2016 Hike - A Favourite

Six years ago today I posted about a great hike a friend and I completed, crossing both Pinnacle Rock and Mill Creek.  I had never hiked there before, and the geology was fascinating, so I really enjoyed it.  I'd love to get out hiking this year, but I can't, so revisiting this one is the next best thing.  Here are a few pictures from April of 2016.

We headed in along a side trail to join the main trail at Pinnacle Rock itself, here looming up behind the trees.

Pinnacle Rock is a huge chunk of the top escarpment layer, the Amabel Dolomite, that toppled sideways who knows how many thousands of years ago, perhaps helped by the glaciers.  A dominant feature right beside the trail.

We hiked down the steep hill below to the small waterfall at the bottom, bouncing over the very thin layers of a different geological layer, the Manitoulin Formation.  This is actually the only place I know of to see these two geological layers close together, they're usually separated by some distance.

Some nice patches of Hepatica along the trail.

I pulled out my tripod and tried some fancy pictures of the water - these ones at a fast speed, trying to 'stop' the water.

Then I tried the opposite and tried to 'slow down' the water, creating a misty curtain.

Continuing east we saw several more outcrops of the Manitoulin Formation, first a few big boulders showing off the thin flat layers and then the upper edge of the Mill Creek valley, where it forms a sharp horizontal line.

Soon we came to the then brand new bridge over Mill Creek, built by soldiers of the 32 Combat Engineers Regiment as a training exercise.

I'll finish with a picture of the creek itself, the rest of the trail to the road was just a hard uphill slog!  But this still sticks in my mind as one of the most interesting hikes I've done on the trail here in the valley.  I'm very glad to have done it.