Singhampton Caves

A week or so after that last Bruce Trail hike, we headed east to find the Singhampton Caves.  I've been meaning to get here for 3 or 4 years, and was glad to finally see them.  It was a short side trail of the Bruce Trail, but it was spectacular!

Standing Rock was just a big chunk of limestone that had seperated from the cliff face, but the caves were typical 'crevice caves', which we have in many places along the Niagara Escarpment, and made an intriguing place to explore.

It was a nice short walk through the forest to get there and return.

And this was our first look down into one of the crevices.  About a 6 foot drop here, and as my buddy had his 12 year old grandson with him, we didn't try this entrance.

 This was the rocky scramble downhill that formed the actual side trail entrance.

And this was one of the crevices we emerged into, about a 50 foot vertical crack between mossy, fern-covered limestone walls.  Photography down here is a little tricky, because of the almost impossibility of escaping a little bit of bright sky at the top.  This creates a big contrast with the darkness at the bottom, and makes getting the right exposure a challenge.

Just for scale, here's my hiking partner.   You can see a faint blue blaze on the rock marking the side trail; several times we had to check around for blazes so we didn't get lost in other crevices.

It's the vertical walls of moss, liverworts and ferns that always intrigue me.

I expect that these ferns are mostly Bulblet Fern, which grows right out of the limestone.  

But this one, which you might not even recognize as a fern, is the rare Walking Fern.  The tips of the long narrow roots can take root, so the fern can 'walk'.  This species is the symbol of the Bruce Trail.

Once we got out into the woods again, I was stumped briefly by the deeply ridged bark on this very tall old tree, in the middle of a Sugar Maple forest.  Turns out it was a huge old Poplar!  We saw about half a dozen of them, towering above the canopy.

And we caught a glimpse of the old grain elevators down in Collingwood on the shore of Georgian Bay.  Our 12 year old guest explorer thought the hike was 'awesome', and I'm sure it would be great for lots of other children in the 7-15 year range, to say nothing of anyone older!

The Wilson Homestead in Silent Valley

After hiking through the big mossy boulders along the Avalanche Pass Side Trail, as I described in yesterday's post, we rejoined the main Silent Valley Trail and took a short detour to check out the old Wilson Homestead.

The barn was the most fascinating remaining evidence of the homestead to me.  These limestone blocks cut to form corners, and put in place nearly 150 years ago amaze me when you consider the technology available then.

The foundation walls were a good 8-10 feet high, although the mortar has mostly crumbled away and I wonder how long what's left will remain.

The barn was HUGE for barns of that era, I think the largest old barn foundation I have ever seen,   It was nearly 100 feet long by over 60 feet wide.  There is no evidence of barn beams or boards remaining, so I expect the wooden structure was moved elsewhere eventually.

Just a little bit of machinery left, a wheel and gear off some old agricultural implement.

Nearby is the homestead.  The most tangible evidence is the well, now fenced off carefully to protect hikers.  This is the first place I've seen a plaque describing the history of a Bruce Trail property, and I really like it.  I can easily think of other properties where it would be appropriate.

And this is the well - quite amazing that it's still open and hasn't collapsed after a century or more.   I've seen one or two other hand-built wells like this on old properties, but never one this deep and still intact.

Here's the basic story.  For more detail, the Sydenham Bruce Trail Club has published a 30 page booklet entitled 'Silent Valley', by Ron Savage.  It makes very interesting reading!

There is a small depression where the cabin stood, but no structural evidence, so this patch of plants is the most obvious evidence - recognize them?  They're one of the most common plants around pioneer homesteads in Ontario - old fashioned Day Lilies - what some call 'Ditch Lilies', and my wife calls 'Flowers of the Field'.  Too much shade now for them to bloom here.

We also saw a couple of long stretches of old stone fencerows now buried deep in the woods.

Tragically, there was also a small plane crash here 45 years ago, killing all four passengers.  Particularly poignant for me!

Silent Valley is definitely worth the walk in to see it, and we only hiked half the side trails that are available.

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The Barn Collective

Silent Valley Hike

A couple of weeks ago I went exploring the Bruce Trail's Silent Valley property with a friend.  It's been on my list for a couple of years, but I discovered an actual booklet on it at the Grey Roots Museum 3 weeks back, and after reading the story was anxious to try out the trails.  It's located a short distance north and a bit west of the village of Walter's Falls.

