A Corridor of Fragrance!

We had gone to Greentree Nursery on this side of Collingwood to search for a Flowering Crab tree for our front yard, but no luck.  But on the way we noticed a lot of Lilacs in bloom along the Georgian Trail beside the little Craigleith Museum.  So we stopped on our way home to get a few pictures.

Here's a rare picture of yours truly on the path from the parking lot.

We headed east down the old railway bed, now the Georgian Trail, through this amazing 'corridor of fragrance'.   This is where trains brought the first skiers for Blue Mountains until 1984.

The purple and white agrant Lilacs were out in full bloom, and amazingly fragrant.

And here's a very rare picture of Mrs. F.G., emerging from the blossoms.

There were a few other flowers, but very few.  A Prairie Rose we think.

This is Angelica, similar in appearance to Queen Anne's Lace, and very similar to some other extremely poisonous plants like Water Hemlock.

Someone local has erected this Canadian flag to mark a sandy shoal that boaters should avoid.

There were so many blooms that locals were there picking some, as did we.  Now the smell of Lilacs wafts from the dining room table as I walk (ride) by.

Back down the corridor of blloms and on our way home.

But wait, there's a plaque about the Petun, the 'Tobacco Nation' (French nicknames) who lived nearby until 1650 - another story worth a future adventure.

Around the Neighbourhood

Our 4th day in a row of nice sunny weather, but by mid-afternoon too hot for me.  Three weeks into using my CPAP mask and I feel more energetic than ever, though there's also still a lot of neuropathic pain.  Pain in the ass if you ask me, but it's actually a pain around my chest at the level of the spinal injury.  All those poor nerves get that far and don't know what to do, so they just hurt!  (Later I remembered it's the second day after physio!)

Right on out front porch.  I dug this old copper boiler out of the dusty old hay loft of my grandparent's small barn 44 years ago.  We've never had a use for it before.

Lots of dandelion seeds ready to float away and ensure next year's flowers.

Much of the original grass on one of our neighbour's lawns was killed off by over-zealous herbicide sprayers.  She ended up with large areas of this little pink flower.  I think it's rather pretty, but I know some of our other neighbours would disagree!  I haven't identified it yet because I can't get down far enough to pick one and see the leaves.

I never noticed this nice White birch in a private yard down the street until this week.

This shows you clearly how far the White Ash lag behind the other trees in leafing out.  Behind our house we have some Sugar Maples for comparison, but our immediate neighbours have only ash trees.

Amazingly, we still have Tulips out in full bloom!  Spring is very late this year.

Finally, one of my spectacular bird photos!  I listened to this Song Sparrow's melodious call for quite a whilte before spotting it up this Scots Pine.

Catching Up on Posts

I'm falling way behind on posting my photos, such as they are, so here's a snapshot of what we've been up to recently.  I'll come back to some of these and fill you in on more details.  Meanwhile, we're enjoying perfect days here, four days of sunshine and blue skies, warm enough but not too hot; it can stay like this until September for me, and I'm sure for many of you.

This is a beautiful serviceberry beside one of the neighbour's houses, in full bloom.  You don't often see these as ornamental trees, but judging by this one, they should be more popular!

We've had a lot of beautiful skies too, though this was two weeks ago.

Last weekend, on a beautiful day when you just couldn't stay inside, we headed down to Durham to see McGowan Falls, one of only two among the big 8 waterfalls I can still get close to.  Here the Rocky Saugeen River plunges over the mill dam and a series of rock ledges, leading to some nice picture opportunities like these.

The Crab Apples are in bloom at the moment, with their beautiful pink blossoms, a popular tree in our towns.

And downtown on our main street there are a few like this, ornamental pear trees I think.

Here in the neighbourhood the Ash tree leaves are finally coming out.  I don't know how they manage with only 2+ months of photosynthesis time, for they are the last trees to have leaves in the spring and the first to lose them in the fall.
 

A distant apple orchard across the orchard that I never noticed until they were in bloom.

And of course there was our celebration this week to open the new 'Stew Hilts Side Trail' of the Bruce Trail.  Here's the whole crowd.

Yesterday after physio we took time to visit Harrison Park in Owen Sound and went for a long walk down one of the trails, conveniently paved for bikes - but it works well for wheelchairs too.  Then we had a delicious lunch in the park restaurant where a flock of Canada Geese hangs from the ceiling.

Finally the distant view out our living room window in the evening sun.  Take care and enjoy this weather while it lasts!

Saying Good-bye to the Trail

Intro - I recently wrote this article which appeared in the local Beaver Valley Bruce Trail Club newsletter.  It will give you some idea of the background to yesterday's ceremony.  I've been involved with the Bruce trail for a long time!

