TRAIL TALK 396

16 of us started the New Year with a great hike in the Falls Reserve lead by Wendy Hoernig and Faye Ribey.  About six of us had snow shoes and Con Melady had skis.  The hikers without either had a fairly well packed trail to follow. I have noticed there is a big difference in the amount of snow depending on what part of Huron County you are in.  The Northern part probably had the deepest snow, but near Clinton you are likely to come across some deep snow drifts.  

The Boxing Day hike was moved to 9am, due to the forecast of freezing rain for the afternoon.  We only had a little freezing rain during the hike, but found we had to scrape ice off the vehicles and drive cautiously home as the side roads had become slippery.

On January 2^nd there was a good packed trail on Naftel’s main trails and no sign of deep drifts, but a few days earlier when I went on the Front Road trail snowshoes were necessary.

In 2025 the Tuesday Trompers had 52 hikes which were attended by 77 hikers.  The average attendance was 16 with a range of 5 to a maximum of 26.   The midweek hikers had 100 hikes attended by 38 hikers and averaged 8 hikers with a maximum of 15 and a low of 2.

The LIFE hikers, organized through One Care, restarted the Friday hikes for Strollers and Striders starting in March.

2025 saw the extension of the Maitland Trail southwards from Bishop’s road to just North of Fern Hurst Glen road, which added another 2 km to the length of trail, which now is approximately 54 km. The Menesetung bridge was closed for repairs from April through to December 10^th which meant that the September Maitland Camino event attended by 297 hikers had the second day start at Mill road North of Goderich and both days ended at the Benmiller Hall. Due to special landowner permission the total distance for those who chose to hike the full trail was closer to 50 km rather than 54km.

The Volunteer Trail maintenance crews were kept busy with many windfalls during the year and the chain saw were also busy cutting down the invasive European Buckthorn in the Maitland woods and Sifto Loop region where  some native trees, shrubs and flowers have been planted in the spaces created by the buckthorn removal.

The Maitland Trail landowners have continued to be very supportive of the trail, including a couple of new landowners, their contribution was recognized by the Maitland Trail association board hosting a breakfast for the landowners.

I am not fully aware of all the Bayfield River Valley Trail Association work, but I know they had a large turnout off 44 people for a Canada Day hike to the Bayfield River Flats, where extensive work has been done to improve access and install a kayak /canoe launching facility.

I keep track of my hikes lasting 30 minutes or more. I had 628 in 2025, nearly all within Huron County. As I live in Clinton, I most often hike fairly close to home. My most popular trails were at the Hullett Sugar Bush (150), Front Road (115), Sharpes Creek Line East on the Maitland Trail, (57), Clinton Conservation Area (50) and Bannockburn Tract (31).  When I lived in Goderich my most popular trails were the Millennium, Maitland woods and the GART/Sifto trails.

I continued to take part in the BIMBY (Butterflies in my back yard) project taking 2790 butterfly photographs of 50 species. This is about the same number as in 2024 but included a couple of new species to me and a noted drop in the number of Red Admirals. In Canada Monarchs were the second most commonly reported ( 2^nd only to Cabbage Whites, but they are very significantly down in number from a decade ago.

Notes: 

Saturday January  10^th 9a.m. Hike the Hullett Sugar Bush trails with Susan Ethelston. 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.

Saturday January  10^th 11a.m. Join the BRVTA for a hike along the Mavis (2.5 km) or Taylor trail (1 km) at 11:00 a.m. will be followed by a chili lunch at the Stanley Complex and Community Centre

Saturday January  17^th 1 p.m. Hike the Maitland Trail West of Sharpes Creek Line for about 1 ½ hours. For more information and to confirm your attendance, please contact Patrick Capper at pcapper99@gmail.com. This is a Level 2, moderate to brisk paced hike - some uneven surfaces.

Saturday January  18^th 10a.m Hike or snowshoe the Naftel’s Creek Conservation Area trails for a bout 1 hour.

For more information and to confirm your attendance, please contact Sally Brodie at 226 378-1648.  This is a level 1 moderate pace hike/snowshoe .

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.