On April 16th I headed out for my next leg of the Niagara section of the trail. It was day 2 on this section, but I actually did a short hike of a further section a few days ago. It may be easier to read (if anyone reads this) in geographic sequence, so I’ll stick with that for now.
I made my first use of a trail angel, and it was great. Trail angels are people who offer support to hikers, be it a ride, a recommendation on a place to eat, or sometimes a place to camp for the night. In my case, I needed to have someone meet me at one end of my planned hike to either take me back to my car, or to drop me off at the starting point so I could hike back to my car. Trail angel Erin met me where I planned to finish, and shuttled me to my starting point(19.7).
This section was a real mix of landscape. I had walks in the woods, but I was also crossing parks, city streets, side roads, and a good chunk of the Brock University Campus.
My first day had been quite cool, ideal hiking weather, but this day was close to 30 degrees, which is very warm for this time of year. There was also full sun, so when I was walking in exposed areas, probably 50% of the day, I was very glad for my hat and my sun shirt. The area is well populated with ticks, so I kept full pants / sleeves on. I was treated to a few swans in the local reservoir, who were less happy I was there.
When you are going up and down hills, through sun baked areas, you really appreciate some shade and some flat. I also love the sound of water, so hiking along a creek, or the sounds of a waterfall can be a wonderful addition to the sites. On this particular day, I made it to Short Hills park, which is mile marker 38.3, making it a 18.6km hike. It was much harder than day 1 because of the weather. My hope of getting through the Niagara section in 3 days came to an end, as I have 45km to go on this part!