HUMBER RIVER

For today's circular hike around the Humber River 37 adventurous hikers met at the Old Mill Station. Barry and Roger were today's leaders and had pre-hiked the route the day before prompting a note to be sent out to the members on the Blog List strongly recommending the use of icers and walking poles. 

Thankfully most of the participants heeded the warning and put their beloved icers on!

After imparting the day's info and stressing the need to stay behind Barry due to the lack of a clearly defined path we set of for the park and to find the Humber Trail with the temperature at -5 degrees

Entering Etienne Brule Park with Rosemary doing the count

Sitting below the surface of the snow was sheer ice requiring everyone to be extra careful 

Jutta kindly volunteered to sweep and can be seen at the back helping someone with their icers

While waiting we had a semi group photo

Finding a path through the white stuff

Huge chunks of ice jam up around the river's edge

In the middle of the river water was flowing copiously

It was a rare sight to see the group in single file

Winterscape

Bringing up the rear

A history lesson of the Lambton area

Lesson over, back on the trail

Dundas Street road bridge

Crossing the Humber River

Up the hill into Lambton Woods Park

The easy way to travel unless you are a dog!

Stanley legging it up the ravine

He made it

Diners at the Humbertown Plaza

Posing for a group photo at the street art under the Dundas Street bridge

Having fun putting the icers back on

These things are a pain in the rear!

It's a dogs life

Not the best weather to be riding in

Waterscape

Monument to the volunteer Fireman that lost their lives during Hurricane Hazel

Debating who can sit down

Up the hill to the finish

 The pub goers say goodbye to the rest of the group

Exchanging Icers for Beer Glasses

At the Dark Horse

Kevin gets the right beer

The distance from the start to the Pub

Despite the comparatively  short distance of the official circular hike of 9 km, most will agree that it was a decent workout due to the terrain conditions. Thank you to Jutta for her carrying out the job of sweep so diligently and to Rosemary for not counting in Gaelic.

EAST DON RIVER

41 Brave Souls joined Monica Feran for her hike around streets and parkland in the area. Despite the bright sunshine it was a bone chilling -11 and with the windchill making it feel like -18 (Thank you Rose Jones for the suggestion of including the temperatures on our Wednesday Hikes). After being huddled in the Tim Hortons at Don Mills and Steeles we ventured back outside

Monica gave the group an update on the route as some of the paths normally taken were not suitable due to the recent snow and ice

We then set off taking the streets to the nearby park

Brrrrr it was a chilly one in the wind

Entering the Duncan Creek Park we encountered our first patch of ice

Lo and behold the Turtles appeared in a flash of light coming towards us

Time to rub shoulders with our beloved Turtles

Goodbye Turtles we'll meet again

Water break if it's not frozen

Clambering over the fence to follow the Hydro right of way

A race between Wendy & Mary

Strung out 

The view with North York Towers in the distance

A ditch in time

"When the Bough Breaks"

Lunch at the Cummer Community Centre

A smiling group of Ladies except for Patricia. I did not know the Ukrainian word for smile!

We meet up with Merel again

Leaving the Community Centre and crossing Cummer Park

Down the path into Bayview Woods-Steeles Park

Stuck in the Woods

The confluence of the East Don River and German Mills Creek

Agnes leading the pack

A short relief from the ice. More to come!

Steady on!

Thank heavens for the fence

Icer Time!

Help is needed

Tony would rather be having a pint

Pausing at a dropout point at Leslie and Steeles

No Barriers for us!

Watch it, it's slippery

Follow the Yellow Bridge Road to the Leslie Greenbelt

This ain't no Greenbelt!

The end of the "Ice Age"

The route which I estimate to be around 10 km

After the hike we tried a new Pub, The Owl & Firkin on Woodbine Avenue. The usual haunt, Montana's, closed its doors in June last year! Fortunately we were able to carpool to the pub which did not disappoint

A toast to Monica for an enjoyable outing. Monica did an excellent job of guiding us without incident especially with the sudden change in weather conditions since she pre-hiked. The paths in places were a challenge with icy patches. It gave the group it's first real experience of handling the conditions and realizing the difficulty of putting on those "Bloody" Icers! A thank you to Tom for bring up the rear and Liliane for giving us the numbers