Limestone, Longhouses, Thamnophis sirtalis, Princess Warriors and Screaming Banshees

On April 29, 2018, the Blistered Sisters set out to conquer the next section of the Bruce Trail. We still had two sections of the Iroquoia Club trail to complete (Mount Nemo and Kelso) before crossing into the Toronto Club sections of  Speyside and SilverCreek and heading up to the start of the Caledon section at Terra Cotta. Our plan was to stay in Burlington the first night and work our way UP two sections, and then change our homebase to allow us to work our way DOWN from Terra Cotta for the last two sections. Oddly, we actually stuck to  our original plan.

This Sisters left Ottawa early Sunday am, meeting as usual in Kingston for coffee. There, Liz presented us with very tasty coconut lip balms. We then headed down towards Burlington to our first trail head and the start of our next adventure.

Day #1 (half day)
Start and End Pts:  Guelph Line to Blind Line
Distance: 13.2 km
Hike Time: 3.5 hrs
Weather: sunny, cold, windy
Terrain: easy trail
Wildlife Sightings: One dead possum who was remarkably unsquished on the road which allowed for a close inspection. Six inch naked tail like a rat but thicker. Long soft-looking fur in white and caramel colours. Round ears. Mole-like snout.
Also lots of soaring turkey vultures along the escarpment face. Apparently they can smell carrion from way up high and are scenting it as they circle.
Fit Bit Step Count: not avail due to battery issue

This section of the trail was a nice surprise. We thought we would be doing a lot of road walking (hard on the feet and legs!) but it ended up being a very pleasant trail walk through field, rock falls and escarpment ridge. At times,one needs to clamber up small ladders and down into snow-filled rock passageways to continue along the trail. The wildflowers were just starting to bloom which was a complete marvel to us, considering the ice storm in Ottawa just the week before! There were some nice views of sparkling Lake Ontario in the distance, as well as the TO/Burlington skylines.

And we're off!

Not that these three NEED any regeneration!

Radiant gal! 

That night we stayed in Burlington, kindness of D's cousins D and K, and went to Beertown for fish tacos and, well, beer.

 Random Asides:
1. K's post-hike Peanut Butter cookies were a hit.
2. Winnipeg lost to Nashville that night.
3. K did not sleep a wink and suffers from Severe Sleep Deprivation which is not even a little bit funny.

Day #2
Start and End Pts:  Blind Line to Appleby Line at Steeles Ave
Distance: 20 km
Hike Time: full day
Weather: sunny, 22 degrees! 
Terrain: winding trails, open forest, caves, mossy rocks, pretty swampland areas . The trail crosses through the Crawford Lake and Rattlesnake Point Conservation areas which have some super interesting interpretive sections on an Indian settlement (complete with restored longhouses), as well as some stunning wood sculptures along the trail. 
Wildlife Sightings: Snakes. Oh the snakes. More on the sister's "Varied Responses" later. 
Fit Bit Step Count: 31,581

Although we got off to a superb early start, parking complications messed us up  as we began Day 2. Parking was prohibited along the road where we originally intended to leave a vehicle so we lost a lot of time back-tracking and finding a suitable place for our shuttle car. However, when we finally got going, we enjoyed sunshine, meandering trails, red-wing blackbird song, and the peeper frogs looking for mates!

Kinda like kissing the cod, but different.

Restored longhouses at their original site. There is an ongoing archeological dig here.

Impressive bark covering on longhouse walls.

Let's Talk About Snakes.
Although the area we are hiking in is called RattleSnake Point, there are, in fact, no rattlesnakes here. We know this because the signage told us so. There are gartersnakes (small and kinda cute) AND milksnakes (red, kinda narsty looking with icky markings and a rattle-like warning sound but not venomous). We did not see any of the latter. We did see many of the former. 

