How well do you know the Huron County Trails? Which trail are these on? Last week’s photo was of a decorative bird house (probably not used) on the Mavis Trail. If you did not recognizeContinue reading

How well do you know the Huron County Trails? Which trail is this little bird house on? Last week’s photo was of the bird feeder on the Lobb trail.  It is on the Upper TrailContinue reading

Which trail is this bird feeder on?   I am sure many walkers are familiar with this feeder and stop to watch chickadees and other birds that are often there. Last week’s photo was of aContinue reading

Last week’s photo was on the Clinton Conservation area trail of a disc golf target. According to Wikipedia,” Disc golf is a flying disc sport in which players throw a disc at a target; it is played using rulesContinue reading

With the lack of group hikes I have decided to start showing one picture a week taken along a trail and seeing how well readers know the Huron Country trails. I will explain where theContinue reading

On January 9th many of the local trails have become icy.  One hiker broke a leg on the Bannockburn trail causing an advisory of not going on that trail.  On Monday the Mavis trail hadContinue reading

What a difference a day or a few hours can make.  On Saturday January 2nd on my morning walk on the Hullett Sugar Bush trail the trees were bedecked with snow and the scene wasContinue reading

This is the time to review the past year.  I have pleasant memories of all the significant trail improvements made during 2020.  The biggest improvement has been on the G2G (Goderich to Guelph) trail whichContinue reading

According to the Globe and Mail people often had permission to walk their dogs even under the strictest lockdowns.  There were reports of European owners renting out their dogs, and a Spanish man walking aContinue reading

When I hiked the Front Road trail on Sunday,  I noticed that the Bayfield river was well up and nearly reaching the little bench.  I recalled that I had taken a photo at that locationContinue reading

On Sunday afternoon I bicycled on the G2G from Ariss to Guelph.  On the 5km trail from Ariss to the Silvercreek Road kiosk I met 40 walkers and five cyclists.   I then drove to RiversideContinue reading

On Saturday afternoon I bicycled on the G2G from Elmira to Ariss.  The trail was being well used despite the cool day with about 30 walkers out and about half that number of dogs andContinue reading

On Friday Thyra was hiking on the G2G near Monkton and saw a garter snake on the trail, this may be one of the last sightings of a garter snake this year, as it isContinue reading

I was happy to be able to get back on the Maitland Trail on Monday Nov 9th after the closure for hunting.  I hiked the part at the Auburn end and was glad to findContinue reading

We had an early taste of winter on Sunday and Monday  (Nov 1st and 2nd) with some snow and strong winds. I am not sure of the damage on the Maitland trail which is closedContinue reading

The Taylor and Mavis trails are so much better than when I first hiked the Varna trails in 2006.  At that time the trails were listed as Municipality of Bluewater trail – the Front trailContinue reading

Five of us enjoyed the hike at Hullett on Sunday October 18th, there was the occasional drizzle but not enough to get us more than a little damp. On my Monday hike at Lobb’s  IContinue reading

We had an interesting visitor at lunch when eating outside, it was a Western Conifer Seed Bug.  It was crawling up our patio umbrella pole. These Seed bugs are plant eaters and used to beContinue reading

The yellow jackets in our garden were very interesting. They made a nest under a large flower pot and could be seen regularly going in and out of a hole at its edge. Thyra tippedContinue reading

The past week has been an insect week. I saw a Hickory Tussock moth caterpillar on the grass on the Woodlands Nature trail, a Giant Leopard moth caterpillar (a totally black caterpillar) on the FrontContinue reading

The first photo is of a Fisherman at the Falls Reserve on September 20th, not the very low water level On the September 19th and 20th I hiked the whole Maitland Trail. Conditions were excellentContinue reading

I love this time of year for hiking, few if any bugs to bother you, no problem with heat stress, lots of interesting fall flowers to see and some lovely colours as the leaves turnContinue reading

September 1st was  day one of my virtual Maitland Camino.  To see details of the virtual DIY Camino(Sept 1-27th ) at  https://www.maitlandtrail.ca/mta-el-camino/, if you sign up the cost is $10 and you may have aContinue reading

