a dinner for four. It consisted of 2-racks of ribs, a large Caesar salad, 4-corn bread muffins, 2-lbs of wings and an additional large side (we picked the poutine) for $64.95 plus tax.

After lunch we drove an hour further up Highway 11 before getting off at Highway 13 which took us to the park (you can also go up 11 to Highway 19/13 too).

I have to say this is the most basic of parks. All there is is a couple of signs telling you about the park and one lonely outhouse. There are signs indicating the trails and markers along the way. But that's pretty much it.

As soon as we pulled into the parking lot and got out of the car we knew this could be an unpleasant walk. That's because we were instantaneously swarmed by deer flies. I quickly put on my mesh bug jacket and hat. The others sprayed themselves with bug repellent.

We started hiking immediately. Within the first 1/2 hour we found a spot that looked decent enough to camp at. So each of us (Peter, Emily and I) set up our tents. I know it sounds odd to have one tent per person, but we all wanted to try out our tents before the big trip out west.

After setting up our tents while being assailed by deer flies we left our large backpacks inside to weigh them down. The tents were on solid rock, so we couldn't put any pegs in to hold them in place.

We hiked half the Main Trail before coming upon a fork in the trail that split to either the Barrens Extension or Pine Ridge Loop Trail. We decided to do the latter.

The scenery was decent. It's mostly granite with some grass, trees and small lakes. The blue skies with lovely white clouds were a beautiful backdrop. We even saw a baby Eastern Massasauga Rattlesnake (which is a threatened species). About a foot long, it was lying on a rock along the trail. After surrounding it taking photos, it because agitated and rattled its little tail.

In the end we hiked 9 kilometres. All the while being constantly harassed by deer flies and mosquitos which incessantly buzzed around our heads. For that reason we headed back to the Big Smoke. No camping or nighttime photos this time. That will have to wait until later in the season when all the "buzz" has died down.

Hike @ Rattlesnake Point

Rattlesnake Point, Milton

Peter, Emily and I went to Rattlesnake Point to hike on Saturday. It was a hike we planned on going on the previous weekend, but due to time constraints, and the fact that Gabe and Peter wanted to go shopping for camping stuff, we postponed.

I drove to Peter's at 10:30 and we met Emily who walked over from her place. After a stop to pick up Vietnamese sandwiches at a place on Finch and Weston Road we were on our way.

The conservation area is in Milton off the 401 and Highway 25. It cost $6.75 per adult to get in. It was quite busy by the time we got there.

For me, this was time to test out my backpack nearly fully loaded. I packed my tent, sleeping bag, Thermarest sleeping pad, tripod, extra shoes and water in it. I believe it weighed in at around 25-30 pounds.

Our planned route would have taken us 16 kilometres. We were hoping to do it in less than five hours because Emily had to be back in town to catch a movie with Janice.

Well, due to some wrong turns, we ended up hiking 18 kilometres. And, because Peter and I were taking pictures, as well as us all walking slowly we didn't finish for 6-1/2 hours at 7:00. No movie for Emily.

The hike was quite nice. It was sunny outside and the temperature was in the low 20s (C). Being early spring, the trees were barely budding. So a lot of sunlight passed through the canopy and onto the trail.

As well there were no bugs! Amazing. That's another great thing about hiking early in the season.

The hike was pretty tough. My backpack really weighed heavily on my shoulders. They were killing me afterwards. It was a long trudge through rocky, hilly terrain. Now I have an idea of what to expect while hiking in the back country for our summer trip. So that's good.

Peter and Emily balked at the idea of hiking with loaded packs. They just brought daypacks. Emily put a few light weights in hers. Peter just had water in his.

Mud Hike

Emily organized a short hike for us on Good Friday. It was just me, her and her friend, Avinash. We went to Seaton Trail in Pickering. I believe it was the first time there for all of us.

It was a grey day. The temperatures actually weren't that bad topping off at over 10C. It had rained a bit the day before, so I was thinking the trails might not be so good. Unfortunately I was right.

I expected mud, but besides that, many of the trails were covered with water and ice. A bad combination anyway you look at it. So we were either weaving our way through piles of muck or treading lightly over slippery patches of ice for a good part of our hike.

