Caledon Hills Section - 4th Line EHS (54.9 km) to Mono Community Centre (72.4 km) - August 15,2024.

 Caledon Hills Section - 4th Line EHS (54.9 km) to Mono Community Centre (72.4 km) - August 15, 2024.

Hello Hockley Valley, my old friend...we've come to roam about you again...because HWF loves weekly hiking, and your beauty, is to our liking...and the vision, that was planted in our brains, still remains...and will give...us guidance.

Is a hike of 18 km over a stretch of one of the Bruce Trail's hilliest sections, the Hockley Valley area of Caledon Hills, on a very warm August day, just what the doctor ordered for me after a six week layoff?..It was great to get back to Hiking With Friends for sure, but this hike is a top ten challenge on the B.T...let's see how we made out...

If you want to spend six and a half hours or so carving your way through beautiful forests, traipsing across creek and river valleys, sauntering alongside meadows of wildflowers, admiring bucolic vistas, and rambling along tree lined country roads, then you've come to the right place...throw in a league leading 700 meters of climbing, a "dog day" August temperature in the high 20's, and no breeze, and you have the ultimate Bruce Trail conundrum...how do we enjoy something so much while enduring the physical challenges at the same time?

Before we get to all that, there is the pre-hike ritual that really ameliorates our collective enjoyment (and involves no pain) of the Hiking With Friends experience, and that just involves...a whole lot of talking!..it was a bit of a reunion type atmosphere as we all arrived with everyone looking to catch up with each other's summer "goings on"...by doing this, we avoided the subtle autumnal nuances being expressed by this tree...this is still summer, as we were about to find out...

As usual, this week's edition of our now well seasoned hike coordinators arranged a seamless shuttle transition to the start at the roadside parking area on Fourth Line (East of Hurontario)...Our group today of 19 hikers includes myself, Grace, guest hiker Christopher (over from England), Barbara, Lesley, Andrea, Andrew, guest hiker Kathryn (visiting from Bedford, N.S), Steve K, Sandra, Muris, Laura, Marleen, Nancy, Frank, Steve R, Rita, Doug (H.C), and Peter...

It helps to start your hiking day with a "Stile Smile" and Frank provides just that as we begin the walk into a lush, late summer forest...if you want to appreciate the less vegetated (and north to south as opposed to today's first time south to north experience) version of this hike, please refer to our last trip here in late April of 2023...today, there is growth and lots of it...only slightly marred by the disposed remains of a scrapped vehicle from years ago that has migrated down the slope...

We are well underway and enjoying the smooth trails for which this area is renowned...a pause on a boardwalk allows me to capture the 19 smiles that reflect the the early enthusiasm that is coursing through our hiking veins...we will need to draw on that resource as the day warms, and the trail begins to test our collective strength...

When I asked which town the county road on which we were walking, was in, two hikers, each abreast of me, responded, in concert, "Mono"...it was the first time I had ever heard...mono in stereo...

The Hockley Valley Resort greets us (with another hill), and while it touts its facilities as primarily focused on the pleasures of "Golf, Spa, and Ski", we will get none of that as we pass through its beautiful property...we even have to defer to golf carts and mountain bikers apparently...where do we rank on the activity scale?..

A nice father and daughter-in-law moment on the trail...Murray would be proud...

A warm summer's day in the country...mmmmm...

We leave the grounds of the resort and start heading west along the boundary of some agricultural lands...hoping for a breeze, a zephyr, anything...

A few hikers wander off the main trail for about 110 meters to capture a "view" of the Adamo Estate Winery "vineyard"...giving the side trail its unique name... 

 

At 2nd Line, we turn right and after a short uphill stretch, eventually get to a nice declining slope, one that I had only ever gone up...a welcome  change...I know elevation is very often a net zero proposition, in fact this hike in reverse involves just 50 meters less climbing...but still, I was down with it...

After descending the hill and crossing the bridge over the south branch of the Nottawasaga River and ultimately traversing Hockley Road, we enter the Hockley Valley Provincial Nature Reserve...all nature, all the time...

Well except maybe for this 1939 Chevrolet Master Deluxe abandoned here by a local farmer in 1960...

After descending into another valley and crossing several small streams, we find an idyllic spot for a well deserved refreshment break...

In a testament to the amount of private land we have been through, we approach our umpteenth stile of the day (and only one had a "Steve R bypass" available)...several were also pretty wonky...

Our arrival at Dunby Road signals the start of our longest stretch of road walking of the day...but there's some decent shade in parts, a least until we need to turn left on the (previously crossed but not traveled) 3rd Line...for many in the group, we are feeling the  cumulative effects of the physical exertion and increased heat and humidity...we are trying to stay hydrated and focused, but we also know it's important to be aware of our limitations and keep everyone safe...

  The heat and hills have kept the pace a little slower but with the end in sight (figuratively, not literally), we forge on and over...again...

The green, green grass of home!..well, at least the side trail that leads to the parking lot where there are cars that will take us home to our green grass (or in my case, the green at my lawn bowling club for men's night)...our tired, aching bodies...it's been a trek!

What's a good distraction for tired and sore bodies?..a celebration of course as we fete three members on another section completion...Frank (belatedly) for the Blue Mountains section (last week) and Nancy and Laura for their just finished Caledon Hills section!..congratulations to all...the Bruce Trail welcomes you...

So good-bye Hockley Valley, our old friend...it's been a pleasure to hike here again...you leave our bodies feeling tired...and sore, but we'll always come back...looking for more...of your hills, and your valleys...and your streams...it's a hiker's dream...and we love, your silence... 

The End

Well it turns out the green grass of home, and my lawn bowling club, thank goodness, could wait, as we stopped at the nearby Mono Centre Brewing Co. for a well deserved refreshment...cheers from HWF!