Hiking The Grand Valley Trails: Hike Four-Land Of The Lost

   Yesterday, I completed my fourth hike in my quest to finish my end-to-end of the Grand Valley Trails system. It was not fun.

A tree with a blaze
on what actually
looked like a trail,
I don't usually take
pics like this but
this seemed so mi-
raculous that I couldn't
help myself lol

Start of the trail

   I once again followed the routine of driving to where I wanted to end up and then calling a cab to drive me to where I wanted to start from. Once again, I had a hard time finding a taxi company that actually had drivers available so I found myself bouncing back and forth from one company to another. Eventually, though (after an hour's wait) I was picked up by one of them and arrived at my drop-off spot. This is where the fun began. I found where I was supposed to enter the trail and knew that I had to walk along the side of a field,  til I got to the corner, at which point I would dip into the forest. At what appeared to be the corner of the field, I was unable to find any blaze taking me into the forest. I still entered the forest but was unable to find blazes. I had an approximate idea of which direction I need to hike in so I headed that way but found no blazes. I knew from the map that there were a

Out of the forest, thankfully, and
arriving at the Ruthven Park
National Historic Site. 

couple of creeks which I could follow to get back to the highway and when I did that, I found a blaze! And then another one! Woo hoo! And then they disappeared again. Once again, I just tried to make my way out to the highway. Eventually, I did this, but not without a bunch of bush-whacking first. 
   At that point, the hiking became a lot more enjoyable and I found myself in places wherein I easily knew my way. Walked right past a ghost town and a haunted (they say) mansion! Shortly after this, though, I came across a wide open field, probably about 250 yards long and 100 yards wide. Smack dab in the middle of this field was one huge tree with a blaze on it. And no other blazes to be found. I walked to the far end of the field, hoping for blazes and couldn't see any. Clambered up a steep, overgrown slope to a highway guardrail, climbed under it, and then hiked the highway for a bit.
   

Loved the wide open trails at
Ruthven Park.

I made a left-hand turn at a road called Grand Sports Road. This was clearly marked and there were a couple of blazes along the way, indicating I was headed in the right direction. This road, however, came to a dead end. At that point I was unable to find anymore blazes or even anything that looked like a path I could (or should) follow. So I walked back to the highway. This eventually took me to a little town called York and, shortly after, I found myself on the Rotary Riverside Trail. Some of this overlapped with the Great Canadian Trail and this part of the hike was amazing. A small part of it passed through a suburban area but the rest was wide, easy trail right along the river. After seven

Nets used to capture birds and
then band them, still at Ruthven.

kilometers of this, I was back at my car and exhausted.
   On the map, what I hiked yesterday should have been seventeen kilometers. My livetracking with my watch and phone indicated I had actually walked nineteen, what with all the backtracking and, you know, being lost and all!
   Today, 24 hours removed from the experience, I'm still thinking I will continue my journey. Yesterday about this time, I wasn't so sure. Part of me wants to contact the Trail association and complain about the blazes and confusing written directions. Another part of me is cognizant of the fact that the trail is maintained almost entirely by volunteers. Yet another part of me realizes that maybe it's just me, maybe I just can't see those blazes or know where to look for them. What I do know is that marrying written directions to a map can sometimes be a very subjective kind

Thompson family cemetery.
Thompson was the first person
to settle this part of Ontario and
became wealthy with the river
shipping industry. Other people
moved here and a small town
was formed, called "Indiana"

of thing that's hard to do at the same time you're actually on the trail and also hot, confused and very tired. 

The Thompson Mansion. It is said to be haunted
by the ghost of Thompson's 11 year old daughter,
who died of an illness. Tours are currently
conducted there and people claim to have seen
the apparition of a young girl, sitting on
the top step of one of the staircases there.

   So my plan is to go back and do more of the trail. At the same time, I also plan to drive to parts of the trail where I got confused and take a second look at them with a clearer mind and more time. If, at that point, things suddenly become clear, I will let you all know!


   

   

The pillars which used to support the iron gate to the
mansion's driveway.

Interesting historical plaque

The afore-mentioned tree in the middle of the field
with no other blazes to be found!

On the Rotary Riverside Trail

Geese in the Grand! Just standing!

More of the Rotary Riverside Trail, overlapping with
the Great Canadian Trail

Hiking The Grand Valley Trails: Hike Three-Thru Cayuga and Beyond to 40.5

   A couple of days ago, I managed to get back out on the Grand Valley Trail and lop off another 15K trek.
   The last time I'd hiked was back at the beginning of July and so much had gone on in the interval that it just seemed as though there were no really good opportunities to get out there again. We're currently on two weeks of holidays, though, so it seemed like a good time....
   I drove to where I wanted the hike to end up and then called a cab to take me back to where I had finished my previous hike, just a little west of Dunnville. I called the same cab company I had used the first two trips but they were busy and referred me to another company. They were also busy and referred me to yet another company and they (you guessed it) were also busy! I finally got back to the first company and they were able to arrange for someone to come and get me. Had a nice, meandering ride back while the cabbie filled me in on all the trials and tribulations of his life. He probably over-shared a little but I was happy enough to lend an ear and he ended up saying that he was glad to have picked me up and wished me well on all my hiking adventures.
   I have been on a stretch of the trail which has involved mostly highway and urban walking and this week was no different. The temp was nice, about 24C(75F), partly cloudy skies but still quite a lot of sun, and a light breeze---pretty well perfect hiking weather for me.
   About a kilometer and a half into my highway walk, I was passing this house with a huge yard and all of a sudden a large black dog came bounding across the lawn towards me, completely un-tethered. I was prepared for a friendly meet-and-greet but, no, this dog was having none of that. It ran right up to me, barking, growling and bearing its teeth. I basically froze, not offering any chunks of me for it to bite off. After a minute or so, this middle-aged woman appeared in the driveway, trying to call the dog off. Doggie was having none of that. A man then appeared at the front door and yelled at the dog. This got a little of the dog's attention and you could see that it was torn between pestering me or heeding its master's call. The guy suggested I just keep on walking but the dog remained right on my heels and it's kinda hard to walk backwards. Finally the dog gave up on having me for lunch and headed back across the lawn. Whew!
   Everything after that was uneventful and I eventually found myself crossing the Grand River and into Cayuga. I've driven through Cayuga a handful of times but never stopped or strayed from the highway. It's actually quite a pretty little town and I had the opportunity to make my way past some of the more historic parts of it. Once out of Cayuga, it was just a short hike back to where I had parked the car and then home! Felt so good to get back out there again! Here are some pics from my journey today! (no pics of the dog...grrr) 

Start of the hike---before the dog!

Some nice houses on this road!

Pretty 

Apart from "dead", anybody know what
kind of snake this is. Corn? Rat?

Rolling countryside

There was a turtle sunning itself on one of
the branches in the water but was gone
by the time I could get my phone out.

Did I mention the nice houses...?

Across the bridge and into Cayuga.

Past an old church.

Nice to know I was on track! On the grounds of the
Haldimand County Museum and Archives. Notice
the old log cabin at the back.

Wall of the old jail.

Pas the high school, the OPP detachment
and on to where I'd left my car.

Townline Road East scenery.

And around that curve up there....

...was my car!