Was that a bear ??

Saturday we woke sore from Fridays adventure , my body felt like it had been run over by a fright train , muscles I didn't know existed ached , well more accurate would be , muscles I had not used in years ached , notice a theme ? , canoe not used , muscles not used , hmmmmm .

So this day was going to be sort of a recovery day we decided , which didn't quite work out . 

House choirs came first , a trip to the dump was long overdue , we had replaced the sliding glass patio door last summer and the old one has been laying around since then , an unsightly lawn ornament , and the old BBQ was starting to rust away on the deck so it needed vanquishing also . 

So off we went to the dump, well dumps , the BBQ we took to the one close to us that takes scrap metal at no charge , there my faith in humankind was rekindled as a very kind gentleman seeing that Ev was going to attempt to help me get the BBQ off the truck just slid in and took over for her, and then one of the  attendants helped me carry it up the ramp and dump it into the bin , he didn't have to , there is a big sign saying that patrons are responsible for unloading and attendants will not help , but he did and now I have to re-think my position on humanity , hmmmmm again .

The class door had to go to the garbage dump up in Ravenshoe , no recycling facilities for it ?? 

So by now you are wondering about the bear , you're thinking yah he went to the dump saw a bear,  big deal . 

No, not so.

On the way to the garbage dump we did a small detour and headed to the Sutton-Zephyr Rail Trail to let the pups and us stretch our legs and pick up some caches . I had hiked the trail a couple of months back north of the Black River and today we were doing the section south of the river , can't cross it unfortunately as the bridge is no longer there . 

Beautiful sunny day , temperatures in the mid 20s , nice 2km level trail , what could go wrong ? 

I should have known better as the first cache is called " Reign of the Swamp Thing " but no,  ill prepared once again we ventured in and very soon realized the trail travels mainly through a swamp, home to an astounding amount of mosquitos !!!! 

, and us with no repellant again , oh they descended on us and we got bitten and bitten and bitten , constant swatting didn't really help so we just kept walking trying to stay ahead of them. 

We found the Swamp Thing after a short bushwhack into the swamp ,  very interesting cache ! 

It is quite a nice trail , lots of birds songs could be heard , we tried to spot them as I wanted a picture but the mosquitos made it impossible to linger , the scenery was pretty too and kept changing as we went 

I did manage to stop and get some pictures of the shrubs in bloom 

We spotted a beaver lodge but no beaver ( can't see it in this picture.) 

And successfully found the other two caches along the trail 

Along the side of the trail wild strawberries were blooming 

And then as we came upon the river,  I heard a rustling down by the banks , I thought it was a deer at first as I spotted it's broad brown back but then I realized it wasn't tall enough and I thought it was a coyote , of course by then Montana was in hot pursuit as the animal disappeared into the bush up on the other bank , I missed the picture trying to make sure the pup did not pursue 

In the end we are not sure what it was , not a deer for sure , too wide for a coyote so maybe a bear ?? , I know when I hiked the northern section there is signage warning of the possibility of coming across bears . 

We stayed by the river for a while as the mosquitos were not so bad there, thinking that perhaps one day we might canoe it  

And picked up my only successful wildlife foto of the day 

And so back to the car we went , every now and then a quick look over the shoulder to make sure we were not followed 

Then a quick 10 minute drive to the dump only to wait in line for over 45 minutes as everyone in the region was there also getting rid of their not so loved possessions .

After that it was rush to get home and cut the lawn before heading out again for a BBQ with Lisa and Max 

It was a fun day , but I was pooped by the end of it !!! 

An epic adventure , but not by canoe

When I found out that Ev had this last Friday/Saturday off I arranged for the same days off and we planed on getting the old canoe out of the garage where it has lived untouched for the last three years and heading up to Algonquin Park , after all the long term forecast was for two warm sunny days in a row . 

Ahh , rain and thunderstorms instead : (

So plan B was hatched thursday night , Ev had grown up in the Forks of the Credit area so we took a drive down memory lane driving the back roads while she would reminisce as we would pass by all her old haunts, a very pleasant drive ! 

Our destination was the Silver Creek Conservation Area,  the largest of the 10 Conservation Areas managed by the CVC ( Credit Valley Conservation ) , I had researched the Geocache map and saw there was a group of 8 caches with descriptions like " getting to the cache is very tricky " or "dare to retrieve it from it's belly " , needless to say I was hooked . 

The Bruce Trail is the main trail that runs along the Conservation Area with a five other side trail , we without a map took one quick look at the signage and headed out on the Irwin Quarry side trail , after all a cache with the name Irwin Quarry Cache just had to be on that trail and from there we would wing it . 

Very soon it became apparent that once again we were just a little ill prepared for the hike as about 5 minutes in we were savagely assaulted by a horde of ravenous black flies that stayed with us for the entire day !! and us with no repellent . 

The cache as the name implies is on the site of an old abandoned quarry and the instructions were for 60 meters of up hill bushwhacking , up hill in an old quarry would have been challenging enough but add to that an amazing amount of downed trees and branches left over from this winters ice storm and you have some stimulating bushwhacking ! especially considering the weather was warming and we forgot to bring water or snacks , although we did have a small Gatorade bottle . We had planned to stop and get water but got lost in the reminiscing and just forgot and the snacks were left in the truck. 

