Nature Conservancy Canada suggests people take part in a Scavenger Hunt Photo friendly competition – no prizes just see how many points your team can get.  They suggest a point system for each photo as follows :

–          2 points per conifer species

–           2 points per each type of cone

–           5 points per bird species

–          5 points of different animal tracks

–          20 points per mammal

–          100 points for a bird of prey strike in the snow

–          10 points per any body of water

–          20 points for  physically distanced selfies with any hiker you meet.

–          They suggest you upload your photos to social media and tag@NCC_CNC!

You don’t have to do this on Conservancy properties.  The best known ones in our area are the Morris Tract, The Riverbend Property, the John and Marylo Graham Nature Reserve.  Other local ones are: the Kilgour Tract, the Ashton Potter property, and the Blacker Property.   I was on the Blacker property a couple of years ago when we were pulling up Garlic mustard, I recently noticed that a map with the trails marked on it has been posted at the entrance on Huron Road.     The Ausable Bayfield Conservation Authority recently added a map at the entrance of the Clinton Conservation Area.  I heard about some hikers who were there quite a while ago who did not realize the trails extended to the East side of the Bayfield river (assuming the water was not overflowing the culverts).

One of the hikers from Goderich, when hiking at Point Farms, found a bracelet on the trail.  If the owner contacts me I can put them in touch with the hiker that has the bracelet.

I hiked on the Hullett Sugar Bush trail on Saturday, and saw four small game hunters, three of whom also had hunting dogs.  I was not too surprised, except by the number, and felt fairly safe by staying on the trails.  It made me think about the term “Small Game”, which is a game from the hunter’s point of view, but a matter of life or death from the hunted point of view.  I would love to see a change in Provincial and Federal Parks policies that would forbid hunting in all parks (except for  legitimate animal control), so that hikers etc. would not have to be concerned about being accidentally shot.

On November 30th the Tuesday Trompers hiked on the recently reopened Goderich Boardwalk.  On that day they found most of the boardwalk was covered with very slippery ice.

The Signal Star did not have room for the photos for Trail Talk 197.  To see those photos see the copy of Trail Talk 197 at the Maitland trail Website

Notes:

The Hullett blue trail from the parking lot at 80602 Wildlife line has the broken boards from an unsafe bridge removed, so it is advisable to avoid this trail unless you wear waterproof footwear.

The Falls Reserve trails are closed except for the White and Blue Maitland trails due to septic system work.

The Bayfield Trail is closed until January 1st

Duck hunting season started on September 25th

The section of the Maitland trail from 7.9 km to 10.5 km is closed until the end of the year.

Tuesday Trompers hike for about an hour, contact Al Sanders at allan.sanders@hurontel.on.ca.

Uneven Hikers hike for 1 ½ to 2 hours on Wednesdays or Thursdays, contact Patrick Capper. Both groups meet at 9 a.m.

If you have questions or something of interest for Trail Talk email me Patrick Capper at pcapper99@gmail.com.