As many of you know, in Feb, 2017 I had one of those operations where everything that could go wrong did, and I ended up paralyzed from the chest down.  In the months since I’ve had to come to grips with saying good-bye to my Bruce Trail hiking and land stewardship work among a lot of other future dreams.  It’s surprising how I’ve been able to do this without undue emotional angst, I think because I have lots of Joyful memories of the trail to carry me on.

 Harrison Park, Fall 2018

I think it was 1962 when I first hiked a stretch of the Bruce Trail.  It was during the first natural history weekend sponsored by Ontario Nature (then the Federation of Ontario Naturalists or FON), up the Bruce Peninsula. We hiked the first section coming south from Tobermory.  In those days that route just followed the actual rocky shoreline.  Only 14, I had accompanied my mother and aunt on the weekend, meeting such leaders as Mac Kirk, Phil Gosling, and Fred Bodsworth for the first time.  I later came to know these and other leaders quite well.  I also picked up my fascination with ferns that weekend, an interest I still have today.


Later that year I accompanied a high school teacher on another stretch of newly blazed trail east of Guelph.  This was the first year the trail existed, and there was a huge effort that summer to get as much of the trail laid out and blazed as possible, although it took 5 years until the trail was officially opened.  During these years our family hiked in several locations, particularly up the Bruce Peninsula.  We hiked the loop at Jones Bluff, climbed the cliff at Hope Bay to find the giant potholes and walked in at Dyers Bay to see the Devil’s Pulpit.

Indian Head Cove, Bruce Peninsula National Park

We also hiked out to my favourite spot on the Bruce Trail, the Grotto and Indian Head Cove in what was then Cyprus Lake Provincial Park.  I still maintain that that short stretch of the Bruce Trail, hugging the shoreline of Georgian Bay, is among the most spectacular hikes in Canada.  On a sunny day in late June, with the brilliant blue water and the rocky cliffs it’s hard to beat in spite of the challenging footing, though now the crowds distract from the experience.


Getting a driver’s license opened the doors to more exploring.  Friends and I hiked the trail to see all the waterfalls in the Hamilton area.  Two of us camped in the Bruce Peninsula to celebrate the end of high school and revisited the Grotto and checked out several other stretches of trail along Georgian Bay.  By this time the cairn had been built to mark the northern terminus of the trail in Tobermory, and the trail was officially opened that summer.


It was during these years that I first hiked out to Old Baldy in the Beaver Valley, climbing over the rocks in a way I would never do today!  I also did my only overnight hike from Owen Sound to Blantyre.

View South from Old Baldy

(The new side trail is just about centre, just below the horizon).

There followed a substantial gap during the years of grad school, young children and getting a career started at the University of Guelph.  But then, nearly 30 years ago I started bringing students up to the Beaver Valley for a week long field course.  For 20 years I introduced students to the beauty of the Bruce Trail in the valley.  I also invented a spring field course, and took students back up the Bruce Peninsula, a trip that always included a hike out to the Grotto.  One memorable year timing was such that we did the hike in late April – clambering over thick patches of ice along the shoreline trail.

Ice on the Trail - April

There is something special about taking students to a wild scenic place like the Georgian Bay shoreline at the Grotto if they’ve spent much of their life in an urban environment.  The looks of astonishment and wonder more than pay back the effort.


On retiring I became Land Steward for the Harshman property.  The hike from Graham’s Hill Road down to Bowles Hill quickly became one of my favourite, and it still is.   Soon after I volunteered to become the Land Stewardship Director for the Beaver Valley Club, and in that capacity I’ve explored the trail through all 47 or so properties the BTC owns in the Beaver Valley.   Among those I have several stretches of trail that will always be favourite memories in my mind.


The south end of the Sly property is certainly one favourite.  It follows the rim of Indian Creek valley for a distance and then enters a mature forest which is carpeted with wildflowers in the spring – not to mention at least 4 small waterfall trickles along the top of the Manitoulin formation.   There are beautiful stretches of mature forest as you head south, but one of the gems of the valley has to be Metcalf Rock, where the trail drops down into a heavily shaded crevice carpeted with ferns, another place of wide-eyed wonder.

Trilliums at Old Baldy

The walk out to Old Baldy, especially along the Mac Kirk side trail with its carpet of spring wildflowers must be the favourite hike for many of us.  On the west side of the valley, the hike downhill through the Harshman property to Bowles Hill is magnificent – sinkholes, huge old growth trees, and two waterfalls make it very memorable.  Finally, among my own personal favourites is the Clarke property, west of the 7^th Line and east of Blantyre.  I’ve never seen more Walking Fern than here, where it carpets the wall of a small crevice.

