Sun, Oct 15 2006 - Fall Colours Hike - Osler Bluffs (View Original Event Details)
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What a day to have a hike. The weather was mostly sunny and it was fairly warm (as long as we kept moving). The scenery was a bit of a let down as most of the fall colours were now on the ground instead of in the trees compared to year. Overall it was a fun walk with lots of fun people.
We all met at Downsview subway station and I (Ben) was surprised by the turn out, 18 people in all. We split into our carpool buddies and then headed off. Lori, Tanya and Rob all came in my vehicle and right away I could tell we would be having a good ride. I was not disappointed with good conversation and some great one liners.
When we arrived, it appeared my instructions had a missing piece. But we did not have to worry as everyone made it. After a small debate with Erik, we decided to head off on the Right hand side trailhead and do a loop. Erik placed me at the head of the group and stayed behind to herd everyone through. We headed up a steep hill, which we will get back to in a bit and found another part of the trail. This is where this coordinator made a bad choice. We took the path that lead to some cross-country trails that criss-crossed onto itself in a dizzying array of directions. We eventually did stop for lunch as I tried to find the best path out of this maze of trails. We decided on a plan and not four minutes later found markers for the Bruce trail again. This lead us all the way to Blue Mountain Ski resort.
Having had taken the wrong path made for a picturesque trail that allowed us to see things we did not anticipate. We even saw a Porcupine. We made our way back through the Bruce trail to that infernal hill, which just about killed this coordinator. But it joined up with the trail we had used to come to it originally and we made our way back to the cars, to everyone's relief.
Honorable mentions for this hike are as follows: Erik for his idea to bring Walkie Talkies to communicate from the front of the hike to the back without stopping. Jen for having a flair at giggling that surpasses my talents by a long shot. Mel Tan for the great pictures that are attached to this write up, including the animal we spotted. Lori W for providing proper instructions going to the event, but failing to stay awake on the way back. Rob, JL and Gerry for staying cool calm and collected while this coordinator started to twist his head in every direction to get a bearing. And finally, but not least to Tanya for joining us to explore nature and get more of a work out than anticipated, but being a trooper about it. Paula for pestering me to ask for directions - Like I needed to? Siv and Katherine as well as JL for eating all the apples before the rest of us in the back got there. Vika and Tatina for posing so deliciously for pictures at Blue Mountain. Irene for standing up for me while Chuck, Emma, Vika and Tatiana all heckled the fearless leader.
Having said all that, I want to thank everyone on this hike for making this a memorable hike for many reasons. I for one vote we do this again next year!
Erik thinks we should do the left loop in 3-4 weeks so we can do the lookouts and the scrambles we missed this time.Have some photos from this event that you'd like to share in our photo album? Please forward them to Erik Sonstenes at photos@torontooutdoorclub.com. Please note that we prefer to receive the photos in approximately 640x480 or 750x500 pixels - do NOT send original high-res photos. If you have a LOT of photos, please submit up to twenty of your favorites (only) for a day event, or up to forty of your favourites for a multi-day event. Thank you.