There were many times that all of us nearly fell. Avinash was the only one to go down. He fell fairly heavily on a slick patch of ice on uneven ground. It was mostly his pride that was wounded though. And his butt got wet.

It wasn't all bad. There were dry patches here and there. We got about 6 kilometres in in a 2-hour stretch. It took us a long time because we were taking pictures and we had to be extremely careful hiking in certain parts.

As well as the trail they have a large fenced in off-leash dog park there. A lot of people brought their dogs out to play. But not all of them stopped to stoop and scoop on the path between the parking lot and the off-leash area. So you had to be careful not to step on any poo bombs along the way.

After the hike I walked another 6.5 kilometres from my place downtown to meet Lawrence for dinner. We went to Sushi & Bento on Dundas at University for all-you-can-eat sushi. I think I earned it after all that walking, don't you?

Hike at Cold Creek Conservation Area

Emily organized a hike for us last Saturday. Actually, it was just Janice, her and I who ended up going. We went to Cold Creek Conservation Area up around Bolton. It's not too far from Toronto. You just take Highway 427 to the north end and head up a little further along Highway 50 which brings you almost all the way there.

We arrived around 1:00 in the afternoon. They did some shopping beforehand for hot pot dinner. When we got there there was no one else around. I have to admit the temperatures had been very cold over the past week. This Saturday wasn't any different. I don't believe the high topped -10C. With the wind chill it felt even colder.

The visitor centre was closed. But, there was a park vehicle parked at the education centre which was open. There were bathrooms there and we found out you could rent snowshoes ($5) and cross country skis ($10). Emily and Janice rented snowshoes. I chanced it and hiked in my boots.

Their website says there are 6.6 kilometres of trails. We walked 6.8 kilometres over 2-1/2 hours. Emily had her hiking GPS app which told us so.

Besides the chill, it wasn't that bad out. There were intermittent clouds as we walked. The sun and blue skies appeared every now and then.

In certain areas the snow on the trails was packed down. In others it was fairly deep. That's when the snowshoes came in handy.

The snow-covered scenery was nice. I brought my camera along and took a fair number of shots. Catching up to the girls afterwards was pretty tough in the snow.

After awhile we did see others either hiking, snowshoeing or cross country skiing. So we weren't the only crazy people out.

In the evening we headed over to Justin's place for hot pot. Keith and Ken also came over. It was Justin's birthday the next day, so we had cake while we played Heads Up! on Justin's iPad.

Hike at Glen Major

We went on a hike at Glen Major Park out in Ajax a couple of weeks ago. I was hoping to see some of the fall colours, but I believe we were a bit early in the season.

We had a small group. It was only Emily, Lawrence and I. I met Emily and Ken for lunch, but Ken couldn't join us because he had to meet up with his mum to view open houses. They've been looking for over a year now.

The trails are out east. I usually take the 401 to Salem Road; go up to Kingston Road; head east to Lake Ridge; and head north to Concession Road 9/Highway 5.

My church friends and I used to mountain bike at Glen Major in the late 90's/early 2000's. We went quite often. There are rolling hills and the trail system is quite extensive. Of course we wouldn't be able to hike as far as we used to ride, but we made a good attempt.

Emily and I got there around 3:00 p.m.. Since we notified Lawrence late it took him an extra half and hour to get there.

Though there were a number of new trails, many of them were still the same. I believe they change them up every now and then so older ones get a chance to regenerate.

Even though I hadn't been there for a number of years, I recognized most of the paths. And for the ones I didn't, there now are markers with small trail maps on them. So we weren't in any real danger of getting lost (unlike the first few times we rode there).

We got back to the cars about 3 hours later having walked nearly 7 kilometres. Despite the fact that it was mostly overcast and the leaves were mostly unchanged, we still had a good walk.

Hamilton Waterfalls Hunt Pt. 2

Devil's Punchbowl.

After our morning hike to Albion Falls we decided to grab a bite to eat. We checked the web and found a restaurant in nearby Stoney Creek called The Powerhouse. So that's where we headed.

