Hiking The Avon Trail: Hike Six

   On Saturday of this past weekend, I decided to return to the Avon Trail and attempt to make up for the previous weekend's somewhat disastrous result, wherein I was overcome with exhaustion and heat and found myself unable to complete the section.
   This time out, I was going it alone and drove up to the start-point by myself---it would be a smaller hike and I had it mapped out in such a way that I could drive to a small section, complete it, then drive on to the next longer section. I would then be left with about a three and a half kilometer trek back to my car.
   I started off by tackling a 3K section just northwest of Berlett's Corners. I parked my car by the end point and then had a fairly short highway jaunt to the beginning of the trail. 
   Once again, as soon as I entered the woods, I was swarmed by mosquitoes. Fortunately I came well-prepared and was already wearing my bug jacket. It was just a short section but near to the end of it I lost the trail. I was following the blazes and then, suddenly, not a blaze to be found. I back-tracked to the last blaze I'd seen and tried all over again but still no blaze. At that point, I had a general idea of what direction I needed to head in and eventually made my way back to the marked trail. No sweat but it didn't do a lot for my mindset!
   After this, a lengthy highway walk and I then found myself with the final section of woods I'd planned on hiking. 
   I then entered Musselman Woods. This is a parcel of land owned by the Musselman and Schneider families and its trails are wide and fairly well-marked. It was quite hilly but still a pleasurable hike. It was here, though, that I ran into some problems.
   As is my usual predicament, I found myself having a hard time marrying the written directions in the guide, the map which comes with them, and what I was actually able to see with my own two eyes. 
   As an example, at one point the guide says you will climb a steep hill, at the top of the hill there will be a bench, with a panoramic view of a lake. Well, I clearly had just gone up a hill, I had popped out of the forest, there was a bench with a panoramic view---but no lake. Had the lake dried up?? Following the map, it looked as though I needed to go right, around the edge of a field (the guide mentioned this) and so I did. And promptly found another bench. And then another. There were benches all over the place! There were also many entrances back into the forest, so I took a couple of them, looking for blazes. None to be found. So back to the original bench. Here I managed to find a tiny little directional blaze, pinned to a post, indicating a left turn. So I took it. Found more blazes but seemed to be headed back in the direction from whence I'd come. 
   At this point, I was, in a way, lost. I did have a trail to follow, just wasn't sure it was taking me where I wanted to go. If all else failed though, it would get me out of the woods.
   A lot of twisting and turning later and I found myself out of the woods and at the base of a fairly steep, grassy hill. I powered up it and, lo and behold, there was the bench with the panoramic view of the lake! Huge sigh of relief and vindication that I was actually on the right path. The view from the bench was amazing and it was kind of a cathartic moment, to be honest. 
   From there, the rest of the forest trip was uneventful and I soon found myself back on the roadway, headed to my car. It was a long walk and my feet were burning but my legs were good so we got 'er done. Never so glad to see my car, though...
   And now, as is customary, a walking-the-walk photo dump!

I've just parked at the end of the first section I
wanted to hike and now for some roadwork to get me...

...down to Berlett's Corners, where they have a....

...small cemetery.

Another little bit of highway walking took me
to where I entered the forest. You can just see the
Avon Trail sign from the road.

I always like the look of a wheatfield up against
the forest. Where those trees start was my entrance
back into the woods, although it took me awhile
to figure that out.

Because I took a pic, I musta known where I was goin'!

Back to my car for a bite to eat and then drive to the
next section. Normally I would have hiked there,
but I already did this part last week.

Walking to the next set of woods.

The entrance to Musselman Woods, Ropes and
barriers so we don't block the laneway.

Nice little sign!

Wide and easily walkable. Hilly, too!

My favourite part of the day! After wandering around,
lost, I found the hill with the bench and the view!

After a quick hike through the rest of the forest,
I reach the endpoint. This is the 91.6 K point of the
Avon Trail. Only about 21K to go!

   

Hiking The Avon Trail: Hike 5 (and a DNF...)