A bit of background information:
1.OPHIDIOPHOBIA or HERPETOPHOBIA refers to an irrational fear of snakes, usually related to a traumatic incident in the past. Not only does the afflicted person fear snakes in person, they don't like even pics/vids of them and don't like thinking about them at all.
2. Most of the snakes we saw were very, very young garter snakes. 4-6 inches long.
3. Garter snakes or Thamnophis sirtalis are harmless, non-aggressive and threatened by loss of habitat such as the draining of wetlands, as well as Screaming Banshees.

When it comes to snakes, The Blistered Sisters hive off into two distinct camps. The Princess Warriors and the Screaming Banshees. Both have distinct approaches to snake sightings.

Princess Warrior Approach to Snake Sightings:
Like First Nations royalty, the Princess Warriors take the lead and glide soundlessly through the forest, at one with nature and wildlife. When a small, defenseless snake is on the path, the Princess Warriors look at each other in silence and mouth the words "Say Nothing." Then one or the other of the PW's silently nudges the tiny serpent off the path and into the leaves before gliding on through the ferns soundlessly. We might as well be wearing moccassins.

Screaming Banshee  Approach to Snake Sightings:
The first of the Screaming Banshees to see the defenseless creature unleashes a hoarse, hair-raising, blood-draining, high-pitched, whole-face throat scream that ricochets through the silent forest scattering the squirrels and uprooting small trees.This is followed by a solid 15 minutes of vicious hacking and slashing of mother earth with walking poles accompanied by ragged panting shrieks of "WHY DOESN'T THE FUCKING THING MOVE???? If the Screaming Banshee is unsuccessful in her beating of the small creature to death, she throws herself over the escarpment face. More often she is rescued by a Princess Warrior who glides silently through the ferns to quietly explain that the tiny creature is not moving because it is frozen in fear due to the Screaming Banshee 60,000 times its size trying to hack it into pieces.

Sometimes the Princess Warriors gotta take a selfie.

We finished our day by driving back up to our beloved Terra Cotta and the Pear Tree B &B. It felt like coming home. To celebrate, we cracked open a fine vintage that made total sense to all.

 Random Aside. We met the Shoeless Wonder, a bearded man walking barefoot on the trails. He explained that he did this in order to feel closer to the earth. Nice thought we said but we ain't doin' that, there's snakes in these parts...

Day #3
Start and End Pts: Terra Cotta to Fourth Line btw 17 and 22 Sideroads
Distance: 22 km
Hike Time: full day
Weather: sunny, warm
Terrain: winding trails, open forest, rocky escarpment trails, some boardwalks, ice cold streams and brooks
Wildlife Sightings:not quite as many snakes...😉
Fit Bit Step Count: 38,865


More sunshine greeted us on Day#3. Audrey, our B&B host, treats us to spectac breakfasts! Not only are they extremely tasty, she is a "vraie artiste" as well.  Here's just a sampling of what awaits us at 7 am:

Early starts mean cold mornings. So we dressed pretty warmly to start and headed into a hobbit like forest, all overgrown with grapevine.

D has taken to wearing pearly drop earrings to ensure she looks better than any of us in photos.

The day grew warm. We passed few people except a birder who was scouting warblers (and who K scared the shite out of as she glided up all Warrior Princess-like), as well as a bearded biologist who was examining little uninteresting insects in specimen dishes. 

The trail passes through an old Limestone Quarry area where you can see the old kiln used to fire bricks, the arch of an original bridge, and the rounded stone building used to store dynamite for blasting the limestone.

The day grew even hotter with temps climbing to 29 degrees. We crossed little streams and sometimes stopped to put our hot, tired feet into them, but we started to worry about our rapidly diminishing water supply. 

After a lunch stop, and upon closer examination of the map, we realized our shuttle car was NOT exactly as close as we thought it was. Grim news on such a hot day with no water. S and L decided to book it out to the road and call our gracious host Audrey in hopes that she could come and pick us up. D and K trudged on, planning an elaborate Dessicated Death Ritual that involved the eating of the final Eggies, the mournful clinking of our empty water bottles, the dedication of our walking poles to the Bruce Trail Association, the hanging of our muddy boots on tree branches, and a final act of relinquishing our bodies back to mother earth, mayflowers in our hair.  But just then we popped out onto the road and the phone rang. 

