Sligo to Epping

(Saturday October12th)

A cold, windy morning with an overnight low of 2C.  With the threat of rain in the morning, we waited until it brightened up.  Fooled by the beautiful weather of the previous day, we were a bit under-dressed, especially in the more open, windswept areas.

We took a bike along and dropped it off on the way at the Epping lookout so that Steve could cycle back and fetch the car thus avoiding having to walk the same route back.

Shortly after starting at km 87.9, I came across this feather:

Obviously, a large bird; likely a red-tailed hawk.

Many, many wild apple trees along the way and with the wind the apples are starting to fall quite a bit.  In some places, the trail is carpeted with fallen apples and they crunch below your feet.

The terrain varies as the Beaver Valley widens out and the escarpment becomes less distinct.  A short way into the trail is the Beaverdale Forest Area and, true to its name, it has a beaver pond with a lodge in the middle:

We finished up at the Epping Lookout where Barb cooled her heels while Steve stayed warm by pedaling back up a steep graveled road to fetch the car. 

The next stretch involves an unattractive road walk along Grey Road 7.  We will try to find a way to avoid that as the road has a lot of fast traffic, especially on weekends.