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.

The REAL 99%

Top 40 Poorest Countries in the World

The headline on the BBC News blog read - "China increases rural poverty limit to $1 a day" ... $1 a day ... If you earned more than $1 a day in rural China you weren't considered to live in poverty. This is up from what the Chinese government previously considered poor (in the countryside) at 55 cents a day.

Take a walk down the street where you live. Go into a Starbucks. What can you buy for $1.00? A cookie? A bottle of water? Maybe, maybe not. Walk into a grocery store. What can you get for $1.00 there? A 500 ml carton of milk? A can of soup? A banana, maybe two? You'd be dead from starvation in less than a month.

Now, of course, I know the cost of living is different in China compared to North America. But, even if you multiplied the daily amount of $1 day tenfold do you think you could survive here? $10.00 a day to live on? Really?

So you want to occupy Wall Street? You want to occupy a park? Go to Somalia to occupy a park. Go to rural China to occupy a park. Go to Ethiopia to occupy a park. Go to Haiti to occupy a park. Because that's where the true 99% live. Not here in our backyards.

Fall Walk

Last Saturday I went to Edwards Gardens and Wilket Creek for a walk to see the fall colours. I have to say they were spectacular. In conjunction with the bright blue skies, the leaves looked like they were on fire under the afternoon sun.

I walked over there from my parents' place. They live about 10 minutes away on foot. Not only was it a bit of extra exercise (which is good for anyone). But, the parking situation at Edwards Gardens was a mess. They had torn up at least 2/3 of their parking lot for resurfacing. So many visitors had to find spots on the surrounding side streets (there were a few wedding photography sessions going on).

As usual, the park was in immaculate condition. The lawns were well manicured and the flowers and other plants looked beautiful. I strolled around for the good part of an hour taking pictures there before heading down the path to the Wilket Creek side.

The scenery there was just as spectacular. Just in a different way. The star of the show here were the many colourful trees.

Now I've complained over the past few years that the leaves on the trees aren't as vibrant as they used to be. I'm not sure why. Perhaps it's the pollution or something. And while that may be the case, on this day, they still stood out against the lovely, blue skies. I think I got some really fantastic shots. Check out my Flickr.com page in the near future to see them.

Anyway, it was a really nice way to spend a Saturday afternoon. It's too bad autumn will be ending soon and we'll be stuck with the dreariness of winter for the next few months.