PHEEBS AND I HAD US A GREAT HIKE THIS MORNING AND MY LEGS ARE THANKING FOR THAT

Saturday night Kelly, Pheebs, and I took us for a wee walk around our Five Seasons Park and were surprised to see as many houses with in and outdoor Christmas lights as we did.  Just goes to show all these Seniors in this 55+ Park can still put on quite a show.  I’ll walk around and take some photos of those lights in a couple weeks.

Cloudy as usual but Pheebs and I persevered and headed out anyway.  Cheapest place around for a coffee and muffin is McDonald’s in Goderich so once again that is were we gravitated to.  Cold wind sweeping across the lake but we did manage to get out for a few minutes near the water’s edge in Rotary cove.  Imagine my surprise when something in the air above me caught my eye and I saw right away it was a human being about 80 feet off the ground.  What!!!!

I HAD TO LOOK TWICE WHEN I SAW THIS GUY FLOATING ALONG UP IN THE AIR

NOTICE THAT HE HAS NO PROPELLING DEVICE LIKE AN ENGINE YET HE WAS STAYING ALOFT SAILING UP AND DOWN THE SHORELINE

HE GIVES ME A BIG WAVE….KEEP IN MIND THIS IS A TELEPHOTO SHOT AND HE WAS NOWHERE THIS CLOSE

Now there I was dressed in my semi-Siberia winter attire thinking the best to currently be was in the Jeep with the heater on and there’s a guy floating along under a para-sail using that wind to his advantage and obviously enjoying it.  The bluffs overlooking Lake Huron are about a hundred feet high and as the wind comes in across the lake it sweeps upward when it hits the bluffs.  This very experienced kite flyer was riding that uplift of air just like a seagull or turkey vulture.  He could fly out of the updraft to descend and turn back into it to ascend and he was doing it very well.

I WAS CURIOUS AS TO THAT LARGE PACK ON HIS BACK, CAN’T BE A PARACHUTE BECAUSE HE ALREADY HAS ONE SO LOGICALLY THINKING I FIGURE HE’S GOT A LARGE BALLOON IN THERE AND IF HE CRASHES TO EARTH HE JUST HAS TO MAKE SURE HE LANDS ON HIS BACK BEFORE COMING TO A BOUNCING , BOUNCING, BOUNCING STOP…..:))

Only about 15 minutes from our house on the western edge of the little hamlet of Ben Miller is the Falls Reserve Conservation Area.  I drive right by there many times on our morning outings but pay it little attention while the Park is open for the summer.  It’s a popular spot and it’s loaded with people, especially campers, so it’s no place for Pheebs and I in the busy tourist season.  It was in late October or early November of 2005 after the Park was closed for the season that Kelly and I along with our dogs Max, Checkers, and Cora (Motormouse) came here one Sunday and took ourselves for a long walk.  Fast forward to today and it was Pheebs and I who rolled into the deserted Conservation Area.

CAME ACROSS THIS CURIOUS LOOKING BUILDING SO TOOK A COUPLE PHOTOS THROUGH THE WINDOWS….NOTICE ANYTHING DIFFERENT ABOUT THIS BUILDING??  LOOK CLOSE…………….

BOTH SIDES OF THIS BUILDING ARE TRAILERS OR SHIPPING CONTAINERS

THIS IS A MAP OF THE PARK….FROM THE ‘YOU ARE HERE’ PHEEBS AND I TOOK THE BLUE TRAIL TO THE RED TRAIL, THEN DOWN TO THE CHIPPEWAW CAMPGRUND THEN HEADED WEST TO THE RIVER….COMING BACK WE WENT THROUGH THE VT AREA, AND ALONG THE ROAD PAST THE THE SYCAMORE AND MENNESETUNG CAMPGROUNDS FINALLY MAKING IT BACK TO THE JEEP AT THE PARK ENTRANCE TOP RIGHT

WE ARE ON THE BLUE TRAIL

Morning temperatures were hoovering around the freezing mark with a bit of wind to boot but no matter, I knew this to be a great walking place and if we could get into the forest we would be out of the wind.  And that is just what we did.  Because we stayed on the move it did not feel cold and I thought half a dozen times how great it was walking with no oppressive heat and humidity or pesky bugs. 

