Capturing the Art of Nature
Lincoln and Region (Day 2)
It felt good being back in Ontario enjoying the colours of the forests and Escarpment
Category
Ontario Adventures
2014
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Today was the first of my travels for this year’s adventure in Ontario. My wife’s cousin Mike joined me at 9:30am and together we set off for the fields of colour that the fall season had brought us. The weather today was a bit damp and overcast so we were concerned that we may not get the colours popping out like they would in the sun, but we accepted what we were given and so off we went.
Initially we dropped down to the bottom of the Escarpment and drove east towards St. Catharines but here we saw only muted colours and nothing all that inspiring. So we decided to head back up to the top of the Escarpment. As we made our way up we passed by a nice vineyard and noticed that the forest in behind had some lovely coloured leaves but the dull sky made them look so insipid that we didn’t even stop to study them. Once on top of the rise we drove a few side roads before we settled on one heading back towards the edge of the drop. Here we found some colour alongside the road and so we parked and began the first of our photo sessions.
Our first location was full of bright red sumac, the strength of the reds was quite spectacular. We spent some time wandering around this spot while avoiding the big farm equipment making its way along the road. We drove a short distance further along this side road and again gathered some photos of the trees just off the road. Soon we were driving along the ridge passing a few beautifully situated vineyards. The sun popped out for a few brief periods teasing us with a glimpse of the colours we were missing.
We continued along for a while a eventually came by a small pull out in a valley with a stream through it. Here we found some nice patches of colour and even had a bit of co-operation with the sun. We decided to descend a short stone stairway to the creek level and there we were soon intrigued by some splashing we saw in the water. We made our way over to get a closer look and discovered dozens of Brown Trout making their way up the creek to spawn. These were big fish and they were amazing to watch as they fought their way up over rapids and rocks to gain elevation. The effort and determination they exhibited was incredible and caught the eye of several others who had come to watch the migration. We wandered back up to the top and found another access point to the creek a bit further upstream. Here there were even more trout working their way up the creek. We stayed to watch for some time.
It now being lunch time Mike pulled out his iPhone and yelped for a good local restaurant, it suggested the ‘Bleu Turtle’ and so we decided to give it a go. Initially we zipped right past it but after stopping and checking our phones for directions we were soon heading back and parked and walking into the converted house restaurant. It was a small spot but the lunch special – Duck Tacos with a cream soup – were very enjoyable. We left feeling like we made a great choice and planning to return some day.
We continued driving a while and soon came by an historic mill and waterfall we spent time at last year. Today we decided to not climb down the cliff to the creek below the falls, so we concentrated on getting some photos of the upper pond and mill area. We had a brief period of bright sunlight which really opened up the colours of the trees along the creek below us and I was able to gather some intense colour shots before we continued along.
It was now 2:30 and time for us to set up my Ham radio and call my friend Ralph back in Vancouver. Where we stopped was too distant from the radio repeaters I had planned on using and after trying a second spot along the road, we tried a more distant repeater in Simcoe. This one we could partially access. Mike looked up another repeater on the web and this one was across the lake in Mississauga. It worked well and I dialed into Vancouver but we had missed our time window and Ralph had quit waiting for our call. We’ll try again tomorrow.
- We continued to drive through the back roads but the clouds had thickened up and the tree colours were very muted and so we didn’t find any more spots we wanted to stop at though we did see many places that looked like they would have great colour if the sun was out. We did come by a field of Llamas and a donkey where we stopped to capture a few images. It was now approaching 4:30 and we were getting tired, so we decided to call it for the night and head back to the B&B. We will continue the adventure tomorrow.