Our Friday hike (Nov 29th) at Varna and Bannockburn was blessed with ice free trails. Chewy when on the bridge at Bannockburn got too close to the edge and before I could pull him backContinue reading

Have you been enjoying the winter reprieve?  On the Thursday (Nov 21st) hike at Lobbs there was only a little snow and we caught sight of a fox ,which I don’t remember seeing at LobbsContinue reading

Today we launch our campaign to raise funds for the Maitland Woods where boardwalks and bridges are in need of repair. Our goal is to raise $5000 by February 29, 2020! Donations can be madeContinue reading

Mavis and Taylor Trails Leader Patrick Capper pcapper99@gmail.com or (519) 606-0016 Lobb Trail Leader Patrick Capper pcapper99@gmail.com or (519) 606-0016 See full details at Scheduled Hikes

Winter has arrived a bit early this year so it is a good time to think about icers. Do you remember how slippery trails and pavements were last year? The demand for the Lee ValleyContinue reading

The past week we had quite a wind, this resulted in nearly all the rest of the apples falling off the trees and many of the autumn leaves are now carpeting the trails.  I noticedContinue reading

On the Friday hike we saw an interesting mushroom at Naftel’s which I think is a panther.  Later that day on the Front road trail I saw a rabbit which was the first time IContinue reading

Save the date…

On the Thursday hike we saw an American toad which was rather lethargic in the cool morning.  I noticed a shrub at the top of the hill in the Falls Reserve that had a lotContinue reading

Note: Deer hunting season in the area of the Maitland Trail is November 4-10 and December 2-8, 2019. Watch for trail closings during this time. Saturday Nov 9, 9 am Exeter Trails Level 2 moderately fast pace,Continue reading

On Friday when the LIFE hikers hiked the Bannockburn and Taylor and Mavis trail the windfall had been cleared .  We also met the hard working Bayfield River Trail Association work crew. On Saturday OctContinue reading

On Friday October 4th Chewy celebrated his 13th birthday on what I believe is his favourite trail – Lobbs.  The advantages of this trail for him are –          Many places to stop and have aContinue reading

As we grow older we suffer a decline in mental and physical fitness, which can be made worse by conditions like Alzheimer’s disease. A new study, published in the open-access journal Frontiers in Human Neuroscience, showsContinue reading

For more information see the website of the Avon Trail.  

The featured photo is of hikers at the Cherrydale bridge on Sept 14th Last week just having written about not seeing any puff balls I saw one which was about 7 inch across, on checkingContinue reading

This is one of the best times of the year for hiking. If any bighting insects are around they are few and far between and we are unlikely to have any more unbearably hot daysContinue reading

This week was hard on Chewy. My hike on the Woodlands Nature trail resulted in him picking up over 150 small burrs, which fortunately were easy , though time consuming to remove.  On our FridayContinue reading

For some reason trail talk 81 was not published in the Signal Star. To see it go to the Maitland Trail Website www.maitlandtrail.ca On the Tuesday Tromp on the Hullett dyke, as well as myContinue reading

Sometimes errors occur between my submission and printing.  In Trail talk 79 the error was mine, the lengths of the mulberries, of course, should be in inches not feet! Hard to imagine a mulberry overContinue reading

The Featured trail this week is the Goderich to Auburn Rail Trail (G.A.R.T.) (13A in the Huron County Hiking Guide.) The GART is there for the benefit of the whole community to enjoy hiking, runningContinue reading

The featured trail this week is the Maple Keys Sugar Bush Trail (#4 in the Huron County Hiking Guide editions of 2006,2010, 2013). This trail is not in the 2016 edition of the Guide. TheContinue reading

See all the walks, and all the details on the Jane’s Walk page.

The featured trail this week is the Wingham Community trail (#1 in the Huron County Hiking Guide).  The trail starts at a parking lot on Josephine Street across from the old railway station, and nextContinue reading

The featured trail this week is the Goderich Waterfront Boardwalk  trail (#6 in the Huron County Hiking Guide).  The trail starts at the bottom of West Street and goes for about 1.5 km to RotaryContinue reading

The featured trail this week is the Goderich Millennium trail (#11 in the Huron County Hiking Guide).  The trail starts at Highway 21 just south of the bridge over the Maitland River, and ends atContinue reading

The featured trail this week is the MacNaughton-Morrison Trail, Exeter (#26 in the Huron County Hiking Guide).  The trail starts at the parking area in MacNaughton park at the end of Hill Street. The trailContinue reading

The featured trail this week is the Morrison Dam Conservation Area trail (#27 in the Huron County Hiking Guide).  The trail starts at the parking lot on Morrison Line ( East of Exeter) and justContinue reading

The featured trail this week is the part of the Maitland Trail (#13 in the Huron County Hiking Guide) at the end near Auburn.-Map #7 in the Maitland Trail Guide.  The trail ends at theContinue reading

Friday March 29, 7:30pm.  Door opens at 7pm. At the Livery, on South St in Goderich Membership form can be downloaded here.  You can also renew or get a new membership through our online portalContinue reading

The high winds on Sunday February 25th were one of the few occasions where I did not venture out with Chewy after lunch.  There are a lot of small branches on the trails. At Naftel’sContinue reading

The featured trail this week is the Lobb Trail.(#15 in the Huron County Hiking Guide) This is one of my favourite trails. There is an upper and lower trail with five cut offs between theContinue reading

The featured trail this week is the Maitland Cemetery Trail ( #7 in the Huron County Hiking Guide).  This trail at the North end of the cemetery was severely damaged by the 2011 tornado, andContinue reading

The trail featured this week is the Falls Reserve (#4 in the 2016 Huron Hiking Guide, #5 in the 2013 guide.  The Falls Reserve Conservation area has a number of trails, including about 2.4 kmContinue reading

The featured trail this week is the Front Road Trail. The trail is on the West side of Front Road between the Bayield river and the Railroad tracks. (Front Road is the 1st South offContinue reading

The featured trail this week is Point Farms Provincial Park (#6 in the Hiking Guide). The hike on Sunday afternoon on November 4th was well attended by 19 hikers and three dogs who enjoyed aContinue reading

The featured trail this week is Naftel’s Creek Conservation Area maintained by Maitland Valley Conservation Authority (#12 in the Huron County Hiking Guide). This is one of the trail gems of Huron County. It hasContinue reading

On my evening walk on the Woodlands Arboretum trail, where the trail skirts one of the greens there were about 100 Shaggy Mane mushrooms at the edge of the green. The monarch butterflies have allContinue reading

On Saturday I hiked down the Black Hole road hill to River Bend. The pond is usually empty of birds but that day there were over 100 Canada geese on the pond. Along the roadContinue reading

I went back into Morris Tract on Friday afternoon and was grateful to find my lost pruners lying on the trail. As I hiked on the trail a black squirrel ran across the trail andContinue reading

The Maitland El Camino was again a success with 277 participants who enjoyed great weather and near perfect trail conditions on Saturday. On Sunday the day started with quite heavy rain, but later on thereContinue reading

Two weeks ago I mentioned invasive plants, the longer list of 88 species also includes following that I have regularly seen in our area: coltsfoot, black locust, box elder (Manitoba maple), hawthorn, periwinkle, St Johnswort,Continue reading

The featured trail this week is Redmond Tract which is a Huron County Managed forest area at  38521 Westfield Road, (It is not in the Huron County Hiking Guide.)  There are many intersecting logging roadsContinue reading

One insect in our garden that is probably on our trails but rarely seen is a Katydid. It is part of the grasshopper family. It will tend to hop or jump away but as aContinue reading