The find made up for it all !!!!

 .

Crawling under huge rocks into caves looking for the elusive cache

Finally !!! 

Enjoying sitting and signing the log book , the GPS was bouncing around a bit because of the rock face so it took a while before we figured out it's location and by then I was sweating like a pig which attracted even more black flies 

So very pleased we went on in search for more , the trail itself proving to be a challenge of it's own at times 

The Trillium were every where but a bit past there prime already, but this one was perfect ! 

 The trails weren't always rugged at times they were quite civilized especially when hiking up high .

The forest would then have a high canopy 

And pretty wildflower could be found along the way 

And some interesting greenery

But it wouldn't last long and down we go again

This being part of the Bruce Trail the oldest marked hiking trail in Canada  

To the next find 

Or in this case a "did not find" even after an extensive 45 minute search  

But not to be discouraged on we went , more bushwhacking 

Down into nocks and crevasses 

Along the way remnants from a time long gone by 

Again down the side of a slippery cliff we go , under and over downed trees 

To find this fellow who caught me off guard scaring the life out of me and almost sending me down the hill , 

one of the best caches I have come across !!! 

Part of the reason for the fright is that we had actually come across this friendly Garter snake not to long before .

After a rewarding find there was the long crawl up the hill 

On we went discovering  little gems like this along the way

One of the creatures of the forest , a very well camouflaged toad 

The most visible wildlife were the chipmunks , their chirps driving the dogs mad 

All in all we found 6 of the 8 caches I had marked down , one was a DNF and the other somehow we neglected to search for , probably being distracted by the black flies that made stopping and organizing oneself an unattainable  luxury 

Big boulder on the hill was our last one 

And finally we were done and heading down and out , altogether we spent nearly five hours climbing up and down cliffs , crawling under and over boulders , slipping and sliding bushwalking around many many fallen trees , and got bitten by a million hungry black flies , collected 6 caches and did not find one and had one hell of a great time !!!

And then we topped off the day with a most amazing dinner at the Terra Cotta Inn 

Belly of the Beast

It caught my eye and peeked my curiosity , a cache with a name like that must be worth visiting , and it was the main reason for our trip out to Everton to the banks of the Eramosa Creek . 

To the eye we had arrived to a tranquil serene landscape , to the ear the roar of surging water told a different story.

No signs indicating if there were trails or scenic points of interest except for this one , so we parked on the side of the road/dam . The beautiful lake stretched out to the east and as it meet the dam it cascaded down the spillway to the creek on the west side where I knew was hidden the Belly of the Beast . 

But before heading to our encounter with the beast Ev spotted mom and dad goose out for a swim with there very young goslings .

There is no marked trail here , I knew that the cache was on the north side of the river so we ventured that way until  we found a worn path that took us back towards the roaring creek and we entered an enchanting wonderland.

The creek weaves its way through the limestone rock , gorges and potholes abound formed during a period long ago by glacier movements 

These glacial potholes are everywhere , more the 150 can be found along the creek 

The route I took to the cache brought me to this gorge with it's cedar root bridge and way at the cool bottom the last vestiges of winter could be found : ice !! 

Hidden in one of the potholes we found the Belly of the Beast

A spectacular few from the cache

We were so mesmerized by this place that we lingered for well over a half hour exploring all the nooks and crannies and taking way to many pictures 

Brinx looking over the creek 

The old abandoned Mill stands on the other side of the creek 

On this side of the creek the ruins of an old stone Grist Mill lay buried in the undergrowth 

The pups loved investigating the ruins 

Tree roots exposed gripping the rock searching for substance in a struggle for survival .

As far as I can tell from the limited information I could find online this forest is called the Everton Scout Forest and is part of the longest continuous cedar forest in Ontario 

The creek widens and calms after these last rapids

  

Finally we tore ourselves away and crossed over to the other side looking for a way around the old mill to the next cache , at the feet of the Mill we found this carpet of yellow flowers 

Hartop Mill was constructed in 1865 . 

Both mills were build around the same time and in 1874 were purchased by Henry Hortop Jr , one was a sawmill and the other produced flower that was exported around the world by the name Lily White Flower 

In 1966 the Mill was purchased by the Grand River Conservation Authority  

 The banks climbed as we went along, trees precariously hanging to the cliffs 

 The Eramosa river flows southwards through Guelph joining the Speed River which then enters the Grand River , it's headwaters are found in the northeast of Eirn Township

 A bit of climbing was required as we searched for Candlelight Cache our goal in the area

 A beautiful view from the lookout on our way back from our second successful find

After Candlelight we headed back to the Dam and headed out on the opposite side for a short hike to pick up Ridgerunner's Individual Multi-Cache-Main Stage . Along the way we ran into this lean-to teepee style shelter .

Even though the temperature barely reached 11 degrees and the clouds kept hiding the sun we had a extremely enjoyable day !