Before I begin describing the antics of this month’s hike, I want to provide some updates on the Limestone Ladies and their extra-curricular hiking escapades.

A hiker from our group traveled to Singapore where she naturally went hiking and met up with some Singapore sisters!

The Singapore equivalent of the Limestone Ladies on their way up a local mountainside! Looks like a very hot day.

Then we had a hiker who needed to do a make-up hike for a missed section.  She  misunderstood the concept and went on a make-out hike instead, sending this photo to prove her conquest of not only the trail, but also her hunky hiking buddy.

The make-out hike! Get a motel room, folks!

After we’ve all cooled down from that photo, we will continue with the regularly scheduled blog.

The ladies set out from Km 10 of the Dufferin Hi-Lands section.  As you will recall, we left off here in January, on a particularly memorable day:

Here we were, nine short months ago, trudging along 1st Line EHS.

Fortunately, weather is never forever!  Here we are on September 28, at the exact same place:

What a difference a few months makes! The glory of fall frames the glorious ladies.

One thing that regular hikers take for granted on the BT is the presence of stiles.  In fact we have become quite blase about them.  Yawn… another quaint and rustic stile.. ho-hum.  However, we had a new hiker with us who got very excited when she clambered over her very first stile:

The thrill of summiting a stile!  Better than Everest?

I would never want it to be said that our Ladies are not fashionable.  This hike we had a selection of couture hats on display, delivered directly from the salons of Milan and Paris.

Stylish and sun-savvy ladies.

Cedars are an iconic part of the Bruce Trail geography.  On this hike, we traveled through several large and healthy cedar forests.  The dense shade is cool and spicy, and the trunks almost always have interesting leans and curves.

Dwarfed by the cedar trees

Bridge over a stream in the cedar forest

In contrast to the monotone grays and browns of the cedar forest, the deciduous forest was a riot of brilliant colour.

Who wouldn’t feel happy, immersed in all this colour?

While the tendency is to look down at the trail, don’t forget to look up!

Orange sky!

The pathway beckoned us on, fringed by vivid sumacs.

And the ladies are quite colourful too!

We had lunch in shady nook beside a farmer’s field.

Perfect lunch spot.

Here are some of the reasons we love autumn hiking:  not too hot, not too cold, no bugs, spectacular colours, sweet-smelling fields, almost no mud.  As you can see, there is not a lot to complain about.  Which brings me to what was supposed to be the premise of this hike.  This was the official Whining and Complaining hike.  These ladies are so charming and optimistic all the time, it was felt that they must be repressing their true natures.  So, special deal for one hike only,  we were all given permission to whine, grouse, complain, fret, and criticize to our hearts’ content.

The only problem is… it didn’t happen.

We had the cheese to go with the whine….

The ladies had no problem with the cheese part of the process.

Here’s what happened when the ladies were specifically and severely asked to be as bitchy as possible:

You can tell she’s not really embodying the inner crank.

Faking it, not feeling it!

Not trying hard enough! Still looks happy to me.

Please! Some acting lessons might help.

Give me a break! You call this bitchy?

Not channeling nearly enough meanness.

Is this your best?

She doesn’t look grouchy at all! Although her daughter seems to find her quite amusing.

Lock up your daughters! This is what you get for laughing at your mom!

There are numerous theories for becoming a successful hiker.  Some advocate sleeping in an altitude-simulating tent.  Others prescribe a vegan diet and vigorous resistance-training.  Others claim that growing a beard and wearing plaid takes care of it.  Here is my favourite tip for becoming a successful hiker:

Look real cute and carry a BIG knife!

On we went, through a colour-saturated Group of Seven landscape.

The lookout at Murphy’s pinnacle

Into the blazing sumacs. How to walk through fire!

As we neared the end of our hike, we met two rare and interesting characters:

The first was an endangered Eastern Milksnake.  Although small, this little fellow was quite feisty and we didn’t want to mess with him!

Eastern Milksnake. Once thought to be able to milk cows, hence the name.

The other was the extremely rare and profoundly endangered three-legged hiker:

A fortunate sighting! Possibly escaped from Ripley’s museum.

All wonderful days must come to an end.  Here we are at 2nd Line, happy, mellow, and not bitchy at all!

A few of us went on a post-hike field trip to see Lilac Hill Garden, just down the road.  It was lovely:

We ended the day with a stroll through a garden of serenity.

Thanks for a fantastic hike, ladies!  See you in October.