First Week of February

Only got out twice during the week which in a way was good because I am still recovering from those two big blisters I got last Saturday.

The walk this Saturday with the Niagara chapter of the Bruce Trail Hikers Club was called the 12 Mile Creek hike as the hike travelled south along the 12 Mike Creek to Brock University and back again. (Remember to click on the pictures to enlarge them)

The hike began at 9 am and the winter sun was still low in the sky at this time of year.  It was about 0C at the start of the hike.  You can see the creek on the left hand side - it is more like a river than what I think a creek looks like.

 There were some hazards which you had to be aware of.  At the mid-way point in the hike, we had to climb the Niagara Escarpment which meant going up some very steep hills until we came to Brock University.

On the way back, the trail became very muddy with the sun heating up the ground and melting the frost. It was 5C when we finished. The hike lasted 4 hours and 20 minutes - my second longest yet.  We figured it was about 20-22 kms.










The hike today (Sunday) was called 'Up the Hill'.  Basically, it started in St Catharines and climbed the escarpment, did a large loop on the top, and then of course, what goes up must come down - so we had to climb back down to where our cars were parked.  The Sunday hikes begin at 2 pm during the winter and it was 3C today - much warmer than it is supposed to be for a Canadian winter. This hike was only 90 minutes long and seemed very short compared to yesterday's hike.  I wore my backpack today to get some practice carrying it.  I do not have much weight in it yet but will increase the weight as time goes on.

This is looking down from where we started

Our snow is completely gone

Heading back now