Trail Talk 341 - December 4, 2024

On my recent hikes looking at all the leaves on the trails, I discovered that there were far more Red Oaks in the Morris Tract than I had realized. On the section at Cherrydale, I noticed lots of large leaves, which look like oversized maple leaves, indicating there were American Sycamores near the trail. At Cherrydale, we stopped to admire the notice about the first dam and sawmill in the Huron Tract, which was constructed by Michael Fisher in the winter of 1828-1829.  We were disappointed at being a bit too late to bid on the auction for the Cherrydale farm! (see photo). Another photo I took I will let you guess what it is.

On November 17th, I joined a group mainly from the GTA on a hike on the Maitland Trail from Sharpes Creek Line to the end at Auburn. We had a good hike with cool dry weather and only a few windfalls that were easy to cross.

I am always very interested to see which trails are included and excluded in the various editions of Huron County Hiking Guide. There have been many changes between the 3rd edition in 2006 and the 8th edition in 2024. The 8th edition, which is available at Huron County libraries, added the Wroxeter Walking Trail (0.9 km), the Gorrie Walking Trail (1.5 km), the Fordwich Walking Trail (1.9 km), the Adams Tract (1.6 km), the George Taylor Conservation Area (1.73 km), the Huronview Complex (2.2 km) and the Hays Tract (0.6 km). No longer listed are the Lobb Trail (closed due to a change of ownership) and the Woodlands Arboretum, for which I don’t know the reason. On November 26th, with the golf course closed, I did not see any closed notice when I hiked the Woodlands Arboretum trail.  None of the hiking guides include the Front Road Trail, the Blacker Nature Conservancy property trail or the John Goldie Reserve Trail.

Trails that only occurred in earlier editions include the Maple Keys Sugar Bush (1 km), the Linfield Wildlife Area (2.3 km) and the Hay Swamp (10 km).

Notes

Monday December 2nd to Sunday December 8th  the Maitland Trail is closed due to deer gun hunting.

Thursday December 26th 1 p.m-2.30 p.m.  A Boxing Day hike or snowshoe on the Hullett Sugar Bush trails. Meet at 80602 Wildlife Line. To confirm your attendance email Patrick at pcapper99@gmail.com.

Tuesday Trompers meet at 9 a.m. on Tuesday to hike for about an hour. If you wish to be on this email list, complete the form on the MTA website.

Midweek hikers meet at 9 a.m. and hike for 1 ½ to 2 hours on Wednesdays or Thursdays. Contact Patrick Capper at pcapper99@gmail.com.