Bruce Trail - Map 3, Short Hills Provincial Park to Ninth Street

 Nicola and I did not hike in August. After my rather difficult hike, in heat and high humidity, we decided to choose more moderate conditions for future hikes. We still have a portion of the Niagara section so I headed down there while Nicola and Dave were having a short "staycation" in the area.

I parked my car at the Short Hills Provincial Park parking lot and Dave dropped us off on Ninth Street.

It was a short walk to a substantial bridge.

Recent rains had fueled the river

making it a perfect environment for fungi

and bubbles?

 

It was a well marked, well used, trail and perfect hiking weather, still warm but not too muggy. The undergrowth was lush but not over grown and best of all, no bugs! It was pretty flat and mostly though woods, so shaded. Lovely.

 

It was about 5 km with a short addition to get to the car park. It took about 2 hours and then we drove into Fonthill and had lunch. Dave picked Nicky up there.

Meanwhile, back in Port Dover, Theodore Too visited the harbour for a couple of days. (Photo by Nicola on her phone)

Branches from next doors apple tree hang over my fence and

provide plenty of produce to make apple sauce. They are un-sprayed so there is a lot of cutting, along with the coring, but well worth the time.

Sailing season is winding down so Rick takes every available opportunity to get out on Spellbound and I join him sometimes. Along with racing 2 nights a week that is a lot of lovely time out on the lake.

Honey Harbour Visit - better late than never.

This is probably the latest in the season that I have ever visited Greg and Aimee, at their island cottage. They were closing it up the following week.

My stuff on the dock and the "water taxi" on the way.

I wasn't able to visit last year and some things have changed.

Last year the water was so high that the "lawn", which is where the septic bed is, was covered in water. They had to build these walkways to get to the various sheds and under the cottage deck.

It did mean they were able to float the two new septic tanks into position, towing them across to the island like a floating train. They almost floated back out again, in a windstorm, before they had got them anchored down. Shrubs, planted this year will eventually hide them from view.

A huge section of walkway used to go along those rocks, terminating in the gazebo, which is now much closer to the cottage.

It has become the favorite morning

fishing spot for a Great Blue Heron,

who hunkers down, trying to become invisible, when he hears the "Grack" of another heron flying in to fish in the bay. There's sometimes 3 or 4 within view.

The island is criss-crossed by stone paths between the cottages with garter snakes out sunning themselves.

Lunch at the gazebo

The day I arrived I saw the last of the Osprey family fly away. There were 2 chicks this year and both survived. We saw one up high when we were kayaking but

on the last day, one flew in with a stick, as if to claim the nesting site, stayed for a few minutes and then flew off again.

Two of the days we kayaked.

It was windy out on the lake so we stayed mostly in the marshes among the reeds, bull rushes,

lilies and

lily pads.

With the geese,

swans, mallards and mergansers.

On the last day I helped Aimee store the kayaks away for the winter.

With their gazebo in a different place, we went to a neighboring cottage dock

to watch the beautiful Georgian Bay sunsets.

Fall wildflowers were in full bloom.

It is always so peaceful up there. Perfect for reading, playing cards and catching up with old friends. I usually stay for a week and it feels too short. This time it was only 4 days, way too short.

A couple of day trips - Dunnville Museum and Bird Studies banding.

 Rick and I, looking for something different to do, went to the Dunneville RCAF Museum, that we had first noticed last winter.

Inside; plenty of memorabilia from when it was a training airfield during WW2.

and planes,

one that you could go inside. Very cramped, pilots must have been small. (Photo by Rick)

There were volunteers there to answer questions and tell the stories. Pilots were trained from Canada, Britain, Australia and South Africa.

A display on the role of women. They could not fly in combat but could fly planes over to Britain to be used in combat.

It was also interesting to read about what happened to the 100s of surplus planes, after the war.

Another day we drove to Long Point Banding Station

We walked the trails beside the mist nets with the captured birds waiting to be rescued.

We were not permitted inside to see the banding process (this was taken through the open door)

but after the banding

a volunteer bought each bird out for us to see up close

and identified them for us

as well as telling us some interesting facts

and answering any questions we had.

Afterwards we took a trail out into the marsh.

Enjoying the flora

and fauna.

Topped off by a late lunch, nachos, at Turkey Point Marina.

Belted Kingfisher at my place.