July 23rd, 2016: KM 471.9 - 485.8


(Beaver Valley 27.8 - 41.7)

Had a quick stop in Brampton to visit Catherine, Aurora, and Liam on the drive up to the hike today.


Had a bit of a late start, just before noon. It was pretty hot and we quickly realized that the hike might get a bit unpleasant before the end.


Started near Metcalf and walked west into Duncan Crevice Caves Provincial Nature Reserve. The forest and rocks were quite beautiful here.


Eily got a quick dip in a river early on, but this was pretty much the only river we crossed during the hike.


Passed by a rock formation that was left behind from the eroding cliff. This looks like the start of a flowerpot!


The trail climbed up for awhile and finally reached Pinnacle Rock: a giant limestone boulder.



Some beautiful views of the valley below the escarpment.



There were many deep fissures in the limestone. Hard to convey how deep these were with photos.


Before leaving the nature reserve, the trail cut through a field full of cows. Some really cute calves were among the herd.



The trail came out of the nature reserve on to a dirt road. At this point it was extremely hot with not much of a breeze. Eily was whining uncomfortably for this whole 4.2 km section of roads.




Eventually the hot roads ended and we headed back into a hillside forest. The trail must have changed since we purchased our maps, as we expected to only be in the forest for a short time before completing the hike mostly on roads. Instead, the trail ran through the forest and along the top of the escarpment all the way back to the car.







Great hike overall (except for the heat!). Finished what was probably ~15kms in 3.5 hours.

Comments