Along the way we passed a Wild Wings restaurant. Sharon and Kenneth were in the lead car and we were following them. In our minds we thought, that would be a good place to go. It turns out Sharon and Kenneth had the same idea. Five minutes later they pulled over in Wendy's/Tim Hortons parking lot and we decided to turn back and go there.

The Wild Wings was in a newly developed strip mall across from a recently built subdivision. We pulled into the parking lot and drove up to the restaurant. That's when we noticed the windows were covered by paper. Sharon got our of their car and went up and read the notice on the door. They had been locked out for not paying their rent. Back to our original plan.

We turned around and drove back across Mud Street to Upper Centennial Parkway and headed north to King Street (right by Dr. Langer's office where we deliver hot towels).

The Powerhouse is located off King Street East in Stoney Creek by the Town Square Parkette. When we arrived in the parking lot we noticed some people in suits and nice dresses walking into the restaurant. When we walked in we discovered why. They were holding a wedding reception there. Time for plan "C".

Since I deliver in the area I knew there were some restaurants along Centennial Parkway north of Queenston Road. So we drove up that way. We found a Jack Astor's by the LCBO in Eastgate Mall. It was open and there were no wedding banquets being held there so we went in.

Peter had wings, Gabe and I had burgers and the kids split an order of poutine. We shared a pitcher of beer between us. Refreshing.

After lunch we drove to see the Devil's Punchbowl. It's relatively close to Jack Astor's. You just head back south along Centennial Parkway and turn onto Ridge Road. The parking lot is located on the north side of the road. It's paid parking. $2/hour or $14/day I believe.

The trailhead is right off the parking lot. It starts off going downhill then flattens out. You still have to go through a few ups and downs before coming to the lower "punchbowl" at the end.

It's pretty impressive looking at 37 metres tall. The bowl is rather large all the way around. Though the actual falls are only supposed to be 3 metres across. I say "supposed to be 3 metres across" because, again, we didn't see any water falling from the falls. Like the Oak Knoll Waterfall it was dry.

This walk was 2 kilometres in length with an elevation change of 50 feet/15 metres. Afterwards we parted ways with Sharon and Kenneth. Peter drove Gabe and I back to Gabe's place where I had parked and we said our good-byes.

Hamilton Waterfalls Hunt Pt. 1

Albion Falls along Mountain Brow Boulevard, Hamilton.

Gabe, Peter, his niece, Sharon, and her boyfriend, Kenneth and I went to Hamilton on the second Saturday of August to check out some of their waterfalls. They wanted to meet out there at 10:00 in the morning to hike.

Since I'm a late riser I decided to meet Peter and Gabe at the Yonge/Sheppard Eggsmart at 8:30 instead of joining them earlier for breakfast. I just had a bowl of cereal after taking the extra time to sleep in.

Peter drove us out there in his sporty M3. Along with the in-car GPS, Gabe helped navigate with his the map on his smartphone. It didn't help. We got lost anyway. Part of it was our fault. We didn't follow the prescribed route which we thought was incorrect. It turns out it wasn't.

Nevertheless we ended up arriving first shortly after 10:00. We parked at the Oak Knoll Park parking lot off Mountain Brow Boulevard. Since we were there earlier we scouted out part of the trail while waiting for Sharon and Kenneth. We were looking for access down into the valley where we thought we could view the waterfalls from the bottom. We couldn't find any routes down though.

Sharon and Kenneth arrived shortly after. We hooked up with them and followed the path beside the road towards our first waterfall, Oak Knoll Falls. It was dry.

I wouldn't really classify Oak Knolls Falls as a waterfall. It's really small. Pretty much a wee hole running underneath Mountain Brow Boulevard leading to a drop off on the east side. Maybe you'd see some water going over it after a heavy rainstorm. But that would be about the only time. We continued on.

The next waterfall we hit was Albion Falls. It's about half a kilometre down the road from Oak Knolls. It's about 8 metres across at the top; 18 metres across at the bottom; and 19 metres tall. Being late summer there was some water coming down it, but not a significant amount. Its source is the Red Hill Creek.

There were a number of people here looking around and taking pictures. Our group was no different. We stayed about half an hour before continuing on. I believe were were on a combination of the East Mountain Trail Loop and the Red Hill Valley Trail.

