Bruce Trail - Map 14, The Grange to Forks of the Credit. Worst 1/2 km yet!

 Somehow over the last couple of years of hiking, Nicola and I managed to miss a 2km section of the trail. Seemed to be a good choice for a leisurely Easter Monday hike. We arrived in Forks of the Credit only to find that there was no where to park. Everything was blocked with pylons and NO Parking signs. So we thought "Its only 2 km, we'll just walk there and back". So we drove to the Grange Sideroad, parked and set off.

Up a road and

on to a gentle, comfortable trail used by pedestrians, bicyclists and horses.

Sounds of life - very loud Spring Peepers and another throatier frog too.

Signs of life - not much

but little glimpses, here and there

that the woods were getting ready to burst into green.

Then, a beautiful view across the Credit Valley

and A CLIFF TO DESCEND.

I have no pictures of the descent. You literally hung on to the cable (slung from metal rings embedded in the rock) for dear life, used the walking poles to support yourself on the other side and watched foot placement very carefully. Nicola does not like heights and amazed herself by coming down.

After the cliff it was still steeply downhill, the path strewn with boulders, interspersed with ice.

Across some railway tracks, down some more stairs, across a road and we sat beside the river for a snack. We  halfheartedly discussed whether we could get a taxi back.

We were apprehensive about the return trip

as we knew now what we were getting into. We stopped periodically in the climb, just to get our heart rates back down to normal.

We took a break at the bottom of the cliff

with a curious red squirrel.

Nicola wanted photographic evidence of the ascent.

We were so pleased to get to the top because we knew that the rest of the trail back was a breeze.

What was supposed to be a short, easy hike, took as long as the one the previous day, but now that silly little 2km bit is done!

And now for something completely different - photo taken by Chris to commemorate the Koala sleepers (one of Jason's favorites) as Cigi has grown out of them.