Bruce Trail End-to-End Part 2
It's been a long time since the first one of these, but it's been winter, I guess. Now that spring has officially hit, the end-to-end hiking of the Bruce Trail has begin in earnest by dairymilk and I.
Last weekend we were fortunate enough to be led on a geology hike by Beth (checks internets) Kummling, the Executive Director of the Bruce Trail Conservancy. The entire hiking group consisted of about forty people. Our hike started in the Sydenham Club section, at km 116.7 off of East Linton Side Road, and continued to km 127.1, at Lindenwood Road. (26th edition of the Bruce Trail reference)
Being a geology hike, Beth had prepared handouts describing the different layers that we would be hiking through. What do I remember? Not too much. The capstone of the escarpment is made of dolostone - limestone with magnesium in it as well. Underneath that is a layer of very red shale, due to high iron content. The topmost layer of the dolostone is called the "Amabel formation." Underneath that is the fossil hill formation, also dolostone, but deposited during a geological time period when the sea was shallow, calm, and sunny, so it's absolutely chock-full of fossils. Most common were tabulate corals. We also saw halysite coral, that looks like chains made of many links. And in these particular rock, many many many pentapod fossils (clams, really). At one point, we found a mystery fossil, that we thought (after checking the books back at the car) was a cephalopod.
One of the really cool things about the dolostone that was made very evident is how it is made up of dolomite crystals. The rock fractures along lines that mimic the crystal structure of dolomite. Dolomite forms as rhombic crystals with angles of 75 and 105 degrees. There was one point on the trail where two fissures intersected at 75/105 degrees, and the downhill chunk had slid on the shale underneath a good 15 feet away from the rest of the cliff.
We were also very fortunate to be hiking right in the peak of spring wildflower season. The trout lilies were out in force, as were the red triliums (but not the white ones yet). We also saw, er, other flowers. Um, something breeches, and something closely related to that, but heart shaped. Dang, I suck at remembering things.
Wild leeks were super-abundant on this particular hike, and I ate one bajillion of them. There was one woman who complained about the smell after I ate them. M'oh well. They were delicious. And the wild ginger smelled great, but I certainly didn't try eating any of them.
Distance covered today: 10.4km
Total distance covered: 19.0km
Bruce Trail % completed: 2.11%
Total Sydenham distance covered: 10.4km
Sydenham % completed: 6.12%
Last weekend we were fortunate enough to be led on a geology hike by Beth (checks internets) Kummling, the Executive Director of the Bruce Trail Conservancy. The entire hiking group consisted of about forty people. Our hike started in the Sydenham Club section, at km 116.7 off of East Linton Side Road, and continued to km 127.1, at Lindenwood Road. (26th edition of the Bruce Trail reference)
Being a geology hike, Beth had prepared handouts describing the different layers that we would be hiking through. What do I remember? Not too much. The capstone of the escarpment is made of dolostone - limestone with magnesium in it as well. Underneath that is a layer of very red shale, due to high iron content. The topmost layer of the dolostone is called the "Amabel formation." Underneath that is the fossil hill formation, also dolostone, but deposited during a geological time period when the sea was shallow, calm, and sunny, so it's absolutely chock-full of fossils. Most common were tabulate corals. We also saw halysite coral, that looks like chains made of many links. And in these particular rock, many many many pentapod fossils (clams, really). At one point, we found a mystery fossil, that we thought (after checking the books back at the car) was a cephalopod.
One of the really cool things about the dolostone that was made very evident is how it is made up of dolomite crystals. The rock fractures along lines that mimic the crystal structure of dolomite. Dolomite forms as rhombic crystals with angles of 75 and 105 degrees. There was one point on the trail where two fissures intersected at 75/105 degrees, and the downhill chunk had slid on the shale underneath a good 15 feet away from the rest of the cliff.
We were also very fortunate to be hiking right in the peak of spring wildflower season. The trout lilies were out in force, as were the red triliums (but not the white ones yet). We also saw, er, other flowers. Um, something breeches, and something closely related to that, but heart shaped. Dang, I suck at remembering things.
Wild leeks were super-abundant on this particular hike, and I ate one bajillion of them. There was one woman who complained about the smell after I ate them. M'oh well. They were delicious. And the wild ginger smelled great, but I certainly didn't try eating any of them.
Distance covered today: 10.4km
Total distance covered: 19.0km
Bruce Trail % completed: 2.11%
Total Sydenham distance covered: 10.4km
Sydenham % completed: 6.12%