We followed the trail adjacent to the creek in King's Forest Park looking for away to cut west across the valley back to where our cars were parked along Mountain Brow Boulevard. We made it as far north as the King's Forest Golf Course which we inadvertently strayed upon. That was a mistake. There were golfers there. Bad golfers. Stray golf balls whizzed over our heads and around us. These guys sucked. We hurried back the way we had come.

Along the trail back we saw what may have been a female, Yellow-bellied Sapsucker (woodpecker). That's the closest thing I could find that looked like it on the internet. That was in addition to what looked to be a Great Blue Heron we saw earlier in the creek beside the golf course. Pretty neat.

By the time we made it back to the cars we had walked a total of 7 kilometres. Not bad. The trails were fine. Perhaps not as scenic as some of the others we've had the pleasure to hike. Still, it was a nice way to spend the morning. Now it was time for lunch.

Walk with Cortina

My friend, Cortina, came to visit from Hong Kong last week. She actually came to attend her niece's graduation ceremony so she took the opportunity to visit me and some of her university classmates.

I was considering going down to the Taste of Little Italy along College near Bathurst, but was afraid of the crowds. It's normally quite busy down there for the event, but with the World Cup of soccer going on I knew it would even be worse. Especially since the Italy versus England match would be showing at the time. So we decided to avoid the area and go for a walk somewhere else instead.

I chose Colonel Danforth Park. I had gone there last fall and it was nice. The path is flat and paved which was probably more suited to the footwear Cortina had.

Colonel Danforth Park is located off Kingston Road and the 401. After you exit the 401 you head west on Kingston Road then turn south on Highland Creek Overpass and then take a left on Colonel Danforth Trail. That takes you to Highland Creek Drive which is the road into the park.

We arrived in late afternoon. I had a dentist appointment beforehand. The trail wasn't overly busy, so that was nice.

Of course I brought my camera. So that slowed things down a bit as I stopped to take pictures every now and then. That's why I often like going on outings on my own or with other photographers so I don't feel as guilty for going slowly.

The hike was pretty short. I believe it took under an hour each way from our starting point at the parking lot to Lake Ontario and back. Still it was a lovely way to spend the afternoon. Any time spent outdoors on a relatively warm and sunny day is great. Especially considering the long, brutal winter we had.

We finished the day off with dinner at Aji Sai. It's an all-you-can-eat sushi restaurant on Bayview south of the 407.

Hike at Boyne Valley

Last Saturday we went hiking at Boyne Valley. It's a few kilometres north of Orangeville, just over an hour's drive northwest of Toronto.

Peter picked up Martin, Edna and I at Finch station before heading up to What-A-Bagel on Bathurst north of the Promenade Mall where we met Keith for breakfast. I have to say it (breakfast) was underwhelming. I don't know why the place was so busy. The home fries that accompanied my eggs Forentine came out of a bag for goodness sakes. Perplexing.

After eating I hopped over to Keith's car from Peter's. He still took Martin and Edna. Besides keeping Keith company, I had a good idea of how to get to the park since I had hiked at nearby Mono Cliffs Provincial Park and had also driven the same way up to Owen Sound when I used to deliver to the King's Buffet restaurant up there. The trip should have been relatively straightforward. But, of course, it wasn't.

To go to Orangeville one would normally take the 401 to the 410 and go straight north. The 410 changes to Highway 10 north of Brampton, but it's seamless.

Since we were starting quite far north of Highway 401 we took Highway 7 west to the 400. From there we would go north to Highway 89 and head west to the park entrance on 89 and Highway 10. This was a route I hadn't taken before. Nonetheless it shouldn't have presented much of a problem.

Our first mistake was getting off the 400 at Highway 88 (the exit before 89). There was a lot of traffic going up the 400 because a dump truck had driving off the road into a ditch around 88.

Keith wanted to exit early because he was running low on gas. Peter was ahead of us and he exited at 88 too. Instead of heading east towards in the direction the sign indicated the gas station was we followed Peter west because we figured he must know a short cut or something.

Well Highway 88 ended at Highway 27, so we headed north on it. At a set of traffic lights Keith turned left because he thought he saw Peter turning left. Turns out it wasn't Peter. Peter was still going north on 27 to Highway 89.

