DENISON RD TO CINDER LAKE LOOP 2024 04 23

 A nice, keen little group beat the weather. 6.5 km. Back in town by 1:00 pm.

It's a GOOD hike

         

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HIGHWAY CLEANUP SATURDAY APRIL 27

 The highway cleanup will take place on Saturday April 27th. We will meet at the bank at 10:00am as usual and form two groups. Many hands make light work. Come on out and give us a hand.

HUNTING SEASON

 One again there is a hunting season upon us. The spring bear hunt begins Wednesday, May 1st. and ends on the 15th of June. When hiking out of town please consider wearing hunter orange or some other article of clothing that is bright and highly visible.

 

Horne Lake Area 2024 04 22

 Eighteen of us on today's Senior Stroll.  The hike leader was suffering from gas price sticker shock, so we left the cars in the Scotiabank parking lot and explored the ATV/hiking trails north and west of Horne Lake. About 4 kms total, 6 for coffee and laughs afterwards.    PHOTOS

PORRIDGE LAKE 2024 04 22

 15 hikers set out on the longer version to, and around Porridge Lake. A couple of short wrong turns were taken, but Gaia quickly showed the error! We came across a large water obstacle on the ATV trail heading towards Porridge Lake, likely the work of beavers, but a little detour off the trail solved the problem. However, a decision was made not to return this way. A familiar easy trail for a beautiful Monday morning hike…so familiar that no one thought to take any photos!

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SURVEY LAKE 2024 04 18

Search for Survey Lake 

The leader for the Survey Lake discovery challenge was joined by six willing hikers.  The warning of "wet conditions are possible" became reality as we made our way from the Jimchrist trailhead.  The dashed line marking our topo maps was our intended trail to the far side of the Jimchrist loop and presented plenty of downfall and some significant wetness along the way!  The dashed line was shown as going straight across the Jimchrist trail and on to Survey Lake, which it did... just not along the line marked on the map! As we seemed to veer off the dashed line,  cooler heads prevailed, panic was averted, and, in 50 meters or less, we stepped out onto the Jimchrist trail and the truth was evident - the map was wrong!  Our dashed line trail was, in fact,  continuing directly opposite us but about 100 m or so west of where the map was showing it. That explains why it could not be found where expected last fall!  The group continued on and persevered even when the trail seemed to disappear.  Bushwacking our way to the lake, we did find the original trail a little further along the shore and even the sun came out to celebrate our victory.  I should have known what was to come when the sun faded away soon after!  Setting out on the return trip, we soon lost sight of any  clearly marked path. Teamwork and Gaia got us back on the trail, though, and all was good.  The decision to take the Jimchrist trail back to the log cabin, on the other hand, presented even wetter conditions most of the way back (sorry, Wendy) and even more significant downfall.  Despite the challenges, everyone enjoyed the adventure and the uphill climb to the cars finished with everyone pretty proud of themselves.  

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SURVEY LAKE THURSDAY 18, 2024

 Survey Lake, here we come! This hike is in Mississaugi Park and is approximately 11 km.  Our winter snowshoeing adventure took us halfway there and hopefully we will make it to the lake on Thursday.  I do not have the time to check it out so wet conditions are possible.

Sirje

RED PINE TRAIL 2024 04 16

 Nineteen hikers enjoyed sun and mild temperatures on our trek through the Red Pine Trail 

We heard Sandhill cranes as soon as we left the cars. The trails through the red pines are well defined. Mosses of different types covered the ground. 

In the trail portion that went through the hardwoods had much leaf litter...homes for salamanders and red efts, perhaps? There was abundant turkey tail fungus of various vintage, as well. The Serpent River Rapids did not disappoint. We could hear the rushing water well before we arrived there.

A sharp eyed hiker noticed an old car that had been left to rust out its days on the bush. No success at identifying the make or model.

Some moose tracks were also spotted.

Our lunch spot was further along the Serpent River before the next set of Rapids near the road. 

All in all a great day for a hike. Conversations were filled with talk of summer plans and winter clean up.

Thanks to Camilla for being Sweep.

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BOOM CAMP 2024 04 15

 Today 18 lovely folks hiked along the Boom Camp Trails in Blind River.  Was an awesome day to be in the bush - lots of chitchat along the way.  Highlight was seeing a bedraggled looking porcupine at the start of the hike - first wildlife sighting this year - lol!   We hiked to the beach and then backtracked to the main trail.  From there we hiked to the lookout - site of an old lighthouse. Onward we trekked back to our vehicles - 4.7 kms.  All the hikers stopped at the A&W on the way home for well deserved drinks and snacks!   It was great to see all the friendly faces today.

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MONDAY MORNING HIKE 2024 045 15

 

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