It was a dark and brooding day as we drove through pea-soup fog to get to our starting point on Hockley Road.
Immediately we started with hills and valleys. I was reminded of that song about the people on the bus going up and down, up and down, up and down. That’s exactly what we did, all day long! Perhaps they will write a kiddies’ song about us!
The valley floors were enlivened by babbling brooks. We all remarked on the crystal clarity of the water.
We arrived at the Hockley Valley Ski Resort. Unfortunately, they had misplaced our memo ordering snow for today. Sadly, we had to pass on the skiing, although a few racers in the crowd tried out the starting gates.
One lovely feature of this hike was the variety of landscapes. We hiked through a huge field of alfalfa, which was pretty to behold and also scented the air with sweetness.
The trail enters the Hockley Valley Provincial Nature Reserve where it meanders for the next 6 km.

The Bruce Trail truly does make all your wishes come true! Joanne had been looking for a new car for some time.

What are the ladies looking at? Why, they can see Tobermory, of course! Only 468 more km to go! Or so the sign says.

Just when you are getting tired of beautiful emerald hardwood forests, a spooky cedar swamp appears.
One of the great delights of this hike was the size and variety of old growth trees. Each tree has a unique personality and fascinating gnarled, twisted growth.

Here we are on the other side of the valley, looking back at the Hockley ski hills. We’ve come a long way, baby!
Words of wisdom appear in unlikely places, but it doesn’t make them any less wise. This was a plaque on a trailside bench:
We thought we had arrived on Easy Street when the trail returned to 3rd Line. Wrong! It soon dipped back into the woods and became a rocky, slippery, crazy obstacle course.

Here we have a poor terrified hiker, almost swallowed up by Touch-me-nots. Please donate generously so that others will not have to suffer like this.
We were not done with the ups and downs, not til the bitter end…
We arrived at Mono Centre Road, tired but happy. What a fantastic hike! AND we finished the Caledon Hills section. That means another badge!
It looks like you had another great hike. Sorry I missed it.
I see you found some gnarly gnarled trees for me to look forward to seeing on our make-up hike. FYI there is a sugar maple on the Glacier Valley side trail near the beginning of this hike that is more than 200 years old. It’s only 130 m off the main trail so I think I’ll check it out.
How did you hear about this tree?
It is part of the “Bruce Trail Heritage Tree Scavenger Hunt” which unfortunately has been removed from the Bruce Trail website but is still accessible with a Google search. http://brucetrail.org/pages/scavenger-hunt/trees
Thank you for the plug for our ski team, currently numbering only one but hoping to grow