To make a long story short, Keith and I ended up getting lost. And, of course, Keith was panicking because we were on small county roads with no gas station in sight.

We got directions to the nearest one from locals and eventually found the park. It was a comedy of errors to say the least. Peter actually got off the 400 early because he saw us signalling. He didn't actually know where he was going.

If we had continued straight up the 400 to 89 we would have gotten to the park no problem and Keith wouldn't have had a meltdown. I believe this could have been avoided if he had more gas in his tank beforehand.
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The Hike.

The hike itself was both good and bad. The scenery was really nice. Especially in the wooded areas. It was beautiful - green and lush. Along with the scenery, though, we had to deal with the mosquitoes. There were quite a number of them. That made it quite unpleasant.

The terrain was varied. There were some climbs. Nothing too substantial though. The trails are rated at a moderate level which was fine for most of us. Keith got tired near the end though. We did walk 12 kilometres and it was fairly hot in the open areas when you were exposed to the sun.

At the end we sent Peter and Emily ahead to get the cars to meet us along the road back. So they actually walked an extra kilometre more.

We all enjoyed a meal at Wild Wings at Yonge near Finch afterwards. I had a burger. The rest of them had wings (of course).

Hike at Glen Rouge Park

Our foodie group went on a hike last Sunday. We went to Glen Rouge Park which is located off Kingston Road. If you're coming from the city you take the 401 eastbound and get off at the Kingston Rd./Port Union Rd./Highway 2A exit and head eastbound on Kingston Road. The entrance is on the north side of Kingston Road, just past the McDonalds.

Six of us went on the hike - Emily, Gabe, Peter, Fiona, Keith and me. Emily picked me up at my condo and we went over to Fiona's. Keith met us there and we took his car.

Our first stop was at a Shawarma restaurant on Lawrence near Pharmacy where we grabbed a pre-hike bite. Gabe drove Peter and met us there.

The day was nice. It was warm and the skies were blue with a few white clouds. It did become slightly overcast as the day progressed, but, overall it was decent.

The trail was relatively easy. Not physically demanding in any way. Most of it was under the forest canopy. So we were in the shade most of the time.

We actually made it all the way over to Rouge Park off Twyn Rivers Drive, so we hiked there too. I know the trails there quite well as we used to mountain bike them back in the late 90's. They're half in the woods and half in the open.

All-in-all we walked about 9 kilometres in three hours before finishing the day off at an Indian vegetarian restaurant at Woodside Square. Peter ordered a number of dishes for us to share. It was tasty. Though, I have to admit, some of it was a bit on the spicy side... at least for me.

Early Trillium Walk

I rode my bike over to Sunnybrook Park on my Friday off work to check on the progress of the trilliums there. Like the cherry blossoms they've been delayed by the long, cold winter. Normally they both bloom around the same time. That would be anywhere between the last week in April through the first week in May.

It was a slightly overcast day. I took the shortcut through Sunnybrook Hospital. There's a path that runs behind the hospital. You can't actually get to the park by car that way. But, if you walk or ride your bike it's good.

The trail where the trilliums are are up by the sports fields. Even though it was fairly early in the season the regular dog walkers were out. I suspect they live in the neighbourhood and are there all the time. Besides them it was pretty quiet.

The trilliums were undersized of course. I suspected they'd be. But, that was all right. I didn't go out only to take pictures of them, but, also, to get some quiet time and a bit of fresh air.

All-in-all I spent about two hours walking around. I would have spent a little longer, but the skies were threatening rain. I did get caught briefly before I made it all the way home. Perhaps I should have left about 10 minutes earlier. Oh well.

Walk at Tommy Thompson Park

Emily and Gabe asked me along with them on a hike at Tommy Thompson Park on the Leslie Spit. It was a pretty nice day out. Though it was still a bit cool the skies were blue, so that was good.

The park has undergone a lot of changes since I last was there a few years ago. It's been developed quite a bit for the better. As well as the main road for cycling and service vehicles, there are separate paths just for walkers. There are also a number of small ponds that I hadn't seen before where water birds and other birds can rest/nest. Unfortunately we didn't get to stay for very long as Gabe had to head out to Mississauga to look at a used bike he was interested in buying.