The main Bruce Trail goes through the property, but they have also laid out two looping side trails.  We followed the Avalanche Pass Side Trail, which curves up through the talus slope below the Niagara Escarpment cliffs.

As you can see, there's almost no visible trail, just a marked route through the enormous moss-covered boulders.  We were checking for trail blazes like the one here constantly.

A typical moss-covered boulder, decorated with several species of ferns.

The 'Avalanche' Pass Side Trail is named because all the boulders on the talus slope look like an avalanche of rocks, now covered in mature Cedar forest.

This huge boulder was almost totally covered in rich growth of Maidenhair Spleenwort, one of the typical limestone loving ferns on these shaded slopes.

And there was quite a bit of Northern Holly Fern, another typical species of this habitat.

And even some small specimens of the rare Hart's Tongue Fern.  Though it's very rare in North America, these shaded slopes along the Niagara Escarpment are its main habitat.

Eventually the side trail ended when it joined the main Bruce Trail just below the cliff.  A set of steps helped you get started up the slope, where the trail continued on top.  We went up but didn't pursue the trail; our hike already ended up being 3.5 hours.

 There's a lot more to Silent Valley yet though, and this old cedar rail fence in the forest is a big hint.  Yes, this was an old farm, and large parts of it were once cleared fields, with a large barn and house.  Tomorrow we'll look at the Wilson homestead, dating from about 1861.

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Meadow Wildflowers

New wildflowers have been popping open in the meadow quickly the past week or two.  Hot and sunny, it really feels like the middle of summer now; it's actually warm enough we could sit outside until late in the evening yesterday when a lot of family were here.

There's a patch of the real Brown-eyed Susans in one corner.

And lots of Queen Anne's Lace, named after Queen Anne of England, who ruled from 1702 - 1714.   My favourite view is from underneath.

We're glad to see quite a lot of Milkweed, and hoping for lots of Monarchs to come.

I even let a few Mullein grow in the garden if they get started there, but there are more in the meadow.

And the unusual Viper's Bugloss or Blueweed (an appropriate name!), which seems to prefer dry gravelly sites.

There's a fair bit of Goat's Beard, opening in the sun, and soon leaving behind these complex seedheads, like giant Dandelions, which blow away in a puff of wind.

Some of my favourites are the ones that produce burs, because we're far more likely to notice the burs in the fall than the flowers now.  This is the tiny Agrimony, which produces those little triangular burs already forming on the right here.  They'll cover my sox later on.

And this is the Rough Avens bloom, which you rarely notice - very small and it rarely lasts long.

But it eventually produces thousands of tiny singular burs from this round seedhead.  The short straight green bits on the end of each brown spike curl up as it dries, and form tiny hooks.  The bur disintegrates as you brush against it and each seed clings to your pants with its hook.

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William

High Flight

Oh! I have slipped the surly bonds of Earth
And danced the skies on laughter-silvered wings;
Sunward I've climbed, and joined the tumbling mirth
Of sun-split clouds, — and done a hundred things
You have not dreamed of — wheeled and soared and swung
High in the sunlit silence. Hov'ring there,
I've chased the shouting wind along, and flung
My eager craft through footless halls of air. . . .

Up, up the long, delirious burning blue
I've topped the wind-swept heights with easy grace
Where never lark, or even eagle flew —
And, while with silent, lifting mind I've trod
The high untrespassed sanctity of space,
Put out my hand, and touched the face of God.

                                  John Gillespie Magee, Jr., 1941

Our first Celebration of Life for William

is tomorrow in Markdale, Ontario at 2 p.m.

If you didn't read his story when I posted it, 

you can read it here.

Mystery Garden Tour

Last week  we joined a local mystery garden tour, and saw some very interesting places!  The first was actually a commercial place right in the village of Flesherton, mainly an art gallery, but with a very wacky fenced-in garden out back.

It had a wooden xylophone you could play, just painted 2x4's.

And a giant butterfly - this one you could put in your own garden for $250.00!

And some esoteric decor on one fence.

Along with a most interesting wire mesh mosaic.

There were some very large rusty steel chimes you could play, complete with rubber mallet to use.

 An interesting fence railing to keep you from falling off the deck.

And a very interesting exterior fence, nearly 15' tall, with a variety of unusual additions!

This is how that fence looked from the outside.  It reminded me of a weird and wacky old pirate ship.

And then it was on to the next garden, which was on a farm.  I found the cattle in the adjoining field as interesting as the garden.

And they were interested in us too!  All in all, a pleasant evening spent visiting 5 gardens.

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