Quilting and other Things

On Saturday Karen and I went for our first hike this year.  I had done a short hike in the spring out at Silvercreek but not much walking this year.  We were originally going to just go as far as Rattlesnake Point which was about 10.5km but decided to go to the Bell School parking lot instead which was about 13.5km according to the maps.  The map distances don't seem to take into account the extra distance the ups and downs add and this section had a very steep down and then back up the other side of the escarpment near Crawford Lake.  I knew it was there and had done the steep bit a few years ago.  By the end of the day, my fitbit was claiming closer to 20km.  My legs still haven't forgiven me although they are somewhat happier two days later.  The morning started out with a short climb up some rocks where Karen posed for me.  About 2 km into the hike, we came across a small section of what would normally be a crossing over a wet area and decid...

On May 29th, I went back out to the Calcium Pits (Km 107.1) and hiked south from there to km 100.1  There's a 2.5 km side trail in there that I followed on the way back. It was really hot and humid that day. In the woods it wasn't bad but in the open areas, it was sticky. When I got back to km 102.2 I realized I could follow the trail back to the car (about 5 km) or walk straight up the road in front of me for about 2.5 km to the car. I choose the shorter route so in total the hike was almost 15 km. This is the view over the calcium pits where I began. From 1920 - 1950, this area was mined for materials to make whitewash, culvert tiles and a bug killer that was a precursor to DDT. Throughout the Bruce Trail there are bridges, stiles and boardwalks built by volunteers to help cross wet areas and fences. Some of the land areas are privately owned and the trail has permission to cross the land. The wildflowers are out in bloom and the bees were very busy I came acros...

It poured on Saturday, so Dad and I went hiking on Sunday. We went out towards the end of the Iroquoia section and parked at the Calcium Pits (km 107.1) and hiked through the Crawford Forestry Tract to were the trail crosses Guelph Line (km 109.4). According to the maps, this is suppose to be a little flatter than continuing at the other end. (I hiked km 109.4 to 125.5 last fall -- those pictures are still to come). This week, Dad has his own pack and his (Mom's ?) walking stick. Part of the trail is nice flat forestry roads and there are some ponds and streams. The dragonflies were all over this one. Then the Bruce trail veered off the forestry road and head down. Dad paused on the way down to take a picture of some flowers. He was playing with the flash We paused here to admire the water bugs. Volunteers build the bridges and walkways over marshy bits. We saw several frogs And some frogs in waiting. They are very shy and disappear before you know somethin...

I parked at the Cline Mountain Side Trail which is at km 7.3 and hiked back to where we ended the previous week. There is a side trail that joins the main trail at 6.7 but its a longer trail and the parking was on a busier street. This section of the trail stays below the escarpment top. Its a little rocky in sections and parts were muddy. Some trillums were still in bloom and the mushrooms have started to come back I like the colours and shapes of the mushrooms and fungus. They are fun to take photos of but I never pick any. I borrowed a book from the library last year and very similar looking mushrooms are benign, tasty and deadly poisonous. Photos are much safer. This tree piece looks like its a transplant from the west coast... That's my walking stick leaning against it in front of the knot. This is the back of my jeans when I stopped for lunch at km 11.8. After eating, I turned around and retraced my steps to the car so the jeans were a little worse by the end...

Poor filter Originally uploaded by imhalca Iroquoia Section 2.1 to 6.7 This is why a filter on the front of your lens is a good idea. When we were getting ready to start our hike, I managed to bounce my camera on the ground. The camera was sitting on the back seat and when I grabbed the pack the camera came flying out as well. It must have been sitting on one of the straps. The lens cap drove into the filter. The filter was broken but the lens itself is fine. I was nervous about hiking with no filter on the front of the lens so put the polarizing filter on even though it wasn't a good day for that kind of filter. I forgot to change the camera settings to accommodate for the darker filter so have had to play with some of my pictures. Dad was busy playing with his new camera so I have some of his photos too. The first 2.5 km were road walking. Once we got back onto the escarpment, Dad took the pack for a while since we had one pack between us. I felt like I was floating hi...