Rattlesnake Park – April 22 – 2007

Sunday, April 22, 2007
10:50 – 15:00
Start: 11:00
Roads: Dry / Clear
Visibility: 24km
Temp: +20C
Area: Halton Hills
Vehicle: Suburban
Weather: Clear with some wind
Trail Conditions: Dry / stone packed
Hikers: Christopher, Sly, Fabian, Tori, Wolf, Christine
Plan: Hike Escarpment Trail

This is the first time we have hiked with Christopher, Sly and Fabian. We arrived around 11:00 at Rattlesnake park and paid the fees to get in. We hiked around the look out trail and took lots of photographs. On the way to the long trail, Wolf found a cave opening and Christopher took some photos of Wolf in the cave. As we went further along we came to a cave where we saw some young guys going end to end in the cave. Tori, Wolf and Fabian decided to go as well. Unfortunatly Wolf did not fit. We headed up the trail and around 12:30hrs stopped for lunch at this very fabulous look out full of giant rocks. We sat on an outcropping and watched the giant hawks and turkey-vultures glide through he air on the wind-whipped hills. We brought some canned ham and tuna and had lunch with Christopher, Sly and Fabian. The view here is spectacular as I write the log for this hike. My pith hat is actually keeping me shaded and very cool by it’s design. After lunch we headed along the trail to find even more crevasses. As we went to go into a crevasse, Christine sat on a rock and somehow slipped off, and tumbled backwards, cracking her head on a rock. She felt very lightheaded. The photo opportunities in the crevasse were spectacular. We continued on a little ways more then Christine started to feel lightheaded and dizzy so we headed back towards the truck. We arrived back at the truck using a nice smooth trail. By 15:16 we packed the dogs in the truck and relaxed a little bit. Fabian spilled pop in Sly’s shoes and she had to return home barefoot. Wolf wore his Keen sandals, gaiters and 9 pocket EMS pants, grey ex-officio shirt, pith hat and open-finger gloves. Tori wore her Teva’s, black pants and Harry Potter red T-shirt. We all had a good time, even though most of us are quite tired and pooped. We took Christopher, Sly, and Fabian home and returned to our home. We did take our hiking pioles but the terrain was so easy we did not need them. We all dressed for rugged, harsh conditions, but were surprised to see how easy the trails were. All the rock climbers and others were much more nicely dressed than us. Christine still feels bad from the knock on the head and put some ice on it at home. We all had a great time, but certainly it was not as challenging as expected.