Pelham Ontario hike – 200805-10

Saturday, May 10 – 2008
10:30 – 12:50
Start: 10:45
Roads: Dry / Clear
Visibility: 24km
Temp: +18C
Area: Pelham, Ontario
Vehicle: Black Sunfire
Weather: Sunny & Clear
Trail Conditions: Dry
Hikers: Chuck, Wolf
Plan: See The Queenston Caves
GPS: 43 07.44N 79 21.04W

10:30 Arrived at the far end of Staff Road and put on our bugspray as this area has serious gnats which buzz around you and take large chunks out of your skin. We threw on our packs and hit the trails.

There were thousands of Trilliums here all over the trails, mostly white with the odd pink and even pale blue colored one. The trails here are incredible. On the short 4km trail we found the ground to be laiden with giant smooth rocks covered in moss, which felt very cushy on my bare feet. We took the Bruce Trail Side trail and down a small cliff to come across two large tres which had fallen over the trail. We climbed over the trees and eventually came to a large blue T sprayed on the trees which stated we were now finished the blue side tail.

We headed left as we could hear some children, possibly the ones we saw at the parking lot when when we arrived earlier. They said there was a waterfall up ahead.

We could hear the waterfall up in the distance and as we approached Chuck heard something rustling in the trees and bushed – it turned out to be a little snake.

We approached and descended into the small gorge where the waterfall lay. This particular waterfall was quite stunning as it had several tiers. We powered up the GPS unit to get a reading of 43 07.44N by 79 21.04W We sat on a large boulder at the base of the waterfall away from the annoying bugs which followed us during the entire hike.

We relaxed for a while and Chuck laughed that right after this hike, I was going to be taking my dirty, trail-hardened bare feet for my large tribal tattoos. Hopefully they will have a place at the tattoo shop to wash them – or at least a toilet Chuck remarked.

12:00 we packed up our gear and headed out towards the trails again.

12:05 We topped the waterfall to see a young girl and her mother standing there, apparently startled by our appearing out of nowhere from the gorge.

12:18 we arrived at the car and decided since we still had a few hours until my appointment, we decided to goto Camden and Chuck could see the trails there.

12:30 We arrived at the back end of the trail in Camden and took a quick walk up the muddy trails. It was very muddy and there were a lot of bugs, and we didn’t want to get lost and be late for my 15:00hrs appointment.

12:50 we arrived back at Chucks car, and headed to his place to clean up and relax for a while.