Tue, Aug 28 2012 - Toronto Island Tree Tour hike (part 2) (View Original Event Details)
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Another successful Toronto Island Tree Tour!
This week I had eight people join me on my tree tour, and three of them repeat customers! (I guess I did something right last week!)
I came equipped with my print out of the map and a brief cheat sheet of about half the trees on this installment of the tree tour (most thanks goes to Wikipedia for that). We caught the ferry going to Ward’s/Hanlan’s Point. OK what they do NOT ever show you on the maps is that it is the same ferry that goes to both. So those dotted lines on the website are all lies! In all, it wasn’t the end of the world, we did get to cruise past many lovely sail boats, watching them heel in the wind. And we did eventually get to Hanlan’s Point without losing anyone.
Our tour began with a lovely English Oak. Lambros tested his tree ID app, which was a teeny fussy with the leaf having to be photographed against a blank white background, but we got it worked out, and the app really did ID the tree (with a couple of options, but our English Oak was one of them!!) As we moved from tree to tree, the wind was picking up a tad, and it did lend a certain coolness that wasn’t there last week. But it was actually enough to spark my Raynaud’s syndrome, which causes my fingertips to go numb if I feel a little chill. And in the middle of August, Elizabeth pulled a pair of mittens out of her bag to lend them to me! (Thanks !!)
We passed many trees on our hike, and I was ready with my wiki-cheat-sheet, but TOC newcomer Crystal seemed to know more about each tree than the internet did! Indeed, she taught us that due to toxins, practically no other type of tree can grow near a black walnut tree. Except lilacs!
But the greatest thrill of the hike came from a tree that was not on the tour at all. It was getting dusk, and we were all strolling along the path, truly enjoying the fresh air and conversations, when we noticed a small area that was abuzz with butterflies. We all looked closer, and indeed they were monarchs! And they were just fluttering around and clinging in bunches to certain areas of the branches. Although it was darkening out, it was easy to see where the green branches were as opposed to the orange ones, which were simply branches where the butterflies outnumbered the leaves. Some seemed to be already settled in for the night, but others kept trying to find the right spot, so the air was dancing and the branches were swaying and changing shape before our eyes with the intricate and graceful flight of these humbling creatures. It’s possible that despite our attempts to get photos, that none will do justice, but the moment was magical and I will always have this unique memory in my mind.
We did eventually tear ourselves away from the show, and soon after realized that if we picked up the pace we could make the 8:45 ferry. The race was on! We trotted along, in smaller groups and still carrying on great conversations, and all nine of us made it onto the quite crowded ferry! After disembarking, five of us were up for a bite to eat, so we bid farewell to the others and headed to the Fox for food and drinks. The perfect ending to the tour.
Thank you everyone for joining me this evening!
Have some photos from this event that you'd like to share in our photo album? Please forward them to Erik Sonstenes at photos@torontooutdoorclub.com. Please note that we prefer to receive the photos in approximately 640x480 or 750x500 pixels - do NOT send original high-res photos. If you have a LOT of photos, please submit up to twenty of your favorites (only) for a day event, or up to forty of your favourites for a multi-day event. Thank you.