This weekend the Limestone Ladies celebrated our second anniversary.  730 days have elapsed since we took our first steps at Queenston Heights!  Last year we celebrated with jewellery and wine.  This year, the fun began with the Scavenger Hunt.

The day started with our fearless scavenger Commandante giving us our instructions:

Here she is, handing out the top-secret dossiers.

We were instructed to find an object along the trail to correspond to each letter of the alphabet.  A is for apple, and so on.  Additionally, there was a list of “bonus items” for really keen scavengers to gain extra points and extra prestige.

The group set off, bursting with excitement and  some barely concealed competitive spirit.  In particular,  a tingle of titillation ran through the group at the thought of cornering, and possibly capturing, a Handsome Stranger.

Limestone Ladies on our second anniversary.

Hard at work… hot on the trail of the Handsome Stranger.

A palette of tawny oranges and browns carpeted the gently undulating forest floor.  Our ears filled with the constant crunch and rustle of  leaves beneath our boots.  The Handsome Stranger would surely hear us approaching!

Our beloved Bruce Trail dressed for autumn, preparing for winter.

We had fun with the alphabet game.  There were so many possible choices!  L could be for larch or it could be for Luscious Lipsticked Lips!

Lush, lustrous, lipsticked lips, pursed into a sultry pout to beckon the Handsome Stranger.

And speaking of the letter U, we had two strong entries in this category:

U is for umbilicus!

U is for uvula!  This would be enticing, should the Handsome Stranger turn out to be a dentist.

We enjoyed  a beautiful day in the woods.  At our lunch spot, a place named Rockhill Corner, we were treated to some interesting geological features, including caves, bridges, crevices, stacks and crevice gullies.

Cave, with cave-dweller.  (We were hoping for a Handsome Caveman, but were sadly disappointed)

Very cool rock bridge

Another very cool rock bridge!

Note the deep, dark crevice in the background.  A great hiding place for a Handsome Stranger (not included).

Lunchtime weather was a tad on the cool side, so we had to made sure we took in plenty of calories to burn as heat!  We would not want the Handsome Stranger to find us frigid!  First up: Diwali sweets!

Burfi is a traditional hiker’s snack! At least today it was.

Then came the second anniversary cake:

The anniversary sweet potato and chocolate chip bundt!

Pull up a log and dine like a queen!

Look at those megawatt smiles!

I think one of these hikers is cold. But still happy!

The alphabet themed scavenger hunt continued after lunch:

P is for porcupine? Q is for Quill? R is for Roadkill?

W is for Woody Woodpecker

The letter B.

C is for capricious curls.

We came upon the ruins of the Dufferin Light & Power Company generating station along the banks of the Pine River.  This private power company produced electricity for Shelburne and Horning’s Mills from 1909 to 1927.

The Dufferin Light & Power Company ruins: a beautiful location.

It doesn’t take long for Nature to reclaim its spaces. Less than 100 years and the trees are clearly winning.

These ladies like old power company ruins. (Although they would prefer a Handsome Stranger)

Limestone Ladies hiding behind trees, waiting to pounce on the Handsome Stranger.

As we neared the end of the hike, we were ever more smitten with the beauty of the Pine River Valley in its fall splendour.  Every view was a Group of Seven canvas!

The captivating Pine River.

The Pine River is dammed to create a fishing pond and the Bruce trail skirts the banks of the pond.

Pine River fishing pond

Just before the day’s hike ended, we enjoyed the view from the Bell Lookout.

Bell Lookout viewpoint

And there was a comfy bench to sit and take in the view.

Now you may be wondering, did these lovely ladies ever find the Handsome Stranger?  And did they earn their Bonus Points?

Well, there was a certain group who tried to create a Handsome Stranger from raw materials, somewhat akin to Frankenstein’s monster, in my opinion:

They tried to convince us that they had met a “fun guy” but on close inspection, he was only a fungi!

But our tale has a happy ending, because there really was a Handsome Stranger on the trail that day, and he was more than happy to offer his Handsomeness to the cause.

Here he is! An End-to-Ender who has also hiked the Camino. What more could we want!

But our day was not over.  The celebrations continued into the evening, starting with a spectacular dinner at Sequel Inn.

Here we are in our private dining room at Sequel.

And here is our gourmet dinner!

There were many glowing faces around the table:

All dolled up! They don’t look like hikers anymore.

These ladies clean up real good!

So elegant!

Glowing beauty!

Lovely, lovely ladies.

You can just see the bowl of silky butternut squash soup in the bottom of the picture. Obviously being enjoyed!

The sisters-in -law

The highlight of the evening was the judging of the scavenger hunt.  Complaints  were heard about the arbitrary nature of the judge.  The judge asserted her right to be completely arbitrary and the complaints subsided.  The winners triumphantly claimed their prizes:

Happy winners with their prizes.  A fitting ending to a wonderful day.

Thanks to all the ladies for making our second year even better than the first.  We can’t wait to see what Year Three will bring!