The trip to Mississauga was fruitful. Gabe ended up buying the bike for $75. The fellow selling it said it was his sister's. But she hardly rode it so they were just getting rid of it. Even though it's old it's in good condition.

Next we headed to Ajimi for dinner at Yonge and Davisville. Keith joined us for all-you-can-eat sushi. After that we called Daphne and headed up to Twister for Karaoke. It was fun.

I stayed until just after 10:00 p.m. then headed out to join Donald Chow and his friends to play hockey at Pleasantview Arena off Victoria Park south of Finch.

Mono Cliffs Autumn Hike

I went for a fall hike on the Friday before Thanksgiving with one of my friends. The colours of the leaves were just about at their peak at that time.

We went to Mono Falls. It's up Highway 10 about 20 kilometres north of Orangeville. I found out about it from doing an online search. There was an article at TheStar.com about it.

I checked a provincial park website about the park. There were a few interesting trails I thought I might like to see - the Cliff-Top Side Trail and the South Outlier Trail to name a couple.

My friend and I got to the park a bit late. Somewhere around 2:30 p.m. The lot wasn't very full. At one end there was a pay parking machine. We selected the 4-hour option for $5.

The trails I selected were between 3 and 4 kilometres long. Though I'm not sure if the 3 kilometre one was one way or round trip. As well we had to take the Carriage Trail (1 kilometre long) in to get to the other ones.

I thought we would start with the Cliff-Top Side Trail (3 kms). Then if we had time we could do the South Outlier Trail (4 kms).

The Carriage Trail (1 km) that we took in from the parking lot met the Cliff-Top Side Trail in the middle. We decided to do the north side first.

Part way along that trail is a lookout where you can see over the valley. The view was spectacular (see above). It was absolutely amazing with the bright yellows, blazing oranges and fiery reds. While we were there we met an older couple who told us about another lookout we should see.

It was off the McCarston's Lake Trail. There's a Lookout Trail that goes off of it. Without a trail map it could have been complicated, but the lady gave us good directions and we found our way there (as well as our way back).

We never got to do the South Outlier Trail. It was getting late and the light was fading. Perhaps next time.

Fall Walk #2

Cynara, May and Alan

Okay, as you can well see, this autumn outing wasn't nearly as nice as the previous one, a scant seven days ago. What a difference a week makes. From sunny, blue skies, 25C+ temperatures and leaves on the trees that looked like they were on fire to a cold, wet, dreary, grey day. Yep, that's Canadian weather for you.

Alan organized this walk for us. He found a place called Speyside Forest on the internet. It's west, near Limehouse (a bit north of Milton off the 401).

Eight of us met at Fairview Mall in the early afternoon. We assembled into two groups and carpooled from there. I went with Alan. He drove May and Sopheak too. I don't know what Sopheak was thinking... but, he had nice, leather shoes on. Sopheak! What are you doing? Jon drove Cynara, Norm and Amanda. One couple, Oliver and Teri, met us there. They live in Mississauga (which is half way to Milton from Toronto).

When we left Fairview it was grey, windy and dreary. When we arrived at the trailhead it was grey, windy, dreary and rainy. I must say it was a light sprinkle and, more or less, intermittent. But, nevertheless, it was rain.

Still we trudged on. Alan sported a bright, yellow, rain poncho. While not a high fashion statement, it was very practical. A few others, myself included, brought umbrellas. The rest made do with hats or hoodies or just let the rain fall on their heads.

Jon and I were the only ones who brought our cameras out. I have to admit I felt tempted to leave it in the car. But, you never know what you might regret not shooting if you don't have your camera along. So, of course, I brought it.

I was happy I did. Even though it wasn't a spectacular, bright, sunny day like the week before, I still got some moody shots that I liked.

Check out my Flickr.com page soon to see them.

Limehouse Winter Hike

Tony and Max organized another snow hike for the U of T international students this past Saturday. Art and Judy Loveless hosted the event out of their home in Limehouse as they've done many times in the past.

It was a lovely day, not too cold with partially sunny skies. Pretty much ideal for what we were planning on doing.

