Hockley Valley Provincial Nature Reserve
Continuing my exploration of The Niagara Escarpment, this past weekend I visited a place that has long held some mystery for me. A lot of my trips involve driving along Highway 10 and, once you pass Orangeville, you'll begin to see signs for Hockley Valley Provincial Nature Reserve. I always kept telling myself I needed to check it out but by the time I'd get home it would have slipped my mind. So when I started searching for places to visit this past weekend and Hockley Valley kept turning up in my search, I took it as a sign that I really needed to go. I kept digging but trying to find an accurate trail map turned out to be really difficult. All I could find was an artistic representation with no scale and a web site that I should prepare for a lot of hills on a route that would hopefully be about 15km. Thankfully, things became clearer (and a lot more interesting) once we made it to the southern trail head. Keep reading.
Albion Hills Conservation Area
Sticking with the Conservation Area theme, I decided to visit a place I hadn't been to in almost 15 years. Albion Hills Conservation Area was the destination of our grade 7 outdoors education program, and in high school it hosted a number of extra-curricular visits. I still remember some of the games we played, meals we had and friends I made, but this visit was a chance to create some new memories. Keep reading.
Cold Creek Conservation Area
Back in April I signed up for the www.healthyhikes.ca challenge so I've now started looking at conservation areas for day trips. I found Cold Creek Conservation Area as I needed a place for a quick hike that had lots of options. With almost 100% chance of thunderstorms we didn't want to get caught out in the middle of nowhere with no quick way back. We also had other plans so we wanted a trail we could zip along without much trouble. Our day didn't disappoint! Keep reading.
Forks of the Credit Provincial Park
Many years ago, when I just started getting into hiking and exploring, I paid a visit to Forks of the Credit Provincial Park with some friends for a leisurely fall day out and about. The park was great and had a lot of interesting features. There were old ruins, waterfalls, rivers, lakes, hills and cliffs, everything you want when you're out enjoying nature. One of the things I remember most about that day was the sheer amount of people parked at the side of Forks of the Credit Road enjoying the fall colours along the river. It was packed! It was quite the contrast to my visit last weekend as I drove through two blizzards to enjoy a cold, brisk hike through the park. But, the thing is, it was still great! Keep reading.
Petroglyphs Provincial Park
If you're looking for a unique experience that includes some interesting history then Petroglyphs Provincial Park is your destination. Not only does this park have about 20km of trails, it is home to 900 petroglyphs that were carved 500-1000 years ago! It was really hard to leave the camera behind, but you are asked to not take photographs of the petroglyphs, so you'll just have to take my word that they were awesome! Keep reading.