Myrtle's Meanderings - Hike on the Baird Trail - October 27, 2010

Submitted by Home Support on November 4, 2010 - 3:51pm

It was a perfect day for a hike – beautiful blue sky, comfortable temperature, hardly any wind. There were eleven of us in the bus with Jeff, and three in the van with Cliff Bennett.

We left around 10:30 am, drove up the Wolf Grove Road, through Middleville to the Baird Trail which is located in a certified forest of which there are over thirty in Ontario. When the land proved unsuitable for farming, it was planted in a variety of trees.

As we were hiking along we saw the trees identified – hemlock, red and white pines, beeches, birches, aspens, black cherry, basswoods, bitternut hickory, ironwood, maple, sumac, etc.

The trail presented quite a challenge as there were small branches and stones covered by a layer of slippery wet leaves. Therefore, we had to go in single file at our own pace. Over the hour, we gradually separated into three groups. As I was in the middle group, I missed hearing Marjorie Buttrum recite “Trees” (Trees by Joyce Kilmer – I think that I shall never see a poem as lovely as a tree. A tree that looks at God all day and lifts her leafy arms to pray. A tree that may in summer wear a nest of robins in her hair. Upon whose bosom snow has lain, who intimately lives with rain. Poems are made by fools like me, but only God can make a tree.)

Birds were scarce, although we did hear chickadees and crows. Coming home later we saw several turkey vultures. A couple of hikers spotted a grass snake.

Back from the hike we had a delicious picnic lunch under the trees near the van. This was welcome, as we had worked up a good appetite.

After a social time, we headed for home travelling by the Mitchel Road. We stopped by Ian Page’s who does pottery, but he wasn’t at home.

Shortly after leaving Ian’s, we had a big excitement! Jeff thought he saw a bear cub. We all crowded to look out the windows at this large, black furry creature curled up on the side of the hill. Jeff ran to get his binoculars. Then the creature stood up, stretched, and wagged his tail – a lovely, big, black dog!

We saw many flocks of sheep. In one flock, we saw two llamas, one white, and one light brown. Llamas will protect the sheep if they are attacked.

Before reaching Rosetta we visited the Geobern Farms, owned by the James family. The farm was all decorated for Halloween and they also have a corn maze. They had maple products and pumpkins and gourds for sale by the honour system. We saw no one. We had a lot of fun looking around.

After a wonderful day we were home by three o’clock – tired and happy.

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