The Lobb trail is now closed to the public. This lovely trail will be missed by many hikers, dog walkers and skiers.
We have continued to have very mild weather at the end of 2023, with no need for snowshoes or icers, just rain gear. As often seems to happen, fear of rain kept many hikers away on Wednesday Dec 27th, however the few who hiked at the Woodlands Nature trail and the Front road trail only had a light occasional drizzle with some heavier rain just as we finished hiking the Front road trail. We met a bird watcher at the parking area, he was doing his Christmas bird count. We had not seen or heard any birds on that trail but while starting out on the Nature trail, we saw many flocks of Canada Geese. Most were heading eastwards, but some were heading more westerly. I have seen quite a few Golden Eyes and some Mergansers taking advantage of the ice free Maitland river. The mild weather has also resulted in some mushrooms emerging.
On December 21st we hiked the Bayfield Woodland Trail. The Bayfield River Valley Trail Association has made a welcome addition to the trail with the addition of some maps showing the distance between the junctions. Parts of the trail were a bit muddy so we did not hike the Zavitz section. As is common on our trails we came across a couple of windfalls, luckily easily stepped over and ducked under.
Best wishes for great hiking experiences in 2024
Notes:
Sunday January 7th 1 pm Hullet Sugar Bush. Meet at 80602 Wildlife Line and hike or snowshoe the Hullett Sugar bush for 1 ½ to 2 hours depending on conditions. For more information and to confirm your attendance, please contact Patrick Capper at pcapper99@gmail.com. This is a Level 1, moderate pace, 1 ½-2 hours.
Sunday January 14th 9 am Meet at the end of the Maitland Trail at Auburn by the bridge. We will be either hiking or snowshoeing depending on the weather and doing a loop back to the bridge. For more information and to confirm your attendance, please contact Paula Deering at paula_deering@ hotmail.com or George Cantin at streamsideinc@gmail.com. This is a Level 1, moderately paced hike, 2 hours.
Sunday January 14th 11 am (note change of date) join the BRVTA hike at Varna followed by a lunch. This is a good time to renew your Bayfield Trail membership, Individual $20, Family $30
Note that the other hike scheduled at 10am on the 21st at Lobbs has been cancelled.
All participants taking part in the Maitland Trail events should sign the waiver for 2024, preferably the online version.
Ducks hunting continues to Jan 8th
Tuesday Trompers meet at 9 a.m. on Tuesday to hike for about an hour. If you wish to be on this email list, send an email to mta@maitlandtrail.ca
Uneven Hikers hike for 1 ½ to 2 hours on Wednesdays or Thursdays, contact Patrick Capper.
Both groups meet at 9 a.m. and are open to non-members provided they sign the MTA On-line waiver.
If you have questions or something of interest for Trail Talk email me Patrick Capper at pcapper99@gmail.com.
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