The “Mindfulness in Nature” walk on October 29th had a surprise, as it started off with an unexpected bang!  The group had just started to walk slowly, paying attention to the present moment when two Canada geese hunters at the edge of the Maitland River fired at some geese very nearmore…

On October 22nd was a great warm sunny day for hikers and the Bad thing runners.  While hiking on the Hullett trails I saw some cabbage white butterflies and yellow clouded sulphur butterflies enjoying one of the few flowers still in bloom, a spotted knapweed, which unfortunately is an alienmore…

The weekend  of October 15th and 16th was a great  one for hiking with good weather and splendid fall colours, – the best they have been for several years.  It was also a very busy one on the local trails. On Saturday about 30 hikers from Southern Ontario were hikingmore…

Often when I am out on a trail I see something new, even when I have been on the trail many times before.  On a recent hike on the Lobb trail I spotted two birds on the Maitland river which turned out to be Greater yellowlegs- a new species tomore…

On September 24th and 25th, The Maitland Trail Association held the El Camino 2022;   Auburn to the Goderich Beach  along the Maitland River. On the first day, those doing the full 52 km length of the  trail,  park at Ben Miller and are bused to the trail head in Auburn onmore…

Hugh McGregor had nine hikers on the September 10th walk in the Maitland Woods, two of them had recently moved from Brisbane Australia so were very interested in the Huron County plants. On September 15th Kandyce Affleck from Nature Conservancy Canada lead seven of us on a hike on theirmore…

The first time I saw giant puffballs this year was on Sunday September 11th.  When I studied them several years ago I discovered that they approximately doubled in volume every day (the volume of a sphere is 4/3 πr3). E.g. a 6 cm diameter puffball, grew to about 7.6 cmmore…

On Saturday August 21st four of us hiked the Maitland Trail from where the CPR station was located (before it was moved to the new location closer to the shore) to the corner of Salford and Black Hole Road where Jenkins is located. It was a pleasant two hour hike,more…

On Friday August 19th Holly Westbrook lead a group of 16 walkers along the Goderich beach explaining the importance of sand dunes for protection of the shore line.  I found the Dune Planting Guide published by “The Coastal Centre- The Lake Huron Centre for Coastal Conservation”  very interesting and informative.more…