Blue Mountain km km 30.1 to 47.1 - 4 November, 2015

Section from the Devil's Glen Provincial Park parking lot on Hwy 124, km 30.1, to the Pretty River Access Trail at km 47.1.

Weather; lovely fall weather +/- 20C and sunny.

Actual Distance;

This is a makeup hike for Christine, Andy and Case 

We left Oakville at 7 am and drove into fog on Hwy 10. Unfortunatey there was an accident just south of Orangevlle that resulted in us losingabout half an hour of hiking time.To save time Steve and Ann dropped the rest of the hikers off at the Devil's Glen Prov. Park to start their hike. They then proceeded to park the second car at the north end of the hike,returned to Devils Glen and struck out in 'Hot Persuit' to catch the rest of us.

Steve, Ann, Case, Andy, Christine Helgy and our leader Karen

We left the parking lot and headed west about 50 m, turn left off the road following the 
edge of the escarpment were came upon this field of Milkweed going to seed.

We soon came back out at Hwy 124 where we crossed the fence and the the highway.

We hiked along the side of a cornfield then turned left into a hardwood forest

Here we met a local porcupine taking advantage of the good weather.

At km 32.7 the Trail turns right on to Concession 10 and we follow it for km 2.5.

A beautiful 'Dry' Stone Wall' (no morter)

Lovely renovated, stone, one roomschoolhouse.

The Trail turned left and ran parallel to Simcoe Rd 91

We took a short side trail to look at an old lime kiln.
Steve and Ann caught up to us at this point.

Elevensies, every chance he gets Steve is busy studying for his
Junior Hike Leader Badge.

We arrive at the descent into the Standing Rock and Caves Side Trail.
Standing on the rim, as evidenced by our shadows, we try to decide, who is going down first.

Case on top taking a picture of Karen and Steve below taking a picture of him.

The Walking Ferns are the ones with the solid fronds.

We rejoin the main Trail at km 42.0 and descend to the 30/31 Sideroad.

Crossing the 30/31 Sideroad the Trail continues north along the Blue Mountain - Clearview
 Townline to the top of the hill. It then turns left descending to the Pretty River..

Crossing the Pretty River Sideroad the Trail climbs steeply up and over a moraine, now
 known as Helgy's Hill. The mound is sand and gravel left by a glacier 12,000 years ago
. The trail enters a traditional forest and then descends steeply down the other side of the
 moraine to the Pretty River Access Trail where we parked our car.