So the long weekend went well (and I suppose it’s still going well, soon will be off to do a bit more Nissan shopping). Without the ability to get a campground at the last minute Mike and I decided the weekend would be spent hiking the local trails, and I was to introduce him to Geocaching. And so we did!
Saturday we got a late start but headed over to the smaller of the nearby trails, the Humber River Trail within the conservation area in and around the Islington/Major Mac area of Kleinburg. To our surprise it was not only a great little natural escape in the midst of the city, but we tracked down eight Geocaches within the small forested area, most of them relatively easy pickings from the main trails. The hike itself was a gentle, wide-trailed one that didn’t require a ton of energy exertion. On the way back we hit a bonus cache whose stats we’d picked out one of the others, and a second in Kleinburg’s old train house, now located alongside the school on Islington. Mike found that one, a small tin with magnets attached to a black light on the outside wall! After a quick sub dinner and some pops we got tired and crashed for a busy Sunday.
Sunday we took our sweet time getting up, loading up on energy snacks and water, packing our stuff, and finally heading to the trailhead for the Humber Valley Heritage Trail right here in Bolton. This is a 25km trail that stretches from H50 and Columbia Way straight up into the Albion Hills Conservation Area, with a few access points along the way (Edelweiss, Duffy’s Lane, and Castlederg were the ones we passed). This trail would prove significantly more of a challenge than Saturday’s – much thinner, a lot more bushwhacking, and constant changes in elevation. We were in and out of the sun, but perhaps the coolest thing of all was how different each section of this trail could look. At one point it appeared we were on the set for ‘Lost’, then ‘Jurassic Park’, and so it went. Such a varied trail!
Two of the “must-have” Geocaches for me were Bella’s Bounty and Hey I Like Your “Stile”, both of whom were amongst the five we managed to knock off as we ventured 8km in and the same 8km back out. With the day escaping us and having taken so much time to relax, seek out the caches, and even pause for lunch we figured we’d end it at Castlederg and walk back. Oddly enough it was about 4x longer in than out! Last night it was some high-protein turkey burgers with pancetta and sharp cheddar for dinner alongside a couple more pops.
So today the adventure ends – perhaps a couple caches as I drop Mike back off. I have to say, though, the trail-hiking bug has bitten, can’t wait to get back out!