I joined the Tuesday Trompers on September 3rd at Sheppardton Tract. Although I have not hiked there often, this was the first time I did not see any water (we did not go all the way to Nile Road). There was a nice group of Cardinal flowers by the side of the trail. On our Sunday hike while getting ready to carpool from Cherrydale Road to River Line, we met a jogger leaving the trail who commented on how many cobwebs he had run into. I thanked him for clearing the cobwebs for us. One interesting fungus was Honeydew Eater, up in a beech tree. According to Wikipedia, “Scorias spongiosa is a specialist and grows exclusively on the honeydew formed by colonies of the beech blight aphid, Grylloprociphilus imbricator. This aphid is found only on one host plant, the American beech tree, Fagus grandifolia, where it congregates on branches and twigs, creating copious amounts of honeydew that drip onto vegetation below. The large quantity of honeydew enables this fungus to grow to a large size, and has been known to grow into a mass of hyphae as big as a football, but usually to fifteen centimetres. We also saw the closed bottle gentian on the trail near Bishop’s Road. It is blooming quite a bit earlier this year than previously.
I am still photographing an average of 10 butterflies each day. I managed to get three very good photographs of a single Crescent in different poses. On loading them into iNaturalist, the system suggested two were Pearl Crescents and one was a Northern Crescent. No wonder I can never tell the difference between these two species.
On Wednesday September 4th the Maitland Chain work crew made a rapid response to my report and photograph of a large diameter windfall across the trail at 31.8 km. This sort of detail is very helpful if you ever report a trail problem, so no time is wasted about what tools are needed and where the problem is.
At Foresters Bridge I noticed that the Great Egret was there, I had seen one there last year but had not seen one this year until recently. A few days later the Great Blue Heron was there in the same spot which is now quite shallow with the low water level in the Maitland River.
On Thursday September 5th the One Care LIFE hikers resumed operations with 17 hikers taking part, although only about half had time to enjoy refreshments afterwards at the Betty Cardno Centre. The group decided to hike on Fridays rather than Thursdays, and will keep to 8:30 meeting at the centre, for September, but may then decide to meet at 9 a.m. later in the year.
Notes:
Saturday September 14 10:00 a.m. Morris Tract. Meet at Morris Tract Line (36833, Londesboro Road for this 9 km loop trail. There is an elevation gain of 286m and expect to take about 2.5 hours for this hike. Carpooling is encouraged as parking may be limited. For more information and to confirm your attendance, please contact Sally Brodie by texting 226 378-1648. This is a Level 2, moderate pace, 2.5 hour hike.
Maitland Trail Association’s El Camino on Saturday September 21st and 22nd is sold out.
Upcoming events - details in the Maitland Trail Association Newsletter
Saturday September 28 9:00 -11.30. a.m. Cycle: Menesetung Bridge in Goderich to Maitland River at Auburnand back to Goderich.
Saturday September 28 11:00 a.m.-12:30p.m. Millennium Trail. This is a meditative walk on the Millennium trail
Sunday September 29 9:00-11:00 a.m. Hike a private property near Dublin - 7277 Highway 8.
All participants taking part in the Maitland Trail events should sign the waiver for 2024, preferably the online version.
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
Midweek 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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