Everyone met at the International Student Centre on St. George, north of College at about 12:30 p.m. Max rented out a school bus, but I drove one married couple up. The wife was pregnant and thought the school bus ride might be too bumpy.

The drive up to Limehouse was uneventful. We arrived at about 2:00 p.m. Mrs. Loveless and her friend Marion had made cookies and tea for everyone. A small bite to eat before going out.

By 3:00 we were out the door. Mr. Loveless led one group along the "easy" route, while Max led the other group on a more strenuous hike. We would be going through crevices which were tight and may include some climbing. Most of the people went on this one.

We stayed out for, perhaps, an hour and a half. I'm sure everyone had fun. Not everyone was properly dressed though. I can understand why... many of the students have only been in Canada less than a year. This was their first winter here. I saw a lot of people in jeans with running shoes. They probably were a bit cold and wet by the end.

Mrs. Loveless and her friend, Marion, prepared a lovely dinner for everyone upon our return. All told, there were around 50 people in total. Quite a large number to say the least. It took them many days to prepare so much food. They cooked mostly East Indian fare. Dessert was wonderful too, with and assortment of pies and other sweets. It was great.

I have to send a big thank-you out to both Art and Judy Loveless and Marion too. They put in so much work to give a group of newcomers a taste of what rural Canadian life is like. I'm sure they enjoyed it thoroughly as did I. Until next time...

Wonderful Day

Today was a pretty interesting day for me. I had the pleasure of bumping into both an old and a new friend. In the early afternoon I decided to head out for a walk. I wanted to take advantage of the fact that the weather was relatively nice. According to the forecast, the following few days were supposed to be wet. So, of course, I didn't want to regret not going out today.

When I got down to the lobby of my condo who should I meet, but my former classmate of mine, Anne-Marie? She moved into the unit two doors down about three years ago. We took graphic design together at George Brown back in the late 80's. Can you believe it? Now, nearly 20 years later, we're neighbours. How cool is that? We still have to meet up for a drink. We've been talking about it for awhile, but have yet to get around to it. Anyway, we had a good chat. We got caught up on the latest news about what we've both been up to recently. She was sick and had taken the day off work. I told her I had been laid off this past summer along with a few other co-workers. Economic downturn you know. It's affected quite a few people. Not only here in Canada, but worldwide unfortunately. I also mentioned I caught up with a couple of our other former classmates, Terry and Norbert, on Facebook. After talking for about 10 minutes we parted ways.

I was heading to a park off Yonge, south of Lawrence called Alexander Muir Park. It's not very big, but it connects to some other parks and trails in the area. At this time of the year it's very nice because the leaves on the trees are starting to change colour. A couple minutes before I reached the park I bumped into a new friend, David. He had just stepped out of his apartment and was waiting for the bus to come by. He was heading to the Bay to pick up a suit he had just purchased. I met him very recently at a career assessment course we had both taken. He's a really nice fellow. Smart and funny. It's kind of odd that he'd be attending a career assessment course. After all he's 65. You think he'd be thinking more about retirement at this point in his life. I guess he thinks he still has a few more useful years left in him before considering going that route. He's going to be going on vacation soon. His daughter is currently living in Australia with her boyfriend. He'll be flying there shortly to visit. It's funny... if I hadn't stopped to chat with Anne-Marie I probably would have never bumped into him. What a coincidence!

The hike along the trails in the park system was absolutely wonderful. The temperature outside was perfect. Somewhere in the mid-teens Celsius (about 60F). Not too hot, not too cold. It was a bit overcast, but I can't complain. Too much sun isn't good for us anyway, is it? The trails were relatively secluded. A brief respite from the hustle and bustle of city life. Every now and then I would bump into a hiker or two. At other times you would see people walking their dogs. There's an off leash trail that many dog walkers frequent in Sherwood Park. You'll see animals of all breeds and sizes there. Many of them are quite adorable. It almost makes me want to become a pet owner. Almost.

Anyway, I had a great time out. I think we all need short breaks like that. Taking some time from our hectic schedules and everyday concerns to just head out and clear our heads. It's definitely therapeutic, no doubt.