Alliston Hiking
Seemed appropriate on Canada's "Simcoe Day" holiday to travel north to Simcoe county to do some more hiking. We travelled up to Alliston to check out the trails at Earl Rowe Provincial Park.
John and I are beginning to figure out the difference between Provincial Parks and Conservation Areas. Provincial Parks seem more "domesticated". They almost always have stores, drinking taps, laundry buildings, pools. They tend to be very family-oriented and they always seem to draw lots of people, especially on summer weekends. Conservation Areas seem to be more rustic- an area of forested land "conserved" with little to be found there but nature and trails. For hiking, John and I are more drawn to Conservation Areas, but we've found some good hikes at Provincial Parks, too. Like today.
Earl Rowe Provincial Park was crowded today, not too surprising on a beautiful summer Monday on a long weekend. We parked pretty much at the hub of activity, where the main beach and the store were, but, map in hand, we quickly branched off from there. We walked along a large pond on the "Rainbow Run" trail. Very pretty, lots of trees and lots of folks fishing in the water. North of that we continued on the "Resource Trail", which had sign posts pointing out various flora along the way. We swung passed a couple of the campgrounds and then up to the "Lookout Trail". That trail was a work-out, quite steep, but worth it since the view of the Alliston area from the wooden look-out tower on the top was impressive. It was a -hot- walk, but luckily the trail did dip into shady trees quite often, so the heat didn't get too oppressive.
We came back to have ice cream at the store (a 3-point strawberry shortcake bar for me) before heading back for home. One other thing we passed today was the steam train in Tottenham. The old-fashioned steam train travels from Tottenham to Beeton and back in about an hour every Sunday, Monday and Tuesday. We saw all the advertisements and then we actually saw the train while we were on the road to Alliston. I'd like to go back someday and take their train tour ( http://www.steamtrain.com/ ).
John and I are beginning to figure out the difference between Provincial Parks and Conservation Areas. Provincial Parks seem more "domesticated". They almost always have stores, drinking taps, laundry buildings, pools. They tend to be very family-oriented and they always seem to draw lots of people, especially on summer weekends. Conservation Areas seem to be more rustic- an area of forested land "conserved" with little to be found there but nature and trails. For hiking, John and I are more drawn to Conservation Areas, but we've found some good hikes at Provincial Parks, too. Like today.
Earl Rowe Provincial Park was crowded today, not too surprising on a beautiful summer Monday on a long weekend. We parked pretty much at the hub of activity, where the main beach and the store were, but, map in hand, we quickly branched off from there. We walked along a large pond on the "Rainbow Run" trail. Very pretty, lots of trees and lots of folks fishing in the water. North of that we continued on the "Resource Trail", which had sign posts pointing out various flora along the way. We swung passed a couple of the campgrounds and then up to the "Lookout Trail". That trail was a work-out, quite steep, but worth it since the view of the Alliston area from the wooden look-out tower on the top was impressive. It was a -hot- walk, but luckily the trail did dip into shady trees quite often, so the heat didn't get too oppressive.
We came back to have ice cream at the store (a 3-point strawberry shortcake bar for me) before heading back for home. One other thing we passed today was the steam train in Tottenham. The old-fashioned steam train travels from Tottenham to Beeton and back in about an hour every Sunday, Monday and Tuesday. We saw all the advertisements and then we actually saw the train while we were on the road to Alliston. I'd like to go back someday and take their train tour ( http://www.steamtrain.com/ ).