We were saved that day by Kind Larry who pulled over when L and S flagged him down on the road. Larry drove them back to our shuttle car and indicated that the year before he had done the same for another hiking group who had made the same miscalculation. Kind Larry renewed our faith in humankind that day. He was a local guy who grew up in the area and said  that he feels too many kids are on antidepressants and other medications these days--and if they were only allowed to spend more time in the woods, they'd be fine. Aha....what a wise man. 

Oh happy day when death does not strike after all.

 

Random Asides:
1. The Sisters no longer do yoga or knit in the evenings.
2. On this trip we exchanged our Blood Orange Vodka evening cocktails (sadly, this vodka is no longer available) for Lime Vodka evening cocktails... but twas not the same.
3. We have continued with both our walking book club and our walking meditations. This time the book we discussed was The Alice Network. We gave it a 6-7/10.
4. The Sisters have taken to singing at the drop of a hat. Any song will do-but it usually is supurred on by something said in a conversation.We have plans to attend one of the sing-along-movies at the Mayfair or Bytown. K is to investigate. Our husbands are not invited but would be aghast anyway...
5. Audrey's patio is a fine post-hike place to relax.
6. As part of the Dessicated Death Ritual, K and D did consider, albeit briefly, a foray into cannibalism but weren't sure on who should go first.  
 

Day #4
Start and End Pts: Hilton Falls Conservation Area to Fourth Line
btw 17 and 22 Sideroads  
(*Note we missed a small section of the trail around Kelso as it was closed due to flooding but made up for missed kilometers by doing some extra sidetrails)
Distance: 18.5 km
Hike Time: full day
Weather: sunny, very warm
Terrain:wide, well-developed trails in Hilton Falls Conservation area, rocky, top line of escarpment walking with pretty views of farmland
Wildlife Sightings: snakes, baby coon, a running turkey vulture D thought was a wolf 😉
Fit Bit Step Count: 29, 435

We started our final day with a lot more water, even though we knew this hike would be shorter at 18.5 km. We parked at Hilton Falls Conservation Area just off the 401 and had a frustrating time finding the Bruce Trail head. These conservation areas have their own trail networks and naming systems and while the Bruce Trail often intersects or even shares the same path in certain spots, this is NOT well indicated. We walked 5,000 steps just trying to find our trail!! 

Once out of the developed conservation area with its wide and developed trails, we were on rough rocky footpaths again, right along the escarpment edge. Lots of pretty views and lots of snakes so the Warrior Princesses were on FULL ALERT and walking ahead as much as possible. Wildflowers bloomed prettily was well as wild forsythia, but in some of the deep crevasses, there was still significant snow and ice. 

We lunched on a nice rocky outcrop (we're wary of fields now due to ticks) and remarked on the dichotomy created by the silence of the woods we were in and the heavy traffic we could see snaking along Hwy 401. We were glad to be where we were! L surprised us at lunch with a marvelous treat--Smores Squares. Deliciously Decadent and so so sweet, somehow they just hit the right spot. 

We when finished our hike, it was only about 3:30 pm. We high-fived on the road to celebrate another great hike completed, and had some cold juice and water straight out of the cooler. We then headed back to Audrey's patio for some REAL drinks.

In October 2018 we are back on the trail. We have already done the next section--the Caledon Hills Club--so will be skipping up to Highway 8 at Mono Centre and starting the Dufferin Hi-land Club (56 kms) and part of the Blue Mountain Club section (66 kms). The topography looks a bit tough so this may slow us down a bit! 

Random Asides: Total damage--three blisters amongst us and one missing toenail. Not bad!!

Over and out til next fall!