if the wind was not knocking me about, you would be able to read:
upper king's forest park
albion falls...something...something
Today, I found a real trail. I should actually say trails. I was on three different trails, which together made a loop. I found a little parking lot which was right by the Albion Falls and led me down the Mountain Brow Trail. This is a side trail of the Bruce Trail. Most of this stretch was pretty good. I was in the bush for the most part. Being in the city it was inevitable I would be brought back up to the main road. That part sucked.
albion falls from the parking lot trailhead
While I was in the bush though, I walked mainly at the top of a ridge looking down a gully at the creek that runs from the falls. That was terrific. There was other human, and dog, activity on the trail, but what was most interesting was the amount of coyote tracks along the trail. One set even looked like it was playing around.
looking from the ridge down a"slide" in to the gully with the creek at the bottom
The snow was anywhere from a foot to the top of my calves. Luckily, I found a pair of gaiters at Hiker's Haven yesterday. They were about $33 after tax. They were a so-called one-size-fits-all cheapo pair. Well, I really like them. They worked fantastic and they even came with a little stuff sack to carry them. I wish I bought a second pair. No soaking pants. No snow down my boots. No snow stuck to the gaiters. Woo-hoo! No luck yet with the surplus wool pants.
a side trail marker on the ridge
very different system from the rideau trail up in my neck of the woods
the main road up ahead, it was about to become blustery
some bonehead, who could clearly see me, splashed me with filthy road slush, i gave him a thumbs up
Eventually I got to a "T" in the trail and took the right fork down into the gully. This was the Red Hill Creek side trail. This was getting even better. I wanted to get down in the gully. When I was a fearless kid, I would have taken a scree slide down to the bottom and worried about getting back up later. I am no longer a kid and with my earned wisdom realise how foolish such an action would be.
the trail i left at the "t"
the trail i took down in to the gully at the "t"
As soon as I took the slope down to the gully, I was out of the wind. Awesome. I descended right down to the creek and continued on to the Bruce Trail proper. It was glorious. I was in sensory overload. After the first two urban hikes and the blustery and confusing hike yesterday, it was almost too much. I loved it. There was a little bridge that crossed the creek, which I was hoping for as I wanted to come back up on the other side of Albion Falls. I carried on to the other side of the creek and just enjoyed all that nature had to offer on this glorious day.
marker for the main trail
the bridge to the other side of the creek
looking back from whence i came, another bridge, and look (at the bottom left): ducks!
After trundling along for a bit, the inevitable happened: the trail started to slope upwards. Two things. First, it was steeper than coming down. Not a really big deal, but it surprised me as from what I could see, the slope, at least in part, was engineered. Oh well, no big deal. Two, going up meant this little journey was soon to end. Enjoy it while it lasts.
As I made my "ascent" I could see several unmarked, but well groomed, side trails. Perhaps some kind of utility road or ATV trail. Whatever, I may come back later on and investigate as I found another place to dump the truck on this side of the falls. So, I approached the falls and could see the road I would have to take to get back to the truck. How sad for me.
standing directly across the gully from my truck
it is the grey blob just left and up from centre
a none-too-safe looking railing to keep people from doing a header
albion falls from the other side, the end is near
Coming up to the road and checking my distance, I was amazed. One of the trail markers said this loop would be 3.7 km. Well, it looked like they were going to be bang on. As I wanted to do no less than 4 km, I had to make up 300 m. Not a lot, but nevertheless. I hiked just past the parking lot looped in and again past the truck and then looped back and when I got the the truck, hit just over 4 kliks.
All in all, the best hike so far in Hamilton. I am sure they will just get better. I do miss my little Cedar Grove Trail in the Marlborough Forest back home though.
my stats, much slower than usual
largely due to the snow and the slugging by the road
oh yeah, that ascent too was a bit slow
my route, a lot better than that whacky one yesterday
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