Wed Nov 27 Hike

 On cold but sunny day we met at Harold Town Park for a 3 km hike up the Meade Creek drumlin. From the parking lot we walked east on a level path where we had to walk around a  muddy stretch before starting the climb where there was a difficult detour over wet rocks. From there the trails were dry as we walked up to the "summit" then taking a trail down the east side of the drumlin to the cars after an hours hike. We decided to do a 2nd hike of 4 km in the Robert Johnston Eco Forest Trails on the Douro 5th Line, off County Rd 8 between Hwy 28 & Douro, for an hours walk starting on the Lowland  Trail over a large wetland on a boardwalk to the Birdwatching Trail which takes you to the Wildlife Trail & a hike up to a lookout. This is a "hidden gem" that is well worth the effort to explore

Harold Town hike - from the left, Gordon Powell, Alan Ingram, Bill Robertson, Dave Meservey George Post, Garry Koteles, Frank Marret

                                                   Harold Town - view to the east

                                                     Robert Johnston lookout

                                                 Robert Johnston Wildlife Trail at the lookout

Wednesday Nov 6 - Jeffrey-Cowan hike

On another gorgeous fall day we met in the KLT parking lot on Fire Rd 10 off Northey's Bay Rd. During the walk Bill Hardwick noticed a bracket fungus which Garry Kotelse said was a Turkey Tail mushroom & as we continued Garry was able to identify several other types of mushrooms, plants & trees. This is a rolling walk thru the woods to a hilltop overlooking Stony Lake & the surrounding area including KNSC followed by a long walk down to the Stony Lk shoreline. After a break beside the lake we hiked on a bush road on the recently acquired Jeffrey-Cowan extension property which includes 300 feet of shoreline on Northey's Bay. After the hike we had lunch at Honey's 

                                                 Garry identifying a mushroom

                                         hilltop water pump used in the past for irrigation

                                               Garry & Dave - KLT shoreline

Bill & Gordon Boschink Narrows 

Jeffrey-Cowan dock with the KLT owned island behind

 

Tuesday Nov 5 - Waterfront Trail in Port Hope

 We met John Ambler in the parking lot at King & Caldwell Streets who led us on a 7 km walk starting on the Waterfront Trail for a 4 km walk on a gravel trail beside Lake Ontario. From there we walked over railway tracks & up Elgin St to a trail that took us eventually to William St & down King St which has lovely heritage homes to a boardwalk that took us to The Ganaraska Brewery for lunch.   

Lake Ontario beach beside the trail

Lake Ontario shoreline

                                                      heritage home on King St

October 30 - Beavermeade to Hope Mill

We met in Beavermeade on a beautiful fall day for a 34 km ride on the TCT instead of the more challenging route on rolling country roads, described in the Sept 27/23 post, cycling east on the TCT past the Keene Station shade shelter to Nelson Rd, north to Allandale Rd & thru Lang to Hope Mill where Dan Volman & Dave Messervey led a tour of the this working water powered sawmill which dates back to 1832! One of the photos shows Pete Gardner loading a board cut at the mill from an ash tree on his property. From the mill we cycled thru Lang to Heritage Line for a 1 km ride on paved bike lanes to the TCT & a return to Beavermeade for a picnic lunch beside Little Lk.                          Burton's photos (left click to open)

                                              Hope Mill dam on the Indian River

                                               TCT Keene Station shade shelter

                                     Pete downloading a board from the pile beside him

Dan & Dave beside the log cutting saw