Porcupine Crevice Hike #26

It was promising to be a beautiful warm day when I headed towards the peninsula with the Dudgeon ladies. I had hiked this area early in the spring but it is such a beautiful piece of trail I was happy to head out with friends armed with a clue to find a code I hadn't know about in the spring.

The first thing we saw was this giant ironwood tree. Now I wouldn't say it is a giant tree, but it is giant for an ironwood! There are several trees on the Bruce Trail that have signage to inviting you to pause. We learned to recognize the ironwoods rough shaggy bark and can now confidently identify it's more regular sized family whenever we're out.

The first time I hiked this section it was from the other direction, coming from the south. On that hike, as we travelled along the scarp edge we encountered a pretty, old home made sign nailed to a tree pointing the way to Porcupine Crevice.

The name stuck for me and I warned Grace and Sadie before heading in that we might see creatures....but luckily no spiky friends today!

The crevice is awesome! It's 500ft long and in spots the walls tower 10' over us on either side. It's blanketed in moss and ferns and the ever present Herb Robert geranium with it's little pink flowers and delicate leaves.

I was a little worried that after such a spectacular start the girls would lose interest in the trail, but we were right in the middle of mushroom season so there was lots to see.

After making a right at what is marked as a scenic look out (maybe the trees grew up a lot this summer, we didn't have a clear view)

This trail doesn't have a lot of elevation changes, but it does have more than a few cracks in the ground to watch for and hop over so it kept everyone's attention.

This hike can be a 3.7 km loop if you make a right to join the Dodd's Hill Side Trail. That way takes you along a seldom used dirt road to lead you back to your vehicle. Since we had enjoyed the hike along the edge of escarpment (what's called the scarp) with its views down at the talus so much, we decided instead to retrace our steps.

Also, we had missed our code! We were pretty sure where it was, but as I mentioned, I think it was a good growth year and the description was a little masked.

The way back is always a little different, noticing things you might have missed the first time. For the girls, this was an opportunity to find some more acorns for their pockets!

As the morning warmed up the mosquitos came out. Some other biting insect had also been out. My exposed ankles were covered with very angry bites for a week! My guess is a spider nest? I was the only one with that kind of bite, and I didn't see bugs on my ankles, drawing the conclusion that I stirred up something on the ground. A lesson learned about wearing pants and socks on the trail. (I've got phantom itches on my ankles as I write!)

We ended up hiking about 4.5 km and spending about an hour and a half wandering around in the bush.

From here we took a quick drive over to the Ancient Beach Nature Reserve, hike #28 to pick up that code too. It was an quick hike with a view of Ester's Bluff. We didn't do the whole loop, just walked to the look out and back. I didn't take a single photo!

On the way back to the truck, Sadie, who was watching for the white blazes very diligently, accidently stepped on the dead mouse right in the middle of the trail. What a feeling under your shoe!! Much screaming ensued, by Sadie (and by me in sympathy as I had witnessed her do it!) Kim, at the rear, thought all of the excitement was over the old house foundation just to our left hiding in the forest. We would have missed it a second time if not for that mouse!

Happy Birthday Kim, I'm glad we got to spend the morning together on your day!

September 27, 2020

5 km total hiked

Johannes/Johnston and Ancient Beach Nature Reserves