Hike 26 was another planned two day, weekend hike with a stay at a B&B.
Again, beautiful sunny weather both days!
I dropped my car at the B&B and got the host to drive me down to my days start at Highway 89 and Hurontario Road at the 15.2km mark of the Dufferin Highlands section. The trail picked up on the north side of Highway 89 and headed north into the woods. Here are some nice shots from this first part of the hike.
The trail descended towards the Boyne Valley Provincial Park and the Boyne River. The park is a day use only park. The Boyne River was flowing briskly.
The trail ascended the north side of the valley up through woods and meadows until Murphy's Pinnacle came into view.
Murphy's Pinnacle is a sand and gravel kame. Kames were created during glacial retreat 12000 years ago. The views from the top were quite incredible as you can see below, including the first picture which looks back over the Boyne Valley to where I started my hike that day.
The trail continued east through meadows and woods and an old apple orchard!
Around the 19.9km mark of the trail it steeply dropped into a ravine that was so green and leafy - it felt like you had entered a fairy tale forest. The pictures just don't do justice to the actual sights, smells and sounds.
The trail crossed 1st Line East and continued along the top of the Boyne River valley and escarpment through to about the 24km mark. Along 2nd Line East, a nice picture of some lazy cattle in the field along the road.
In one of the farm meadows I got this nice shot of the flowering plants.
The trail continued up and down and along the escarpment and through woods and meadows through to about the 26km mark when I came out of the woods and around a bend to see this beautiful sight.
In the background of this above picture is the start of Walker's Woods, named, as the sign states, after a very hard working BT volunteer! The trail descended into the Oliver Creek ravine and crossed the creek several times before ascending the other side and back into some woods.
My days hike ended at the BT parking lot at the 29.2km mark at 1st Line East. From here I drove back to "Small Pond B&B" located just west on Highway 17. The B&B was very nice and my hosts, Deborah and Norm, were wonderful. I highly recommend this if your looking for a place to stay - their website is www.bbcanada.com/12806.html
The next day my B&B host followed me and I parked my car at the end of the day's hike and then he drove me back down to my start. I picked up the trail as it entered the Rock Hill Corner property on the southwest corner of 1st line East and Highway 17. What a wonderful and surprising couple of kilometers of trail! This area is prime escarpment with dolostone cap rock that is full of crevices, stacks and rock bridges. The water, freezing and thawing, splits the escarpment rock to create these incredible formations. Here are some pictures.
The trail traveled 1 km along Highway 17 and turned right onto Centre Road and headed north. At the comer of Highway 17 and Centre Road is Whitfield. Whitfield was established in 1832 and at it's height had a population of 125 with many stores, industries and 2 churches. The village declined in the earlier 1900's and today there remains only Christ Church and a pioneer cemetery.
The trail followed Centre Road north and descended very sharply into the Pine River valley. The road at this point was not maintained and it was very hard to imagine what it must be like in this are in the winter! This is a very tough 2km+ of steep descent on this rough gravel road - this would have been much, much tougher hiking in the other direction having to climb this!
At the 35km mark the trail came out to River Road and the village of Kilgorie. The trail turned west along River Road and then headed into the woods and followed the Pine River, a very fast flowing beautiful river.
At about the 35.5km mark the trail skirted the old remnants of the Dufferin Light & Power generating station. This hydro electric station used water from a nearby dam which in 1909 was the longest dam in Ontario. The plant supplied power to Horning Mills and Shelburne but was shut down in 1927.
The trail crossed River Road again and headed into the Pine River Fishing Area. The trail climbed the escarpment around a reservoir that fed Pine River and then steeply climbed to a wonderful lookout over the Pine River valley - the side trail is named after Grant & Grace Bell, founding members of the BT club. Here are some pictures leading up to and at the lookout.
From the lookout the trail continued north generally along the unmaintained Prince of Wales Road. Here are some shots from along the road and into the woods along this section.
At the 41.5km mark the trail turned left and very steeply ascended the unmaintained 20th Sideroad to the top of the escarpment. At the 42.2km mark the trails headed north onto private property. This section of the trail travelled through a farmer's bush climbing up through pastures and fields to some high elevations that afforded incredible views to the northeast and northwest. The farmer also had a BT diary box attached to a tree with a diary inside where you could write your name and date of hike and comments - what a wonderful idea for these private landowners!
One of my favorite pictures so far - hard to believe this tree is still alive!
The trailed came out onto Prince of Wales Road at the 45.5km mark and then south along the road. Just down the this road I reached my parked car and the end of another wonderful day of hiking!
Completed: 368.0km