September 1st was  day one of my virtual Maitland Camino.  My first hike was therefore with the Tuesday Trompers  at the Hullett Provincial Wildlife Area Sugar Bush trails.  I managed to fill  squares C1 –Continue reading

On August 19th one of our local hikers Susan Ethelston from Benmiller completed hiking the whole G2G trail.  On most sections she hiked on her own, parking the car and hiking a few km andContinue reading

I am taking part in the Do it Yourself (DIY) Maitland Camino. I hope to hike the full Maitland Trail sometime in September. I plan on filling out most of the DIY Camino Bingo cardContinue reading

On our Tuesday Tromp at Wawanosh Valley Conservation Area we found some giant puffballs, they were in two different places, my photo is of two of them among the pine needles. It made me lookContinue reading

I keep on discovering plants, insects etc. that I am unfamiliar with.  Often I find out what they are from a field guide, followed by searching on the internet when necessary.  I don’t have aContinue reading

I have noticed a lot of chicory along the edge of both Stone School road, Bannockburn line and Kitchigami road where it grows with wild carrot ( also known as Queen Anne’s lace).  Chicory hasContinue reading

A wind storm on Sunday July 19th resulted in quite a few trees in our area being blown down.  There was quite a blockage on the front road trail where I have now managed toContinue reading

Last trail talk I mentioned how low the Bayfield river was but before the article went to press there was heavy rain on July 9th and 10th so that on my Friday evening hike theContinue reading

I saw a butterfly  that was very intent on a pile of dung, most of the time it had folded wings but I managed to get a photo with partially open wings.  I could notContinue reading

The work on the GART was stopped when it was realized that the part near the pond was known as a turtle nesting site.   Cristin Watt from Trent University got permission and collected 58 snappingContinue reading

On Thursday June 18th we saw what we believe was a Monarch butterfly the first of the year, and on Saturday at Varna, I saw a monarch that stopped long enough for me to getContinue reading

Two sights while driving to or from a trail have been a fox crossing over highway 21 and a young groundhog crossing over Pinery Line.   This is the time of year that you are mostContinue reading

I went to see the new Huckins Street bridge which is certainly a work of art due to the efforts of  the work crew, a job well done. I have placed some Inukshuks at theContinue reading

First my apologies for misplacing the Bannockburn Tract, it is on Bannockburn Line South of Mill road not North of Mill road. The Maitland Trail work crew have now installed the new bridge in theContinue reading

Nearly all our trails should be open, although washroom facilities will be closed.  The exceptions I am aware of are the GART closure from Hwy 21 to the end near Auburn, for trimming brush.  ThisContinue reading

Let’s hope we have seen the last of the frost this spring.  The cherry trees have been out in blossom, most of the ones I’ve seen have been the Pin cherry,  where the flowers areContinue reading

We enjoyed a brief warm spell on the first weekend in May, which resulted in lots of trilliums blossoming.  On Sunday May 3rd I wanted to see how many spring flowers I could see onContinue reading

This tree was unusual as it joined itself together again to make a D The Friday hike had 18 out despite the cold (-15o C) weather. We hiked the Maitland Trail from Auburn.   At oneContinue reading

On our Friday hike on Feb 7th at Exeter we were rewarded by having a fairly close view of a pair of bald eagles, one flying and one perched on a nearby tree until itContinue reading

On Sunday February 2nd the Maitland trail hike at Hullett had a much smaller turnout than the previous week’s outing, with only two snowshoers and one skier.  Perhaps it was the Super Bowl or theContinue reading

This was an interesting week with Sunday Jan 19th  being the time to dust off the snowshoes and join the snowmobilers. The 13 LIFE hikers ventured out on Friday Jan 17th to hike the SugarContinue reading

Red is a favourite colour in the Christmas season, which made me think about when I have seen that bright red along the trails. My first thoughts were high bush cranberry berries and rose hipsContinue reading

The forecast for the coming winter is for a mild one which may mean that we will have a lot of lake effect snow, which will make hiking easier with skis or snowshoes. I tookContinue reading

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