TRAIL TALK 393

One of our original Maitland trail Landowners, Glen Carey died recently.  The Maitland trail passes through his property from 22.7 km to 24.9 km.  He was a lover of trees, and at the Goderich Celtic Festival for many years he read an ode to the trees at the closing ceremonies.  This love of trees and shrubs meant that he only permitted a minimal amount of pruning on his section of the trail.  He also has protected the Carey property with a conservation agreement with the Escarpment Biosphere Conservancy.  You may have noticed when driving along Sharpes Creek Line that his property boundary had “No Spraying” notices, as he was against the use of herbicides.

The recent high winds have resulted in windfalls on most of the local hiking trails.  The Maitland Woods suffered at least nine windfalls which kept the volunteer Maitland Trail chain saw crews very busy on Tuesday December 2^nd. Not satisfied with that amount of work, they headed off to the Millennium Trail to tackle the windfalls there.

As mentioned last week the number of listed trails in Huron County in the 2024 addition is 43, of which only the Bayfield Heritage trail is an urban walk. This list does not include the John Goldie Reserve near Benmiller, which is popular with skiers when conditions permit, nor does it include the Ausable Bayfield Conservation Authority Trail at Front road (just East of Clinton) which, being close to where I live, I have hiked over 100 times this year.  It, like quite a few of the listed trails, is fairly short taking about half an hour to hike. If you add these two trails, as well as the Woodlands Arboretum Trail, the Hay Swamp, the Maple Keys Sugar Bush, the Linfield Wildlife Area, it means that there are 49 trails to enjoy. This is really an underestimation, as the Maitland Trail itself can be split into at least ten different sections.  There are also a few Forest Tracts such as the Rogers Tract that have not yet been listed until some improvements are made, and there is also at least one other NCC property (the Blokker property) that has a hiking trail. 

The biggest changes to these trails, other than the Maitland Trail, has been the extension of the old GART to become part of the much longer G2G trail that goes to Guelph.   The Bayfield Woodland Trail has seen significant changes, with the loss of part of the East end of the trail, but a gain of the Zavitz section.

Another significant change has been the Varna Nature Trails, with an improved surface on the Taylor trail and the reroute of the Mavis trail, which originally had a tricky creek crossing and was so close to the landfill site that garbage was often blown onto the trail.  The new route has the magnificent 65 Scott Robeson bridge installed by David Peever with the help of  the Bayfield River Valley Trail Association volunteer work crew.

I really appreciate that many of the trails now have a map at the entrance, and often other ones at intersections, which makes it much less likely to become lost.  If you are tired, or just want to sit and enjoy being in nature, there have been many benches added along many of the trails.

Most of these trails are quite accessible in winter (apart from the two weeks of deer gun hunting), however I have found that the parts of the Maitland Trail that include steps, result in quite a challenge in winter when there has been a significant snowfall.

On a hike on December 2^nd on the Front road trail I was surprised to see some Canada Geese on the river.  I often see them on the Maitland River, or at the mouth of the Bayfield River, but can’t remember seeing them near this bench previously. (you have to magnify my photo to see one of them in the mist)

The Menesetung bridge across the Maitland River at Goderich is closed to pedestrians and cyclist until December, with a probable opening on Saturday December 13^th.

Saturday December 20^th 9 am.  Hike the Maitland Trail and the Robertson Tract trails for about 1 ½ hours. . For more information and to confirm your attendance, please contact Susan Ethelston at susan.ethelston@gmail.com. This is a Level 1, moderate to brisk paced hike - some uneven surfaces.

Friday December 26^th 1 pm, Hike or snowshoe the Hullett Sugar Bush Trails fro about 1 1 /2 hours. Meet at 80602 wildlife Line. For more information and to confirm your attendance, please contact Patrick at pcapper99@gmail.com

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 meet at 9 a.m. and hike for 1 ½ to 2 hours on Wednesdays and Thursdays. Contact Patrick Capper at pcapper99@gmail.com

LIFE hikers meet every Friday for a hike of about 1 1 /2 hours, with a choice of of pace, striders moving a little faster than te strollers.  The hikes now start at 9a.m. and can be joined through One Care.