Iroquoia Km 98.8 to Km 110.9 - 29 January, 2015

Hikers: Helgy, Case, Ann and Steve
Guest Hikers:  John G., John N.

Leader:  Karen

Section and Distance:  Iroquoia Km 98.8 to Km 110.9

Weather:  Cloudy,  coldish with light to heavier snow for the last 2 kms, no wind.

Actual Distance hiked:14.78 including 2.4 km side trail

Starting the hike

 After positioning the cars, we started the hike from the parking lot of Killbride Public School.  We crossed a boardwalk and hiked the creek bank to Derry Road.  We crossed Derry Road and hiked along an old stone fence and then turned left along a hedgerow before entering a mixed woodlot.  We continued to a 150 m boardwalk through a cedar swamp and then gradually hiked to a higher ground with farms visible to the right.  We then passed the historic calcium pits. before turning to the left at Twiss Rd.

After crossing Twiss Road we hiked over a rocky outcrop into the Crawford Forestry Tract of Conservation of Halton continuing over rocky ground through the woods to Guelph Line.

After crossing Guelph Line, we entered the Crawford Lake Conservation Area.  We followed an old logging road and then turned sharply into the bush.  After crossing a small boardwalk we climbed slightly  and turned right to join the Conservation Area's Escarpment Trail.

For the next 1.4 kms we followed the  Conservation Area's Pine Ridges Trail through pine forests and meadows as well as some deciduous woods.  We then continued along the escarpment to a lookout at the rim of the Nassagaweya Canyon where we had our elevensies.

The lookout provides views across the canyon and turkey vultures can often be seen in season.  

"The Nassagaweya Canyon is a deep valley that runs between the main escarpment and a large rocky outcrop known as the Milton Outlier.   The outlier was once connected to the main body of the escarpment and became separated from it by the erosive action of an ancient stream.  At the end of the last ice age between 13,500 and 12,000 years ago, the valley became a discharge channel carrying torrents of silt and debris-ladin water released by the melting ice.  It was the turbulent action of these meltwaters that carved the canyon into its present distinctive form."

After leaving the lookout we continued along rocky ground near the edge of the canyon and then turned right to make the short, steep descent of the escarpment.  We continued along the Walker's Line road allowance for about 1.3 km and then turned left to cross Limestone Creek, a much diminished descendent of the glacial torrents.  We gently climbed the Canyon wall into the Milton Outlier to meet the Rattlesnake Point Side Trail which we took to the parked car.

We picked up the second car, stopped at Tim Hortons and drove home.