Iroquoia km 46.1 to 58.1 - TUESDAY, 20 JANUARY 2015

Hikers: Helgy, Steve and Case

Leader: Richard

Section and Distance: Iroquoia km 58.5 to km 46.1

Weather: -9 to -6 Celcius, Mostly cloudy at first to partly cloudy later.

Actual Distance Hiked: 12.2 km.

A selfie to start, Hamilton from Sydenham Lookout

We decided to hike north to south in case the wind freshened. So we started at Sydenham Lookout and descended into the woods after a short walk up the Sydenham Lookout Side Trail.

Frozen waterfall below Sydenham Lookout

 Icers were the order of the day. We had them on from the outset. They were only taken  off for the hike through the streets of Dundas which started once we exited the woods on the south side of Sydenham Rd. The hike along Sydenham Rd, Melville St, Brock St, Park St and King St is disappointing compared with the old routing that took in Dundas Peak, Tews and Webster Falls. These are of course still accessible via the Webster Falls side trail.

Dundas Peak and Dundas High School Lofts

   Just before King St goes under the tracks the trail follows Woodley Lane in past the Dundas Valley Golf and Curling Club.

Dundas Valley G&CC

Back in the woods, we had our "Elevenses" close to the intersection with the Davidson Boulevard Side Trail.

Elevenses

As we continued to parallel the CN lines we met an Iroquoia Club volunteer work crew complete with chain-saws doing trail maintenance. 

Magnificent old oak tree

The trail entered the Dundas Valley Conservation area and we followed the McCormack trail out to Governors Rd.

Skates or Icers (our preference) were the best gear for these trails

Once on the south side of Governors Rd we re-entered the Conservation area after a steep up and down through private land. We had deer sightings as we followed the Nordic ski loops.

Bambi's Mum

Bambi

 Soon we were passing the Dundas Valley Trail Centre.

Trail centre

 We continued past the Sulphur Spring (some tasted the waters!) and over Sulphur Creek. The trail then goes past the Hermitage Ruins now fenced off for safety. After crossing the Hermitage creek and we looked back at the waterfall on private land.
Then the Bruce follows the Heritage trail for a while before it bears left taking us to the Canterbury Falls and Little Canterbury Falls.

Bridge shot at Canterbury Falls

 One last deer sighting and a perilous descent of ice coated steps to the Sherman Falls Access Trail and we were back to the 2nd car. The icers had done their job, final result zero falls and no submissions!

We collected car 1. Stopped at Timmies at Clappisons Corners and did the settling up before driving home.