PHEEBS WAS HAVING A BLAST JUST RACING AROUND EVERYPLACE

WINDING ALONG DOWN A STEEP GRADE THROUGH A FOREST ON THE RED TRAIL

 

ALL’S I HAVE TO DO IS FOLLOW THE PHEEBS CAUSE SHE ALWAYS KNOWS THE WAY

CHIPPEWA CAMPGROUND

DOWN A STEEP EMBANKMENT HEADING FOR THE RIVER AND THE FALLS

SPOTTED SOMETHING RUNNING ALONG THE ROAD IN THE FAR DISTANCE SO I QUICKLY AIMED AND FIRED…..WHEN I EDITED THE PHOTOS I SAW THAT IT WAS A FOX

We were the best part of two hours following different  winding trails and roadways within the Park.  We walked on flat pavement and we scrambled down a few steep slopes through forest leaves amid pine, beech, maple, and cedar trees.  We walked on mowed grassy areas, gravel roads, through campgrounds, and alongside the Maitland River.

THESE ARE THE FALLS THIS PARK IS NAMED AFTER….I REMEMBER BEING HERE ONCE IN THE SUMMER OF 75 OR 76 AND SITTING OUT THERE BUT IN MUCH LOWER WATER LEVELS

THERE WERE 3 FISHERMEN HERE

HOPE HE’S GOT WARM BOOTS ON

WE FOLLOWED THAT ROAD TO THE RIGHT AND DOWN TO WHERE THE RIVER WAS FLOWING QUIETER

LOOKING DOWNRIVER TO THE FALLS

LOOKING UP RIVER

AND ACROSS THE RIVER

Many times while walking with my legs feeling like slabs of lead at times I said out loud to myself, ‘this is the best dam thing for my legs I could be doing and I should be doing this every day’.  My legs were especially barking on the uphill stretches and I thought, ‘damn this feels good’.  And Pheebs was having a blast running around all over the place.  She must have covered 3 times the distance I did.

‘I THINK WE SHOULD BE HEADING BACK SOON DAD, YOUR LOOKING A LITTLE FLABBER GOOSED’

‘OKAY PHEEBS, SCOUT US OUT THE SHORTEST ROUTE BACK’

NICE WINDING ROADS

MENNESETUNG CAMPGROUND

GOOD THING WE HAD THIS ARROW POINTING US IN THE RIGHT DIRECTION OR WE COULD HAVE BEEN WANDERING AROUND IN HERE FOR WEEKS

NOT FAR TO THE PARK ENTRANCE NOW

We finally made it back to the Jeep around 11:30 and boy did it ever feel good to sit down.  We were home 15 minutes later and 5 minutes after that skies began clearing and we ended up with a sunny afternoon.  Wished it would have cleared a couple hours earlier while Pheebs and I were out walking but no matter, it was the way it was and we totally enjoyed our hike.

GROANER’S CORNER:(( You know your getting older when...

1. You and your teeth don't sleep together.

2. Your try to straighten out the wrinkles in your socks and discover you aren't wearing any.

3. At the breakfast table you hear snap, crackle, pop and you're not eating cereal.

4. Your back goes out but you stay home.

5. When you wake up looking like your driver's license picture.

6. It takes two tries to get up from the couch.

7. When your idea of a night out is sitting on the patio.

8. When happy hour is a nap.

9. When you're on vacation and your energy runs out before your money does..

10. When you say something to your kids that your mother said to you and you always hated it.

11. When all you want for your birthday is to not be reminded of your age.

12. When you step off a curb and look down one more time to make sure the street is still there.

13. Your idea of weight lifting is standing up.

14. It takes longer to rest than it did to get tired.

15. Your memory is shorter and your complaining lasts longer.

16. Your address book has mostly names that start with Dr.

17. You sit in a rocking chair and can't get it going.

18. The pharmacist has become your new best friend.

19. Getting 'lucky' means you found your car in the parking lot.

20. The twinkle in your eye is merely a reflection from the sun on your bifocals.

21. It takes twice as long - to look half as good.

22. Everything hurts, and what doesn't hurt - doesn't work.

23. You look for your glasses for half an hour and they were on your head the whole time.

24. You sink your teeth into a steak - and they stay there.

25. You give up all your bad habits and still don't feel good.

26. You have more patience, but it is actually that you just don't care anymore.

27. You finally get your head together and your body starts falling apart.

28. You wonder how you could be over the hill when you don't even remember being on top of it.

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