   Yesterday, I celebrated Canada Day by heading up north to tackle another portion of the Avon Trail.
   The plan was to start at Kilometer 68.9 and then eventually make my way to Kilometer 91.2---approximately 22 kilometers. This would have made it one of my longest hikes ever but at this point I only have 44 kilometers left to finish the trail and I really wanted to get it done in two hikes. When you do the math, you end up with two 22K hikes.
   From a mileage standpoint, I wasn't too worried about it. It would only have been my longest hike by a kilometer or two and I've always had enough left in me to walk another kilometer or two.
   The real wildcard yesterday, however, was the weather. We are in the middle of almost record-setting heat and humidity here in southwestern Ontario and yesterday the temp was 33C (91F) with a humidex that raised it closer to 40C (104F). Although I've always fared pretty well in this kind of weather, I was feeling rather unsure as to my ability to cope yesterday. Or even the wisdom of attempting, quite frankly...
   The plan was to have Doralyn follow me in her car to the end point of the hike, where I would drop my car off. She would then drive me back to the starting point. To make it a little more fun for Doralyn, she decided to bring along her friend, Louise.
   My last trip out, I was eaten alive by mosquitoes. To hopefully counter this, I had gone to MEC to inquire about The Best Possible Mosquito Deterrent. I ended up being directed to something called Great Outdoors, by Watkins. The online reviews were, for the most part, positive. On the way out of the store, I also noticed some bug jackets so I picked one up, just in case. Yesterday morning, I lathered myself up with the Great Outdoors before we set out.
   I was about ten yards into the woods, however, when I was swarmed by mosquitoes. They were all around me and I didn't even wait to find out if they were actually biting or not before heading back out to the roadway and digging out the bug jacket. I am pretty sure this was the only thing that allowed me to continue. I was still getting swarmed but they were actually unable to get to me and after awhile I was able to put the constant bzzzz out of my mind.
   The hiking yesterday was rough. In spots, I found myself hiking through waist-high grasses. Occasionally, I had to wander around, trying to find the next visible trail blaze. On top of this, I had my usual problem of marrying the trail directions with what I was actually seeing in front of me. This necessitated stopping many times and digging out the trail map for the third or fourth time for the same section of trail. 
   At some point, I realized I was making very poor mileage. By about the ninth kilometer I was totally exhausted and realized that, at the rate I was going, I might actually be looking at fading daylight toward the end of the hike. I then decided to call it a day, as far as staying on the trail goes. Unfortunately, when your car is the only way home and it's parked at the end of where that day's hike was supposed to be, you still have a lot of hiking ahead of you! 
   I looked at the map and figured out the fastest route back to the car, using the roadways. I then headed out. 
   On a map, the distance you need to travel looks comparatively small...when you are driving a car. Walking in 33C heat when you are already tired to the bone, however, almost makes this unbearable. I had brought along what I thought was plenty of ice water but soon found myself rationing it dearly. Eventually, after an extra six kilometers of hiking, I made it back to the car. I was never so relieved. And never wanted to hike another day in my life! As much as I had a DNF (Did Not Finish) for this hike, the fact of the matter is that I managed to get in fifteen kilometers of hiking on a day when most people were either at the cottage or sitting inside with their air conditioning. Not too shabby!
   So...yet another hiking lesson learned! I now have a clearer parameter around heat, distance and what my aging body is capable of and am already looking at different ways of completing the Avon and any other trail I might attempt after that.
   And now, as is my habit, another photo dump to prove that I walked the walk!

This is what the Great Outdoors by Watkins looks like,
without the little squeeze cap on. It's a little hard to
"shake well" when something is essentially
a solid.

Doralyn and our friend, Louise, dropping me off. Would
have been the best part of ANY hiking trip,
let alone THIS one!

Made it through the first section of mosquito-infested forest!

Very pretty countryside

I seem to run into little places like this all the time on the
Avon. Really makes you wonder about the history!

Made it to the K-W Khaki Club. No idea what they do there
but they DO have horseshoe pitches!

Just past the horseshoe pitches and into the forest again.

Back out into the tall grasses.

Pretty countryside!

A view of the Nith River. After this, heat and exhaustion
took over and no more pics!

Me, at the beginning of the hike. Before the exhaustion...
Compliments of Doralyn. Behind me? Skeeters......