Hydro Outage

(Sunday Sept 8th) We had been told that there would be a Hydro outage at the cottage from 6:00am to about noon.  So we took this as an excuse to have an early start on the Bruce Trail.  We had breakfast at about 5:30 and the power went off promptly at 6:00am leaving us in the dark for a while.

It was still somewhat dark when we resumed our hike along Fox Ridge road.  Being out in the open, this wasn't a problem and being early meant some wildlife sightings including a porcupine.

This road section didn't take long and, as the weather seemed to be OK, we continued on at km 37.5 which leads to McCluskey's Rock.  The trail becomes quite rugged along here and goes through a 'pass' or crevice in the escarpment:

Afterwards, we decided to 'mop up' a bit that we had not completed.  It's part of the Duncan Crevices Nature Reserve and is a popular spot for walkers.  This was the only part of the trail so far that I'd call 'busy'.  The parking lot was quite full when we arrived and when we left there were people parking along the roadway.  The walking is quite easy and wanders through some old orchards before reaching the crevices.  The apple trees held lots of small birds (warblers?):

Lots of views to the east and towards Metcalfe Rock.  We continued on to Pinnacle Rock which was the furthest point we had reached in the spring time.

(Monday Sept 9th) Started from km 41.7 and backtracked to McCluskey Rock.  Very pleasant along here.  Some views of the 'main' part of Beaver Valley to the west.  We met a trail runner who had started at Old Baldy.  She assured us that Justin's Oven in Kimberley has a great brunch.  We will have to try this as we are likely to be in Kimberley quite a bit.

After returning to the car, we started on the Old Baldy section.  This was confusing!  The trail has been rerouted and our map is now out of date.  We talked to another hiker (Stella) who explained that local landowners became fed up with people parking along the private roadway that leads to Old Baldy Conservation Area.  So they closed it ... even though there's a easement to allow access to the Cons Area parking lot.  Consequently, BT rerouted the trail all the way down Sideroad 7B to Grey Road 13, then back up another trail to join the main trail to the south of Old Baldy.  We were getting a bit tired at this point so we decided to go back for lunch and continue the next day.

(Tuesday Sept 10th) Started at the parking lot (km 42.1) and followed the Mac Kirk side trail which connects through to the main trail (!).  

Lots of late summer flowers around:

Looking for a short walk that would be easy on a recovering back injury, we chose what we thought would be a road walk from the Duncan Crevices Parking Area through the Village of Duncan and along Fox Ridge Road. There was light drizzle at the start that tapered off as we walked. The first couple of kilometers were exactly what was expected.  

What we didn’t expect was a very recent (Late August 2019) trail reroute off the road and on to a lovely path through open meadows filled with Goldenrod and Pearly Everlasting. This is the new Fox Ridge Nature Reserve purchased by the BT Conservancy in 2018.  If this is how our donations are being used, I’m happy!

The trail continued into rolling wooded terrain with some eerily shaped trees, eventually opening up again to apple and pear trees that are now wild and likely a big hit with the local deer population. It was peaceful hike interrupted only once by a friendly blond mom, 3 blond kids and a very large not-so-friendly and not at all blond dog.