This one was quite a bit different, very little of the hike was through the woods. Most of it was on dirt roads and through farmer’s fields. Despite this, it was one of the better ones.

As I noted last time, the morning comes later now. This was pretty evident in the number of parked cars in the “parking area” where I started. I’m used to being the only car because I arrive so early, but now that I’m arriving closer to 8AM there’s lots of others about. Despite that, this was easily the “loneliest” hike so far. I think I saw a grand total of five other people over the whole 23km.

This isn’t really a surprise, if you look at the map, a huge portion of this hike just goes along dirt roads, and crowds don’t really show up to see dirt roads. This is a huge mistake in my opinion. After a short bit through some lovely fall colours (and another guest book which I dutifully signed) you can see that the route goes along Escarpment Side Road for many kilometres. The whole road enjoys sweeping views all the way to downtown Toronto, several dozen kilometres away. This is made easier by the fact that all the fields are harvested now, so there’s no tall corn (or whatever) that blocks the view. The sunny sky and clear fall air meant you could make out the individual buildings. I have to keep reminding myself how lucky I am to see things like that. Despite being in the middle of nowhere there were a lot of “No Parking” signs. Since there was absolutely no one parked here I was confused why they were necessary. While I wouldn’t put it past a municipality to make sure no one parks where no one would ever park anyway, it turns out this is a spot where people like to come and watch the sunrise.

After encountering a lovely little church I was routed onto trails that cut through or along farmers fields. I actually really enjoyed this, it was a nice change from stumbling over rocks and roots in the woods. It also means that I was able to make faster progress. Fields made up the majority of the rest of the hike. I was stopped in my tracks when I noticed what looked like a 1970 Oldsmobile Cutlass rotting into the ground about 10 meters off the trail. Naturally I had to investigate. I noticed some people had ripped off the grill and one of the headlights. I gently put what remained of them back in place so the old girl can still have her dignity. Turns out abandoned machinery is a bit of a theme for this hike.

I stopped for lunch at an abandoned combine harvester. I brushed some of the broken glass away and sat on the front deck while I ate. When I was a little kid there used to be a lot more of this stuff (abandoned cars and whatnot) lying around. The availability of really efficient crushers and shredders near the end of the 20th century means that most were gathered up and recycled since then. In a way recycling is good, but in another way there’s something nostalgic and romantic about seeing bits of the past that have been left behind. Speaking of, up next was what appeared to be a 1956 Chevrolet 210 and what I’m guessing is a 1962 Chevrolet Nova. They were pretty beat up so it’s hard to tell. In a completely unrelated note, both had straight six engines. Here in North America we tend to think of straight sixes as European or Japanese, but I bet by sheer numbers most straight sixes that were ever made were American. It was more-or-less the default budget engine option in American cars through much of the middle twentieth century. Anyway…

After many apple and crabapple trees that were full of apples, I entered Glen Haffy Conservation park and spent a few kilometres walking through some pretty generic woodlands. I decided to stop in the town of Mono Mills. Which, near as I can tell, is a Starbucks, a Tim Horton’s, and two gas stations. Hopefully I can park in one of these places next time without pissing anyone off.

My Toronto end-to-end badge arrived!

Only 573.6km to go!