Sat, Feb 5 2011 - Hilton Falls X-Country Ski (View Original Event Details)

Event Coordinator(s): Alison
Participants:Alison, Greg P, Alex T, Galina S, Jelana, Miranda, Cay, Rob Willson, Tanja, Luba, Kathy Raddon, Bertha H


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Write Up:
Donations collected: $14.00
Calories expended: 850(ish) per person (Luba probably used double this amount!)
Carpool driving thanks to: Galina, Jelana, Alison and Rob
Finally! After several previous attempts, all of which were either rained or snowed out, I finally got a group to Hilton Falls Conservation Area for a day of cross-country skiing!
While limited in the number of trails - the area has only 3 - we all still managed to get in as much skiing as we wanted. The two shorter loops - Yellow and Red - stay in mature, Carolinian forest, gently meandering around, with not too much climbing or descending for most of the trail. The exception comes right at the end of all three trails, which throw the skier over the edge of the Niagara Escarpment and back to the Visitor Centre. An off-shoot of the Yellow Trail is worth following, as it takes the skier to the top of Hilton Falls, which are spectacular at this time of year. The main falls are frozen, with pillars of ice at either side and frozen curtains across the surface, but the river is still flowing, so somewhere underneath all that ice and snow on the rock face, there is moving water. The Orange trail takes the skier right up to the northern end of the Conservation Area, in a big loop around a beaver swamp. For about 3 km down the west side of the swamp, the trail is not groomed, and narrows down to a path through the trees. While a little bit of rock skiing came into play, everyone managed to negotiate this section without incident.
The weather forecasters were on our side as we had very pleasant temperatures, just below freezing, very little wind, and sunshine for the earlier part of the day. While there wasn't a lot of animal life around, we did see or hear several bird species while out on the trails - chickadees, doves, crows, and woodpeckers - and a feeder at the visitor centre attracted many birds also.
After a full day of excercise, most of the group headed to the Ivy Arms, in nearby Milton, for a drink, a bite to eat and some good conversation, as one would expect with a TOC group, and as a bonus, the promised snow flurries held off until almost the time we started back to Toronto.



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.