Fun but Grueling May 2019 Hike at The Queen Elizabeth II Wildlands and Black River in Ontario

Ok, this is a belated post, as it's about a hike John and I did in late May 2019, which we soon realized we'd Forgotten was black fly season lol! Yeah, I was bit to heck, in a lot of pain on my hands for over a week, not able to sleep, yadyadayada and the like. However, those little buggers didn't stop me from taking 500+, yes 500, photos lol!

The reason for all the photos was because almost every inch of this amazing natural terrain was spectacular to behold! It was almost like being in some other place other than just old Ontario, Canada. The Queen Elizabeth II Wildlands has got to be one of the most visually amazing areas in Ontario that I've seen so far. Hiking is only recommended to those who are used to hiking, and proper shoes and clothing should be worn. It is a rough, rugged, easy to lose hiking trail type of experience, and depending on the season, can be extremely buggy and dense too. It's not really for the novice hiker, or anyone that is not up to the kind of physical exersion that will be needed on many parts of the trails.

We did come out of there with ticks on us, especially me, but later learned they were Wood Ticks, not Deer Ticks, hallelujah, because I found them all over my cotton pants (ok, so, best to wear synthetic hiking pants, I'm already not taking my own advice). Do wear bug spray or even better, bug netting. Not all years are as bad as this year was probably, but, better to be safe then sorry. Wood ticks do carry diseases harmful to humans and dogs, but are not known to carry Lyme disease I read when researching after.

We saw things I'd really never sen before. One being lichen, before it dies and dries and makes those pretty spreading stain like patterns on rocks. It was really cool to see yards and yards of it, it's a soft lavender and sage green dusty light colour.

Black River is a beautiful rich inky and wild waterway in many spots. Gorgeous rock formations like you see in Muskoka and the Bruce County, part of the Canadian Shield I guess, are looming and quite magnificent to behold.

We did see some birds, not a lot, but the flower and plant life was so very interesting.

We hope to go back there, as it's just so stunning, maybe in Fall or very early Spring 2020.

Here is a collection of some of the photos to show the varying terrain, foliage and atmosphere.

Hiking at Happy Valley in King Township Area

John and I decided to use the Victoria long weekend to go a bit outside the Toronto area for a walk, photo, bird hike this time. I was thinking Algonquin, but that is a bit too far for a day trip only.

John looked around online and he stumbled upon Happy Valley Forest in the township of King, which is just north west of Wonderland. There is the Oak Ridges trail as well, which we did first, before the Happy Valley Forest trail.

The Love Mountain trail was definitely chalk loaded with birds, especially in certain spots. There is one main path that goes across from road to road. Off that path, close to the area we parked, are 2 wood stakes that are the entrance to an abundance of smaller winding paths. On those paths are where many of the birds we saw, were. There is a bend in one path, that came near a water way, and there were many wrens, grosbeaks and orioles.
Our most exciting sighting was a Black Billed Cuckoo! We also saw an Indigo Bunting more than once, and a Ruby Throated Hummingbird in a tree. We also spotted a one legged Robin, the poor little guy, but he was singing quite beautifully.

We spent about 3.5 hrs in the Oak Ridges trail area. After that, we drove 5 mins away to the entrance of the King Ridges Stables. There, you can park in a small spot by the metal road divider fencing, and head up towards the entrance to the Happy Valley Forest. It's a gorgeous forested landscape, slightly rugged and windy, and has some real steep spots on the path. We had hoped to see a couple of the rare creatures such as the Jefferson salamander and the red shouldered hawk. We did see 2 salamanders but both jetted away far too quickly, from us, to get photos of either lol! But, I was glad just to finally see a salamander!

Tons of Trillium, many very tall, over 12-14"" in height! As well, we saw Trillium that were changing to green, this I have never seen before.

There is an abundance of birch trees in the Oak Ridges trails, and we did see the tallest most huge aspens we've ever seen, in the Happy Valley Forest trail.

Super gorgeous trails and quite the work out, this area is worth exploring and hiking though! But, respect the many spots of private property and stay on the trails, as this area is sensitive and preserving its naturalized state is vital.

Camping at Glen Rouge Campground in Toronto

For 20 years, we drove past this campground, along the 401, to and from Ajax and Whitby. Now, I live in Scarborough, but my kids reside in Durham.

Not having been camping for about 6 years, I came up with this kooky idea of, "hey, let's go fun camping 20 mins from our place" lol!

The idea was sort of half serious, but it then became, "let's book it!" and I went a head and booked it. Typically, long weekends, which is the weekend I chose, most campgrounds force a 3 night booking. So, I figured, this works anyway as we can take our time packing up and leaving on the Sunday. Turned out it was raining anyway, so we left our tent up Sunday night and came back Monday morning to pack it up, dry. The kids' tent, we packed up the Sunday in the rain as they have space at their house to dry it out, we don't at our condo.

I bought our tent on a whim through Walmart, on a whim as it had a great price. It ended up being Perfect! And Huge! I bought a 5 pc starter camping set, it came with 2 chairs, a tent, a fly and a little shelter that can be set up separately (we didn't use this).

It was great fun! At first I was like, I'm going to cancel it. What will we do. The kids are big now, they aren't little kids, it's harder to entertain them. Boy am I glad I didn't! It was loads of fun! Besides the kids teaching myself and John how to play Presidents, feeding peanuts to the piggy Chipmunk, and making half assed Smores with marshmallows and chocolate covered digestive biscuits, and hot dogs for dinner. Shauna my daughter made an awesome camp fire. My Dad lent us lots of lighting and a burner for cooking eggs in the morning. However, there was one major permeating thing that kind of made the whole weekend.

Pokeman Go!

I kind of figured, no, my kids don't have time, they work full time during the summer. How wrong I was lol! They were well into the game, and they have been doing a Lot of walking! My son said 5 KMs a day on weekends with friends lol! As well, they've met lots of people playing it, where they excursion to on transit, down by the lake, etc. It's quite the positive phenomenon is how I am seeing it.

We did lots of hikes, the kids were all for it. We also visited Swan's Marina and the pier in Pickering, down the bottom of Liverpool. We went fairly far and saw areas I'd never been to. It was a lot of fun! And what did we see a lot of? Hoards of people walking or standing, busily on their phones, playing Pokeman Go! lol! It was hysterical and it was fun! I'd say 80% of the ones we passed were playing it, couples, groups, families, youths, older people, the list goes on. Many of these people would normally not even be walking the trails normally lol! John and I walk the Glen Rouge trails a lot, and we've Never seen so many people on them, especially teens.

The cicadas were quite abundant this summer, we saw several, one even in the process of shedding its shell. We were freaked out by a wolf spider in an opening in a tree trunk. There was quite a few patches of deadly wild hogweed, part far in from the trails, and often marked so that walkers would know to stay away from it.

In any event, we had a great time. The hikes were fun, lots of exercise, the campground is nice, and we even saw a first bird sighting, an Indigo Bunting! Lots of cedar waxwings hung around the trees in the campground, and we saw deer and lots of rabbits and chipmunks. It was a cool weekend :-)

Deadly Hogweed or Cow Parsnip