It was a beautiful day for a hike as we set out from Rock Chapel parking lot for our 16 km hike to Signal Hill.  Initially, hopes were high for a smooth uneventful hike…. we should have known better!

It turns out that a number of the Limestone Ladies suffer from Cinderella complex.  First of all, Susan showed up wearing these beautiful, but egregiously inappropriate shoes.  She could barely wobble along the trail in these sparkly beauties.  How was she going to manage 16 km?

Blinded by Cinderella’s rhinestone slippers.

Lynn and Ellen seemed to have been reading the same hiking manual:

They appear to have mistaken the Bruce Trail for a Ballroom!

Despite the outrageous footwear, we proceeded on our hike.  The first scenic vista was Borer’s Falls, once the centre of the thriving community of Rock Chapel

Borer’s Falls (Site of a former sawmill in the early 1800s)

There’s one in every crowd: Mary tries to fling herself into Borer’s Falls.

In the early morning, the dappled green sunlight filled the trail with enchanting shadows.  A magical place to hike!

The Emerald Forest

This section of the trail featured a lot of ups and downs.  Hard on the knees!

Here we are going up!

And here we are going down!

Just to remind us where we were, we had a few scenic glimpses of Hamilton through the trees:

The questionable beauty of Hamilton Harbour

We soon approached the relentless high-speed traffic of Highway 6.  Would this idyllic hike end in tragedy as the ladies tottered across lanes of traffic in their high heels?  NO!  There is a tunnel!

Safely away from the screaming traffic.  Your tax dollars at work, protecting hikers from peril.

The Highway 6 tunnel is really a modern art gallery. Graffiti artists have been hard at work.  Note the lighting.

Now, we had a little problem with Deb.  She didn’t have a Cinderella complex like the others.  It was more of a Rapunzel complex.  She found a ruined tower (well, more of a hut) and sat there, waiting to let her hair down for Prince Charming.

Prince Charming failed to materialize, so Rapunzel had another plan….

Sleeping Beauty!

Our Ladies are always graceful.  Look at the smooth way they glide over this fallen log:

Martha and Irene don’t let nuthin’ get in their way!

The trail was difficult and we started to hear more moaning and complaining from the Ladies, due to their sore feet:

Now really… who wears fluffy slippers to scale the Niagara Escarpment?

For quite a long distance the trail winds beside the incredibly pretty and musical Grindstone Creek.

The Ladies on the bridge over Grindstone Creek.

Grindstone Creek Valley

Grindstone Creek

Grindstone Creek Valley

Climbing up out of Grindstone Creek Valley

We were not done with the shoe delusions that defined our day.  We had a couple of ballerinas who felt the Trail was their stage.  They tried to put on a performance of Swan Lake.

The “dying swan” dance

Every hollow log needs a gremlin

The Limestone Ladies are very “stile-ish”

We arrived in Waterdown with a spectacular view of the Burlington Skyway:

Burlington Skyway in the distance

It was a hot day and we all needed to cool down.  Everyone had their own unique way of staying cool

Yes, Trish, that’s one way to stay cool!

Anne stayed cool by hiking in bare feet! She was letting her gypsy earth mother run free!

Yes, and some poor deluded soul even tried to climb a tree in high heels (did not end well for the tree).

The last comment of the day goes to the beautiful Shagbark Hickory, a rare native tree found abundantly on this section of the trail.

Note the magnificent shaggy bark on this specimen. The Limestone Ladies like shaggy things!

Great hike, ladies.  See you all in September, when we will hike to Mount Nemo wearing ice skates.