Hiking in the Nottawasaga Bluffs Conservation Area

Eleven years ago this past Saturday Evelyn and I got married , we held the festivities at the Farm where we lived, we rented a large tent invited our friends and family and under a couple of large pine trees we said our " I do's " , we eat and danced and drank a bit too, all what a typical wedding should be with a couple of small distractions, it just happened to be  Belmont day and Funny Cide was attempting to win the Triple Crown, similarly to California Crome this past Saturday . 

So a television was set up in the office for those that had to watch and with us being in the thoroughbred community there were quite a few packed into that office to watch the valiant yet unsuccessful attempt . Later in the day , much later ( around 11 PM ) another distraction when the old matron Ali, the one holdout broodmare decided that it would be a good night to finally have her baby , so up to the barn a few of us went to see that all went well which it did , we nicknamed the new foal 
" I do " 

For our honeymoon the next day we were off to Algonquin Park, we did some hiking and canoeing, we went  moose spotting along the road in the evenings and we fought off an amazing horde of black flies that would fill the car every time I rolled down the window to take a picture .

This past saturday to celebrate our anniversary we went hiking up to The Nottawasaga Bluffs Conservation Area, my research had shown there were some spectacular sites , caves , crevasses , lookouts and of course caches . 
After a long but very pleasant drive through some lovely farm land we arrived at the parking lot , with a map , water , snacks , flashlights and repellent !!!, we are learning : ) 

It was a beautiful sunny day for a change and we set off on the Ian Lang Memorial Trail to do a 4 km hike and search out a few geocaches , the trail started out nice and flat , pines first then into a lovely deciduous forest 

Many interpretive signs along the way explaining all the relevant details , here is part of a very large billboard with a summary of what fauna and flora can be found in the Conservation Area 

We found this unattended abandoned smouldering campfire in the camping area we passed , a good thing the forest is not dry !!. 

And then the sign we were looking for " Keyhole Side Trail " , at the time I did not realize we walked by our first cache without even looking for it , probably in my excitement to get to the crevasses. 

So into the crevasses we descended , an amazing labyrinth that one could traverse from above or below , we each in search of our first cache which was suppose to be a few feet away from a large birch tree in the rocks , we split up and searched and explored and searched some more 

We found the Keyhole , a very narrow hole in the rock one has to navigate on the trail.

And after a a good 1/2 hour we met up again to regroup and try again , we stopped by a tall birch in the rocks , I took my pack off , re read the description and Evelyn while leaning against the wall and listening looks over at the opposite wall and spots the cache !!!! 

We even found snow down here !! 

After the crevasses we got a bit turned around ( lost ) but luckily found ourselves as we headed for " The Dragon's Breath " our next goal. This charming brook came along just at the right time for the pups to quench their thirst. 

 As we continues along the way through the trees we first heard then saw this large group of hikers as they walked single file heading in the exact direction we needed to go, so we had to wait and let them get well enough ahead so we could geocache without attracting attention , as luck would have it we came upon this amazing lookout that they had just vacated.  

We spent a while here, later I found out that the group ahead of us were also geocaching ! 

Montana having a look down much to Ev's dismay , it was a very long way straight down ! 

Finally the group moved on and we were able to continue,  down into another crevasse we went in search of the Dragon

But search as we may along these deep walled corridors we did not find it, in places there was ice on the bottom which made getting a good foothold difficult to climb up or down to the possible hiding spots , there were a couple of times I thought I might not get myself back out !,  but with a good deal of slipping and sliding I did, my only consolation on this failed find is that the group ahead of us did not find it either and there were 27 of them !! 

Back out and into the birches.

The good will of many private landowner make it possible to join many of the trails we have here in Ontario as here for the Bruce Trail , one goes from deep forest to farmers field in a heart beat .

As you can see I like taking pictures and I am still trying to master my new camera, so I tend to linger behind snapping away, 

here poor Evelyn patiently waiting for me to catch up

The next cache required us to scale down this wall !!! which one of us did in a not so graceful manner , but I won't mention names : ) 

and after a short search , success !!!

And then the long hard climb back out.

The trail narrowed as we headed out after five hours of hiking and caching , we successfully collected 4 caches and the first part of a multiple but we left a lot unseen,  Freedom Rock,  The Best Caves and a few more caches ,  so we will be back to explore and hopefully descend into one or more of the 30 or so caves in the area . 

We managed to get home just in time to watch the Belmont and as on that saturday 11 years ago the dreams of a triple crown were left for another year .

We finished our day at The Goulash House , mouth watering wienerschnitzel  and chicken cordon blue made for a fantastic anniversary dinner .