June 20, 2011

  • i went by the entrance and ended up at the gun club ...they have an amazing view of lake simcoe looking north. an old guy was just locking up,told me to come back when they were open and i could take pics facing south and lake ontario and go thru their trails (not as a target). he gave me directions to purple woods.

    026 022

    015 016 017 018 019 020

     

    purple woods

    Purple Woods Conservation Area, the site of the Central Lake Ontario Conservation Authority’s annual Purple Woods Maple Syrup Festival, is a 17-hectare sugar maple forest and open meadow located in the midst of the provincially significant Oak Ridges Moraine. Here one can use the viewing platform that is only steps from the parking area to get a tremendous view south all the way to Lake Ontario from the crest of the Oak Ridges Moraine.

    A short 0.5 km trail allows for a quick stroll down into the hollow. This is where you will find the sugar shack, which is the heart of this operating sugar bush. Visit in mid-March and discover how maple syrup production has changed from early native methods to the modern methods used today (Purple Woods Maple Syrup Festival). Syrup and maple products are also available for sale at this time. If you visit in the spring and summer, you may have the opportunity to see or hear some of the more common forest birds in the canopy of this mature deciduous forest.
     this trail also hooks up to the oak ridges trail along ritson road north, so you can get a longer hike in.

    028 024 029 030 031 032 033 034 035 036 037 038 039 040 041 042 043 044 045 046 049 050 051 055 056 057 058 059 060 061 062 063 064 065 066 067 068 069 070 071 072 075


     the short trail goes down a steep hill,that was easy ,coming back up not so much.

    this kinda creeped me out,came around a corner and saw this,made me think the homeless guy from milne park markham had a summer home......but nobody was home . this trail should  not be done alone ...kinda creepy....

    047 048 052 053 054 075 077 078 079 080

    seen this on the ground on the way out .....those must have been love shacks !!!!

    082

    073

    this bird lives on my veranda ...or thinks he does!!!!

    001 002 004 005 012 013 014