We are entering the ‘golden season’ in Southern Ontario and by George we have to take advantage of it! Golden Season? That’s right, fall is upon us. Break out the sweaters, grab the dog, significant other or a good audiobook and get outside. The air is crisp, the bugs are almost nonexistent and Mother Nature is getting ready to throw a viewing party with the leaves changing color. To take advantage of this, @savannahjessie, @rorofrommexico and I decided to change up our normal workout routines and go for a little hike (well @savannanhjessie and I were changing the routine, @rorofrommexico just came along for the smells and to pee on things).
But Where To Go?
That’s the big question, where should I go? I mean there are other questions too; how long is the trail, is there parking, how difficult is it, are there facilities? The list of questions can be extensive and if you Google it, the number of results can be daunting. What to do? On this trip we ended up using an app called AllTrails (they also have a website) and it provided plenty of info for no cost (although I did create an account… did not buy the PRO membership). We found the Oak Ridges Trail at Seneca College as a result and had a really nice day trekking around the woods. Shockingly we didn’t even make it onto the ‘main’ trail (5.8KM long with what looks to be some elevation in the middle). We just blazed our own path down some paths near Eaton Hall…
Our Hike
Well it got off to an auspicious start, because like a genius I forgot to start my watch until we were 500m in. Not the end of the world and we only missed out on a small portion of our hike. According to Garmin we managed 4.12KM in 1h36m (plus 500m and another 20ish minutes unrecorded) along paved roads to get to in and then onto the forest paths. It was easy to follow the trail as everything was well marked (except for one part). It was a perfect day so there were no bugs and it wasn’t too hot. Since @rorofrommexico was with us there were lots of stops and starts as he was checking out the ‘smell bonanza’ of the forest, but we kept up a pretty steady pace. We even managed to climb 100m of elevation along the way while burning 656 calories!
Now I’m not what you would call a large nature fan. Don’t get me wrong, I love nature and think it has unbelievable beauty. I just prefer to view it from a climate controlled, bug free environment. This hike almost has me changing my tune though. Hopefully we will be able to swing a couple more before the weather finally turns to winter. We still have the main trail to explore at Seneca as well as a bunch of other options nearby. I will even try this one again once the snow starts to fall <GASP>.
Happy Hiking!
Beez
