On hiking ...
Apr. 26th, 2010 02:57 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
sinjunSo ...
This weekend marked the start of a grand adventure.
I got up early on Saturday, and drove for two hours to get to Queenston Heights, which is down by Niagara on the Lake and even close to the US border (heck we could see the border for some time, while we were there.) The day was absolutely beautiful - great weather for sure. I couldn't complain about that. We took a wander by the monument to General Brock and the really neat little memoriam to the Warriors and Veterans put there by the First Nations folk. It was sort of boggling to see that it had been there for 5 years - since the wooden frame and all doesn't really look like something permanent.
I don't even want to talk about the washrooms.
And then we went back over to the nice stone marker for the Southern Terminus of the Bruce Trail, took pictures, marked the starting location on the GPS, and started our hike by locating the first white blaze on a tree and heading that way.
We had a lovely fun discussion about obstacles we might run into and whether we should go over them, under them, around them, or through them.
The trail started out "cushy" as per Ansalon. We were making good time for about the first 5 km, and all was looking very promising. Of course, then we hit the first hill with stairs. that should have been a clue. But blithely, we continued along our intrepid adventure, laughing, talking, and otherwise enjoying ourselves. Until we reached the big Switchback hill. This was a daunting moment, at least until the switchbacks were identified and we realized that rolling down the hill asp over teakettle was not required. (Kerthunk. Ow. Whew!)
Of course, the tree that was down blocking a fair chunk of the next down hill ... with the wooden planks to make stairs ... that was even more daunting. (Even the dog wasn't entirely sure about that one.) (Just saying.)
Granted, we all made it, in one piece, no injuries, so it wasn't as bad as it looked, but there was definitely a moment of omg! Wtf have we gotten ourselves into.
I have definitely missed fun moments such as this.
Eventually we made it to our exit point at Firemens' Park, got the cars, and our lunch. The kids got to play in the playground, while the rest of us relaxed and pondered our next steps. We had thought of continuing the walk, but decided in the interests of sanity to let the next set of walking wait for another weekend. Instead, we went to the stoney creek dairy for ice cream. And fish and chips next door for dinner. And then the temperature dropped obnoxiously and we all ran home. Or in my case, drove the 1.5 hours back home to my snug little house and the four foots.
All in all, a good time, and I'm definitely looking forward to the next installment.
This weekend marked the start of a grand adventure.
I got up early on Saturday, and drove for two hours to get to Queenston Heights, which is down by Niagara on the Lake and even close to the US border (heck we could see the border for some time, while we were there.) The day was absolutely beautiful - great weather for sure. I couldn't complain about that. We took a wander by the monument to General Brock and the really neat little memoriam to the Warriors and Veterans put there by the First Nations folk. It was sort of boggling to see that it had been there for 5 years - since the wooden frame and all doesn't really look like something permanent.
I don't even want to talk about the washrooms.
And then we went back over to the nice stone marker for the Southern Terminus of the Bruce Trail, took pictures, marked the starting location on the GPS, and started our hike by locating the first white blaze on a tree and heading that way.
We had a lovely fun discussion about obstacles we might run into and whether we should go over them, under them, around them, or through them.
The trail started out "cushy" as per Ansalon. We were making good time for about the first 5 km, and all was looking very promising. Of course, then we hit the first hill with stairs. that should have been a clue. But blithely, we continued along our intrepid adventure, laughing, talking, and otherwise enjoying ourselves. Until we reached the big Switchback hill. This was a daunting moment, at least until the switchbacks were identified and we realized that rolling down the hill asp over teakettle was not required. (Kerthunk. Ow. Whew!)
Of course, the tree that was down blocking a fair chunk of the next down hill ... with the wooden planks to make stairs ... that was even more daunting. (Even the dog wasn't entirely sure about that one.) (Just saying.)
Granted, we all made it, in one piece, no injuries, so it wasn't as bad as it looked, but there was definitely a moment of omg! Wtf have we gotten ourselves into.
I have definitely missed fun moments such as this.
Eventually we made it to our exit point at Firemens' Park, got the cars, and our lunch. The kids got to play in the playground, while the rest of us relaxed and pondered our next steps. We had thought of continuing the walk, but decided in the interests of sanity to let the next set of walking wait for another weekend. Instead, we went to the stoney creek dairy for ice cream. And fish and chips next door for dinner. And then the temperature dropped obnoxiously and we all ran home. Or in my case, drove the 1.5 hours back home to my snug little house and the four foots.
All in all, a good time, and I'm definitely looking forward to the next installment.
