A Good Stretch of the Legs

The first leg of our adventure on the trail took us from the starting point at Queenston Heights Park about 20 kms to Merriton, Ontario.  We were fortunate to have a beautiful clear sunny day; crisp but not cold.  The trail was steeper in some sections than expected and more picturesque than I had imagined that stretch of the trail to be.  Growth in the forest is still at an early stage with bits of green popping up here and there.  Birds that we could hear and identify were chickadees, cardinals, blue jays, red winged blackbirds, piliated woodpecker and some type of hawk. We saw a few garter snakes sunning themselves along the way.  There was evidence of coyotes - excrement, tracks and a not too distant howling.  We saw deer tracks as well but didn't see any deer until we were back in the car.  The hike took us from 8:30 till 3:00 with a half hour stop for lunch and another 20 minute (or so) stop to wait for a ship to go through the Welland Canal.  This was a bit off our estimated 5 hours for 20 km but still a proud accomplishment for all three of us.   To see photos go to the page Mighty Bruce.