Old Growth Sugar Maple on Harshman Property

My hiking future has changed abruptly, so you may not see me out on the trail, but rest assured that I have more than enough memories to carry me through.  And don’t take for granted your own hikes on the trail; store away those memories so you’ll always have them.

An Exciting Day for the Furry Gnome!

Guess what!  They've named a new side trail off the Bruce Trail in my honour!  You can now hike the Stew Hilts Side Trail in to see a previously secret waterfall.  [There, I've given away my real name.]  And to top that, this is an as yet un-named waterfall as far as we know, so someone suggested that we call it 'Hilts Falls'.  Imagine having a waterfall named after you!

Me and some of my Bruce Trail friends.  They let me hold the new sign for the side trail for a few moments, just for pictures.  An astonishing 46 people showed up for the opening ceremony, including of course Mrs. F. G., my sister, my cousin, and a close friend from Toronto.

My sister, with the sign after it had been mounted at the beginning of the side trail.

Most of the trail is a nice walk through some beautiful woods.

My grand-niece, age 3, heading down the trail.

The first glimpse of the falls through the trees, not much water, but very pretty.  As it's downright unsafe to approach the base of the falls too closely, they plan to build a viewing platform, as well as a bridge across the stream.  The side trail may eventually be extended south and back uphill to meet the main trail again, creating a loop.

A closer look.  You can clearly see the two geological layers that characterize several of the falls along the trail in the valley - the hard Manitoulin dolostone on top, and the softer Queenston shale that comes in both grey and reddish colours below.  This and all of the above pictures were taken by my sister.  Knowing that this is what they'd find at the falls, I suggested the label 'Stew's trickle' might be more appropriate than 'Hilts Falls'.

My volunteer job in past years has been to scout out new properties acquired by the Bruce trail Conservancy, find the survey markers, and assess the property.  When I saw this falls, not visible from the trail, I knew we had to find a way to get there.

These are the two pictures I took when I originally went in on snowshoes in the winter of 2012 to find a route to below the falls.  It turned out that the very steep side slopes of the valley make it unsafe to approach the falls very closely.

I think this is one of the most beautiful waterfall pictures I've ever taken.  The main Bruce Trail skirts the top of this waterfall on the right, but you cannot see the falls as it drops over the edge.  Once I had hiked to the bottom and found an easy safe route, I started recommending this as a location for a new side trail.  Now it's there for anyone who wants to walk in and see the falls.

For any local reader, you hike south on the Bruce Trail from Johnson's Sideroad, 3rd road south of Hutchison's Corners, for about 10 minutes and you'll see the blue sign on your left.  Allow about an hour total time, in and out.  Small parking lot if on the north side of the road, in the corner of the hayfield.

Seen Around the Neighbourhood

To continue my post about focussing on things I can see nearby, here are a few more things I've spotted that seem worthy of note.

A pot of Geraniums on our own deck.

A boulder on a neighbour's lawn.  I always think this looks like a monster, frozen in stone.

The dead end sign at the end of the cul-de-sac.  This actually has big implications for my wheelchair rides, as we get no through traffic.

 An old Purple Martin house, now leaning and far too crowded among trees to attract any Purple Martins!

Our neighbour's beautiful pink Magnolia.

And that field of bright yellow Dandelions?  All gone to seed and turned white.

My World is Developing more Focus.

First of all, I should say that I have always been curious, stopping to look at the detailed little things, the species and habitats I'm seeing, as well as the distant views.  Whether I drive a few miles to get there or not, I tend to look for things that interest me, and that's what I photograph, not just snapshots along the way.

It occurred to me the other day when I was driving up and down the street, in and out of the cul-de-sac, that my world has shifted its focus.  I used to explore further away from home, driving to different parts of the Bruce Trail.  Now my world has focussed in on the details I can see around here, but I haven't lost my curiosity.  These are the flowers of a Sugar Maple tree a week go.

I love Dandelions, and there are lots on some of the still vacant lots down the street.

Some are close enough to the street that I can look straight down at them.

I've been testing my iPhone for different types of shots, and I was pleased with this close-up by using the zoom.

Ash tree buds, about to come out, a good two weeks later than the Sugar Maples.  This not as blurry as it seems, those are little bumps on the ash twigs.

A distant barn across the golf course, all the way over on the next concession.

And a small stream that flows down a ravine at the beginning of our street.  Sometimes I just have to look around to find things of interest.

It all reminds me of a post I wrote 18 months ago, about observing while you walk instead of hurrying down the trail.  You might like to go back and read that one, one of my better efforts I think.  At "'Sauntering' down the Trail".